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130 CHAPTER FOUR

deposits by injecting steam to heat the sands and reduce the bitumen viscosity so that it can
be pumped out like conventional crude oil.
Also the use of light hydrocarbon injection to decrease the viscosity of the bitumen
is being investigated, which would use much less gas since not so much steam would be
required for recovery. The standard extraction process usually requires huge amounts of
natural gas. Suncor is offsetting the gas demands of expanded extraction operations by
building a new petroleum coke gasifier.
Suncor’s in situ plans will use recycled water in a closed system for steam generation.
No additional surface or ground water will be required and no tailings ponds will be cre-
ated. In situ is expected to disturb only about 10 percent of the surface land in the develop-
ment area.

4.9 REFERENCES

ASTM D97. Standard Test Method for Pour Point of Petroleum Products. Annual Book of Standards,
American Society for Testing and Materials, West Conshohocken, Pennsylvania. 2007.
Speight, J. G.: The Desulfurization of Heavy Oils and Residua, 2d ed. Marcel Dekker Inc., New York,
1999.
Speight, J. G.: “Natural Bitumen (Tar Sands) and Heavy Oil,” in Coal, Oil Shale, Natural Bitumen,
Heavy Oil and Peat, from Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS), Developed under the
Auspices of the UNESCO, EOLSS Publishers, Oxford, UK, 2005, http://www.eolss.net.
Speight, J. G.: Chemistry and Technology of Petroleum, 4th ed. CRC-Taylor and Francis Group, Boca
Raton, Fla., 2007.
US Congress: Public Law FEA-76-4, United States Congress, Washington, D.C., 1976.
Wallace, D. (ed.): A Review of Analytical Methods for Bitumens and Heavy Oils, Alberta Oil Sands
Technology and Research Authority, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, 1988, pp. 93–6.
Wallace, D., J. Starr, K. P. “Thomas, and S. M. Dorrence: Characterization of Oil Sand Resources,”
Report on the Activities Concerning Annex 1 of the US-Canada Cooperative Agreement on Tar
Sand and Heavy Oil. Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority, Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada, 1988a, app. C, pp. 3–4.
Wallace, D., J. Starr, K. P. Thomas, and S. M. Dorrence: “Characterization of Oil Sand Resources,”
Report on the Activities Concerning Annex 1 of the US-Canada Cooperative Agreement on Tar
Sand and Heavy Oil. Alberta Oil Sands Technology and Research Authority, Edmonton, Alberta,
Canada, 1988b, p. 12.