How is crude bitumen extracted from the oil sands?
Depending on the depth of the deposit, two different methods are used to recover bitumen. Around Fort McMurray, much of the crude bitumen occurs near the surface and is recovered by open pit mining, while reserves found at greater depths are produced in situ (meaning “in place”). In mining, the overburden is removed and oil sands ore is mined using large shovels and trucks. The bitumen is then processed to separate it from the sands, clays, and water before it is upgraded to synthetic crude oil. In situ recovery takes place both by primary development—similar to conventional crude oil production—and by enhanced recovery, whereby steam or solvents are injected into the reservoir to reduce the viscosity of the bitumen, allowing it to flow to a wellbore, where it is then produced up to the surface. Currently, two technologies account for most in situ bitumen production: steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD), which sees steam injected into a horizontal wellbore to heat the bitumen and all
