Re: [OPE-L] Oil Sands

From: Paul Bullock (paulbullock@EBMS-LTD.CO.UK)
Date: Tue Jan 24 2006 - 11:30:29 EST


New techniques have been developed, and are to be used in the Orinoco to
extract such venezuelan oil.  Reports from the PDVSA explain this.

Paul Bullock



----- Original Message -----
From: "Jerry Levy" <Gerald_A_Levy@MSN.COM>
To: <OPE-L@SUS.CSUCHICO.EDU>
Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2006 2:44 PM
Subject: Re: [OPE-L] Oil Sands


> >  From my reading of literature on the oil sands during the 1975 oil
> > crisis my recollection was that the high costs came from  the work
> > that had to be done to extract the oil from the sands, and the greater
> > degree of refining needed. As I understand it, oil sands or shales
> > need to be baked in a process analogous to the reforming of coal
> > into oil. It is this baking that is costly.
> > It also means that a significant part of the energy in the oil sands
> > has to be expended in the processing itself. Another cost comes
> > from the relatively lower hydrogen content of the oil and possibly
> > its high sulphur content. This makes it less suitable for the
> > light oils need for cars, but it remains suitable for heavy fuel oil.
>
> Hi Paul C,
>
> Haven't there been any technological breakthroughs in the
> extraction of the oil from the sands and the refining process since
> the mid-1970s?
>
> In solidarity, Jerry
>
>


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