Unconventional+oil

Unconventional oil, or non-conventional hydrocarbons, is a term used to classify any form of petroleum extracted and produced using processes other than the traditional oil well methods. Unconventional oil includes heavy oil, oilsands, coalbed methane, and shale gas.

Heavy oil is a dense, viscous form of crude oil that is much more difficult to recover and transport than light oil. Heavy oil is closely related to oil sands, such as those found in Canada, except oil sands deposits are composed of a mixture of sand or clay, and oil which must be separated before it can be refined. Coalbed gas, also known as coalbed methane, is a natural gas found buried within coal seams. Shale gas is a natural gas produced from the fractures, pore spaces, and physical matrix of shales.

From the 1930s up to the present, the energy return on investment (EROI) for crude oil has steadily declined in the U.S. from 100 barrels produced for every 1 invested to 17 barrels produced for every 1 invested. Some analysts believe that this will also happen on a global scale within the century. In this case, vast deposits of unconventional oil may be relied upon when traditional oil becomes economically non-viable due to global depletion. However, it is argued that because of the extensive input required to extract and refine unconventional oils, current production costs make such a solution unrealistic. For example, the EROI for [|Alberta’s oil sands] is currently no more than 5 to 1. According to [|the Cambridge Energy Research Associates], the costs of exploring the oil sands projects, and other like it, can be over 30% of an operating budge, while refinement and operating costs can reach up to 80%. Still, an estimated 174 billion barrels of recoverable Canadian oil sands has generated an urgency to find creative solutions to the challenges presented by unconventional oil. Currently, technology is being developed to use steam injection in oil sands deposits to increase the efficiency of unconventional oil production.