Page 145 - Carbon Capitalism and Communication Confronting Climate Crisis

11 BEARING WITNESS AND THE LOGIC OF CELEBRITY … 135

BEHIND THE BITUMEN BATTLE:AN OIL/TAR SANDS
PRIMER
The Canadian bitumen sands, also referred to as oil sands or tar sands, are a
vast (142,200 square kilometre) deposit of sand, clay sand and a type of
heavy oil known as bitumen. The tar sands are the third largest proven
resource of oil in the world at 166 billion barrels of oil (Government of
Alberta 2016). Currently, the oil sands produce 2.4 million barrels of oil
per day (BPD), which accounts for 55% of crude production in Canada
(Government of Alberta 2016; CAPP 2015a). Bitumen production is
anticipated to grow, with the Canadian Association of Petroleum
Producers projecting 3.08 million bpd by 2020 and 4 million bpd by 2030
(CAPP 2017, p. ii).
Unlike conventional light crude oil, bitumen is incredibly resource
intensive to refine and requires a massive and extremely costly supporting
infrastructure. There are two main methods for extracting bitumen:
open-pit mining and ‘in situ’ (Latin for in place). Open pit mining is like
coal mining, where bitumen is extracted from the deposits up to 75 meters
underground using massive machinery. Currently such mining projects
account for 1.1 million BPD in Alberta. However only 20% of Alberta’s oil
sands reserves are accessible by this method (CAPP 2015a). The other
method for extracting bitumen is referred to as ‘in situ’ and is used for
bitumen which cannot be reached by conventional mining. Alberta cur-
rently produces 1.3 million BPD using in situ methods—the most com-
mon of which is Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD), and 80% of
Alberta’s bitumen reserves must be accessed by this method (CAPP
2015a).
Just as refining bitumen is capital intensive, it is also resource intensive.
The well-to-wheels emission intensity of oil sands crude is between 8 and
37% higher than conventional crude depending on the extraction method
(Pembina 2012). The increased greenhouse gas (GHG) intensity of oil
sands production together with the volume of both natural gas and fresh
water used to produce oil from bitumen and the impact of production on
the surrounding environment and communities have been significant issues
of contention for oil sands opponents (see Council of Canadians 2015;
Greenpeace 2015). Responding to concerns, the industry claims that “Oil
sands GHG emissions have declined 30% per barrel from 1990 to 2013”
(CAPP 2015a). There have been per barrel efficiencies, but as the