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7/26/2019 Oil Sands in Saskatchewan
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www.ir.gov.sk.ca
Saskatchewan Industry andResources
Oil Sands in Saskatchewan
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What are Oil Sands? Crude deposits that are substantially more viscous than other
oils and do not flow, or cannot be pumped without beingheated or diluted .
Industry defines extra heavy oil (bitumen) as having an APIgravity of less than 10
Consist of sand, bitumen, mineral rich clays and water. Often includes impurities like sulphur, heavy metals, waxes
and carbon residue that require removal prior to refining. Requires upgrading to synthetic crude oil or dilution with
lighter hydrocarbons to make it transportable and usable byrefineries.
Each oilsand grain consists of water surrounding a grain ofsand, and a coating of bitumen surrounding the water.
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API vs Specific Gravity
SG of Water
Heavy oil
Bitumen
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Oil Sand Economics Bitumen content in deposits varies from 1% to
18%. Greater than 12% bitumen content is
considered very good. Less than 6% is poor and not usually
considered economically feasible to mine.
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Oil Sand Production Methods Two types of oil sand production methods:
Mining and In-situ. Mining is an open pit operation. Oil sands are
moved by trucks and shovels. Oil sands in reservoirs too deep to support
economic surface mining (>80m), in-situ
recovery is required. In-situ production is verysimilar to conventional oil production.
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More on In-situ Production
It is estimated 80 percent of total bitumen will berecovered with in-situ techniques.
In-situ technologies developed include thermal (steam)injection through vertical or horizontal wells, pressurecyclic steam drive and steam assisted gravity drainage(SAGD), but are often limited by a minimum depth to beeffective.
In some reservoirs, primary production is possible. The bitumen is slightly lighter than that found in mineable and
other in-situ reserves. Differs from heavy oil production by the amount of sand that is co-produced .
7/26/2019 Oil Sands in Saskatchewan
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www.ir.gov.sk.ca
Where are the Oil Sands? The oil sands deposit is
contained within theMannville Group of theWestern CanadianSedimentary Basinwhich was depositedacross B.C., Alberta,
Saskatchewan,Manitoba and the U.S.
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Currently, Albertacontains the only threemajor known economicoil sand deposits:
Peace riverAthabasca
Cold Lake
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Oil sands in Saskatchewanhave been observed in theClearwater River Valley
and in several wells drilledin the 1970s.
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Oil Sands PermitActivity during the
1970s.Clearwater River
Air Weapons Range
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Oil Sands Stratigraphy
From AGAT Laboratories table of Formations.
Bitumen bearing formation.
AlbertaSaskatchewan
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Oil Sand Exploration In Saskatchewan The limited exploration in
Saskatchewan has yet todiscover the pre-Cretaceous lowareas within which Albertas
economic accumulations occur, but the bitumen saturatedMcMurray Formation doesextend into Saskatchewanwhere it is called the DinaSand.
Drilling in the 1970s identifiedthe resource but exploitation ofthe oil sands was deemeduneconomic due totechnological limitations.
Devonian Lows in-filled with Oil Sands
Cross section across AthabascaWest Deposit
Cross-Section of Strata in Northern Saskatchewan
McMurray Formation
South North
Clearwater River Valley
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McMurray/Dina outcrops with
bitumen-saturated sands along theClearwater River valley
Alberta/Sask border
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The pre-Cretaceous topographic lows on thetop of the Devonian are related to earlyMannville drainage systems of the WesternInterior Basin of Canada.
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Alberta/Sask border
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Current Saskatchewan Oil SandsInterest Certain companies have expressed an interest
in acquiring oil sands exploration permitsaround the Clearwater River Valley.
In particular, in June of 2004, PowermaxEnergy Inc. of Calgary received approx.570,000 hectares (1.4 million acres) north of
the Clearwater River, along the Saskatchewan-Alberta border.
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Oil Sands Quest now holds the permit. After having relinquished 40% of the lands,
they now hold 342,000 hectares (845,000 ac.) They have recently received approval to their
EPP with Sask Environment and should beaccessing the area soon to commence a 25 welldrilling program.
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2004-05 Oil Sands Permits
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Oil sands dispositions are currentlyadministered in accordance with The OilShale Regulations, 1964. Due to the
prolonged lack of interest, these regulationshad not been updated, but with renewedinterest, the department is working to bring theregulations in-line with current fiscal,administrative and technical realities.
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Bibliography Christopher, J. E., 1974, The Upper Jurassic Vanguard and Lower Cretaceous Mannville of Southwestern Saskatchewan.
Sask. Dept. Min. Resources, Rept. 151, 349 p.
Christopher, J. E., Kendall, A.C. and Paterson, D. F., 1978, The Sedimentary Geology of the La Loche Area, Saskatchewan NTS sheet 74C. Sask. Dept. Min. Resources, Rept. 201, 38 pp.
James, D. P., Pemberton, S. G., 1997, Petroleum Geology of the Cretaceous Mannville Group, Western Canada.Calgary , Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists, Memoir 18, 486 p.
Kupsch, W.O., 1954, Bituminous Sands in Till of the Peter Pond Lake Area, Saskatchewan. Sask. Dept. Min. Resources, Rept. 12, 32 p.
MacCallum, G. T., Stewart, G. A., 1978, Athabasca Oil Sands Guide Book. Calgary , Canadian Society of Petroleum Geologists. Mossop, G. D., Shetsen, I.(Compilers) 1994. Geological Atlas of the Western Sedimentary Basin. Calgary, Canadian Society of
Petroleum Geologists and Alberta Research Council, 510 p.
http://oilsandsdiscovery.com/
http://www.centreforenergy.com
http://www.energy.gov.ab.ca
