Download OIL

The Creation…
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Formed hundreds of millions of years ago
When Canada was covered by shallow seas,
remains of marine animals fell to sea floor
Accumulated into thick layers (over the years…)
Over time, the immense weight compacted
these layers into rock
Bacterial action, heat, and pressure converted
marine animals into oil and gas….Simple right?
The traps…
You will notice that all 3 have a nonporous
rock cap and a porous rock source. The
porous rock allows the oil to seep into the
cavity (like a sponge) and the nonporous
rock prevents the oil from leaving (like a
cap).
Fold Trap
The up fold or anticline in the layers of the
earth's crust form the reservoir.
Fault Trap
The vertical movement of the earth's crust
forms a v-shaped reservoir.
Stratigraphic Trap
Has a former limestone reef as its porous
rock feeding the reservoir.
The Searching…
Finding oil in amounts that will make
recovery worth-while is a challenge
 Geologists must look at special geologic
structures that have trapped oil
 Difficult because deposits may be 100’s of
meters underground (if exist at all!!)
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The Tricks…
Geologists have many tricks to search for oil…
1. Looking for rocks on the surface that contain
oil
2. Searching for clues (fossils) in the rocks that
would indicate the “right conditions” for
formation
3. Using geological records obtained by drill
cores
4. Conducting seismic surveys to locate oil rock
structures
5. Sniffing the ground (bad idea)
The Drilling…
Expensive! And will have one of 3 results:
1. No oil – abandoned
2. Oil is found – amount not enough to
make profitable (plugged until later date)
3. Oil is found – Deposit is large enough to
develop
Drills
The Recovery…
The removal of oil and gas from the ground
proceeds in one or two ways:
1. Flowing Wells – natural pressure sufficient to
bring oil to surface
2. Non-Flowing Wells – electric pumps must be
used to bring oil to surface
*only about 60 % of oil in most deposits can be
recovered. Increasing that by 5% would the
same as finding another large oil field
The Sources in Canada…
Production
concentrated in
Alberta and
adjoining
provinces:
Saskatchewan/BC
Alberta Oil Sands
 Mined from huge deposits in NE Alberta
 Bitumen: is found around individual sand
particles
 Oil sand is easily dug up and then
separated
 Bitumen is processed to make crude oil
 Cost is very high, but with decrease of
conventional oil will be a huge source of
income for Canada in near future
The Other Sources…
Newfoundland and Labrador became
significant producers in 1997 with opening
of Hibernia offshore oil project. Production
will increase as additional projects are
developed.
Manitoba Oil?
At What Cost?
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