Oilsands vs. bitumen

A response to a question to clarify oilsands vs. bitumen with some handy site references.

I was recently asked “What is the difference between oil sands and bitumen as you reference both frequently?”

Well in short bitumen is defined as “a thick, sticky form of crude oil which is so heavy and viscous that it will not flow unless it is heated or diluted with lighter hydrocarbons.” It can contain large amounts of sulfur and is the oil component of oil sands. Oil sands are the aggregate matrix of sand and clay containing bitumen and water. Oil sands are also often referred to as tar sands or bituminous sand. Oil sands can be produced either through surfacing mining or in-situ methods which is the typical approach when the oil sands are too deep to support surface mining operations economically.

In the mining process, once the oil sands are excavated at the surface, the bitumen is extracted from the sands. This is achieved by using a multi-step process: conditioning, separation, secondary separation, and froth treatment. The bitumen also has to be upgraded to synthetic crude oil before it can be refined into common petroleum products such as gasoline.

There are five in-situ methods of bitumen extraction: SAGD, CSS, VAPEX, THAI, and Cold Flow. For a quick reference please see our Primary, Cold EOR, and Thermal sections. You can also do a quick search of the site to review feature articles and blogs specific to these topics.

Note that SAGD, CSS, and VAPEX are not mutually exclusive. For example some wells go through a CSS cycle to condition the formation before the SAGD production method is used. Some companies are also starting to combine VAPEX and SAGD to improve recovery rates and decrease energy costs.

Jorge.