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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TimF who wrote (224646)	3/17/2005 4:19:13 PM
From: tejek	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1572142

As for the Alberta tar sands, crude at $30 per barrel was supposed to make oil extraction viable.......strangely enough, now that crude is at $55 per barrel, an increase in extraction has not happened in the tar sands. I guess another urban legend bites the dust. Yes $30 probably was to low of estimate, but the estimate was $30 years ago which would be more than that now even if it would not be $55. Also whatever price is needed ($60?, maybe $100? and in current dollars not future inflated dollars) it would have to be sustained for years before anyone made the big investment required. "It is estimated that around 80% of the Alberta tar sands are too far below the surface for the current open-pit mining technique. In situ mining techniques are being established to extract the oil, which requires a massive injection of steam into a deposit, thus 'cracking' the bitumen underground, and channelling it to extraction points where it would be liquified before reaching the surface.(*) This type of extraction requires a traditional oil well Quick Summary: A well that yields or has yielded oiloil well working in tandem with a steam injection machine. Major disadvantages of this process include the need for a huge local water source, the energy required to boil the water, a large waste water disposal problem, as well as potential environmental damage below the surface. Critics argue that heavy water use makes scaled up production infeasible; proponents argue that water efficiency will improve as the technology is further refined." absoluteastronomy.com