Canadian Oil Sands Extraction and Upgrading: A Synthesis of the Data on Energy Consumption, CO 2 Emissions, and Supply Costs

Rui Xing, Diego V. Chiappori, Evan J. Arbuckle, Matthew T. Binsted and Evan G. R. Davies
Additional contact information
Rui Xing: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, 9211-116 St NW, Edmonton, AB T6G 1H9, Canada
Diego V. Chiappori: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, 9211-116 St NW, Edmonton, AB T6G 1H9, Canada
Evan J. Arbuckle: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, 9211-116 St NW, Edmonton, AB T6G 1H9, Canada
Matthew T. Binsted: Joint Global Change Research Institute, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, 5825 University Research Court, Suite 3500, College Park, MD 20740, USA
Evan G. R. Davies: Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Alberta, 9211-116 St NW, Edmonton, AB T6G 1H9, Canada

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 19, 1-14

Abstract: As Canadian crude bitumen production from oil sands has increased in recent decades, the nation’s oil and gas industry has become a significant contributor to national greenhouse gas emissions. Canada has developed carbon emission reduction targets to meet its Nationally Determined Contributions and Mid-Century Strategy goals. A detailed profile of energy consumption pathways in the oil sands industry is necessary to identify potential areas of improvement and to monitor progress toward meeting emissions reduction targets. Much of the existing literature for oil sands modeling provides input assumptions with different technological boundaries. For a set of oil sands extraction and upgrading technologies, this study first reviews the literature and then quantifies energy input requirements, CO 2 emissions, and operating costs for a set of consistent technological boundaries and energy units. Summary results refer to requirements and costs at the production facility, excluding transportation and blending costs. An energy system diagram of oil sands production that matches these boundaries is provided, which can be used by integrated assessment models, oil sands companies, and government ministries to evaluate the present and future energy consumption and emissions pathways of the oil sands industry.

Keywords: oil sands; CO 2 emissions; energy input; energy supply costs; industrial energy consumption; energy system modeling; Canada (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/19/6374/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/19/6374/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:19:p:6374-:d:650372

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().