Estimating the Disaggregated Standard EROI of Canadian Oil Sands Extracted via Open-pit Mining, 1997–2016

Charles Guay-Boutet ()
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Charles Guay-Boutet: McGill University

Biophysical Economics and Resource Quality, 2023, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-21

Abstract: Abstract The Canadian province of Alberta is the main crude oil producer in Canada. Its conventional crude production has declined over the last decades, while production from unconventional sources, i.e. the oil sands, has risen significantly. Two types of crude are produced out of raw oil sands: crude bitumen and synthetic crude. Crude bitumen refers to raw bitumen cleansed from solid particles after extraction on-site which must be diluted with light hydrocarbons (natural gas, condensate, etc.) for shipment via pipelines. ‘Diluted bitumen’ refers to crude bitumen after blending with light hydrocarbons. Synthetic crude is produced via upgrading (distillation and/or cracking) of crude bitumen, resulting in a crude oil stream nearly identical chemically to conventional crude. Past researchers who estimated the net energy delivered by oil sands-derived crude using the energy return on energy invested (EROI) as an indicator have either estimated the EROI of one type of crude only or analysed the total EROI of oil sands extracted via both open-pit or in-situ mining. No research has estimated the disaggregated EROI of the two types of crude independently, making a rigorous comparison of the net-energy potentials of the two crude streams difficult. This paper provides disaggregated estimates of the EROI of diluted bitumen and synthetic crude produced via open-pit mining. I find the Standard EROI (EROIST) of diluted bitumen to be 11.6: 1 on weighted average from 1997 to 2016 and increasing over time. I find synthetic crude’s EROIST to be 4.1: 1 on weighted average over the period.

Keywords: EROI; Oil sands; Net-energy analysis; Biophysical economics (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1007/s41247-023-00109-5

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