Understanding the Canadian oil sands industry’s greenhouse gas emissions

Abstract

The magnitude of Canada's oil sands reserves, their rapidly expanding and energy intensive production, combined with existing and upcoming greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions regulations motivate an evaluation of oil sands-derived fuel production from a life cycle perspective. Thirteen studies of GHG emissions associated with oil sands operations are reviewed. The production of synthetic crude oil (SCO) through surface mining and upgrading (SM&Up) or in situ and upgrading (IS&Up) processes is reported to result in emissions ranging from 62 to 164 and 99 to 176 kgCO 2 eq/bbl SCO, respectively (or 9.2-26.5 and 16.2-28.7 gCO 2 eq MJ −1 SCO, respectively), compared to 27-58 kgCO 2 eq/bbl (4.5-9.6 gCO 2 eq MJ −1 ) of crude for conventional oil production. The difference in emissions intensity between SCO and conventional crude production is primarily due to higher energy requirements for extracting bitumen and upgrading it into SCO. On a 'well-to-wheel' basis, GHG emissions associated with producing reformulated gasoline from oil sands with current SM&Up, IS&Up, and in situ (without upgrading) technologies are 260-320, 320-350, and 270-340 gCO 2 eq km −1 , respectively, compared to 250-280 gCO 2 eq km −1 for production from conventional oil. Some variation between studies is expected due to differences in methods, technologies studied, and operating choices. However, the magnitude of the differences presented suggests that a consensus on the characterization of life cycle emissions of the oil sands industry has yet to be reached in the public literature. Recommendations are given for future studies for informing industry and government decision making.

Oil sands mining and reclamation cause massive loss of peatland and stored carbon

“…Its contribution to the global carbon imbalance has provoked numerous calls to slow oil sands development, including, most recently, a letter to Canada's prime minister signed by eight Nobel Peace Laureates. Greenhouse gas emissions from mining and upgrading oil sands bitumen are estimated at between 62 and 164 kg CO 2 equivalents per barrel of oil produced, two to three times more than emissions from conventional oil production (21). With daily production of mined bitumen exceeding 1,142,000 barrels in 2010 (22), emissions add up quickly (>70,000 t CO 2 /d) and hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in reducing and capturing CO 2 (23).…”

Contributions of natural and anthropogenic sources to ambient ammonia in the Athabasca Oil Sands and north-western Canada

“…The Athabasca Oil Sands region (AOSR), located in the north-eastern part of the province of Alberta, Canada, is a large source of pollution to air Liggio et al, 2016;Li et al, 2017) and ecosystems (Kelly et al, 2009;Kirk et al, 2014;Hsu et al, 2016), as well as a source of greenhouse gases (Charpentier et al, 2009) due to mining and processing by the oil industry. While NH 3 volume mixing ratios (VMRs) surrounding the AOSR in northern Alberta and Saskatchewan remain relatively low -around 0.6 to 1.2 ppbv background (this study -due to low population and lack of agriculture, the northern Alberta and Saskatchewan ecosystems are sensitive to nitrogen deposition (Clair and Percy, 2015;Wieder et al, 2016a, b;Vitt, 2016;Makar et al, 2018), and the modelled background NH 3 must be correct in order to understand the relative impacts of the oil sand operations.…”

Exploitation of Unconventional Fossil Fuels: Enhanced Greenhouse Gas Emissions

“…The greenhouse gas emissions associated with both conventional and non-conventional liquid petroleum fuels have been investigated as these industries have grown, and concern over greenhouse gas emissions from these sectors has increased (e.g., (S&T) 2 Consultants Inc., 2008; Skone and Gerdes, 2008;Charpentier et al, 2009;Stratton et al, 2010). These are the emissions associated with fuel production, from extraction out of the ground to transportation to the refinery, including flaring of associated natural gas.…”