26 Sep 2019 12:53
oil sands crude production creates 12% higher emissions than standard crude production.
Second, it can be highly destructive to local natural environments. One of the biggest oil sands production facilities in the world is the Athabasca oil sands in Alberta, Canada. At this field, the bitumen sits on top of a layer of limestone, which allows for surface mining. The Athabasca oil sands lie in the middle of the Boreal forest, and to allow for surface mining, and in turn to allow for access the bitumen, miners need to destroy forestry.
The government in Alberta requires that the company mining the land (currently two companies dominate the region - Suncor Energy Inc (N:SU) and Syncrude, the latter of which is a joint venture between seven companies, including Suncor and a host of state owned enterprises) restore it to what’s called equivalent land capability (ELC). Restoration qualifies for ELC if the land supports any number of a range of uses post-processing, and companies have come under fire in the past for reclamation as pasture for bison, rather than forestry.
Third, water use. The traditional oil sand conversion process involves high levels of water use – estimates put the numbers at up to 4.5 cubic meters of water required to produce 1 cubic meter of synthetic crude. Governments in the respective oil sand field territories have imposed strict water use rules on the companies involved in the space, and water is generally recycled (returned to source) after use. However, this brings with it a host of other issues, including the potential for toxic returns to a water source. Estimates suggest that Suncor and Syncrude will have polluted 1 billion cubic meters of water from the Athabasca River by the end of this decade.
So with these issues, why are companies like Suncor involved in oil sands, when they could be involved in traditional well drilling? It’s a case of economics. The price of oil is a hot topic at the moment, and the vast majority of producers are unable to well profitably at $50 barrels, never mind the current $35 barrels. Suncor’s cash operating cost at its Alberta fields was $34.45 per barrel as of March this year – a time when oil priced in at between $45-55 a barrel. Currently oil sits at a little over $35 a barrel, but by nature of the production process, as the price of oil drops, the cost of production per barrel drops (as producers are having to pay less for transport costs, machinery running etc.) With this in mind, Suncor is likely still drawing a profit on the barrels it is producing out of Alberta.