Bitumen
Alberta sits atop the largest oil sands resource in the world.
Estimates indicate that 27.07 billion cubic metres (m3) (170.4 billion barrels [bbl]) of bitumen are recoverable with today’s technology and economic conditions. Annual production of bitumen and conventional crude oil is just a sliver of the existing bitumen reserves. Alberta remains at an early stage in the likely long development history of the oil sands resource.
For more details of this year’s review, as well as a complete picture of all of Alberta’s energy resources, see ST98-2009: Alberta’s Reserves 2008 and Supply/Demand Outlook 2009-2018.
Bitumen production has more than doubled in the past 10 years. In 2008, Alberta produced 207 400 m3 per day (m3/d) (1 305 000 bbl/d) of bitumen. Surface mining accounted for about 55 per cent and in situ accounted for about 45 per cent of the total bitumen production. From surface mineable bitumen, about 104 000 m3/d (654 000 bbl/d) of synthetic crude oil (SCO) was produced.
