Tar sands and oil shales

Journal Article · Tue Feb 01 04:00:00 EST 1966 · Sci. Am.; (United States)

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0266-21· OSTI ID:6672393

de Never, N

The worlds largest potential liquid-hydrocarbon reserves are not recoverable by ordinary oil-producing methods. These reserves are the Athabasca tar sands of northern Alberta in Canada and the Green River oil shales of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. The two deposits differ in their chemistry, physical state, and history. Both contain hydrocarbons that can be converted economically into petroleum products. Both occur at or near the surface, within easy reach of mining or shallow drilling. Both deposits are of staggering size, even compared with the world's total liquid-fuel reserves. Two basic approaches have been considered for recovering the asphaltic crude oil from the Athabasca deposit. One involves mining the sand and somehow washing the tar from it. The other calls for heating or otherwise treating the tar in place to decrease its viscosity and enable it to flow to wells. Shale oil can be recovered either by mining the shale and then processing it or by heating the kerogen in place. So far attempts to produce shale oil have been largely limited to the first approach: the stone is mined, crushed, and then heated in a coker vat to extract organic material. Methods for the exploitation of the 2 different types of reserves are described.

• OSTI ID: 6672393
• Journal Information: Sci. Am.; (United States), Journal Name: Sci. Am.; (United States) Vol. 214:2; ISSN SCAMA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS
040100 -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- Reserves & Exploration-- (-1989)
040401* -- Oil Shales & Tar Sands-- In Situ Methods
True & Modified
ALBERTA
ATHABASCA DEPOSIT
BITUMINOUS MATERIALS
CANADA
CARBONACEOUS MATERIALS
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COLORADO
COMBUSTION
ENERGY SOURCES
FOSSIL FUELS
FUELS
GEOLOGIC DEPOSITS
GREEN RIVER FORMATION
IN-SITU COMBUSTION
IN-SITU PROCESSING
KEROGEN
LLOYDMINSTER DEPOSIT
MATERIALS
MINING
NORTH AMERICA
OIL SAND DEPOSITS
OIL SANDS
OIL SHALES
ORGANIC MATTER
OXIDATION
PROCESSING
RESERVES
RESOURCES
ROCKY MOUNTAIN REGION
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES
USA
UTAH
WYOMING