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Greenhouse gas emissions

 

How much is emitted?

The oilsands are Canada's fastest growing source of carbon dioxide, emitting five per cent of Canada greenhouse gases and, according to the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP), 0.1 per cent of emissions globally.

The oilsands emit carbon dioxide because large amounts of energy are required to separate the bitumen from sand. Once extracted, natural gas powers the process to convert bitumen to crude oil, producing three times more greenhouse gases than a conventional barrel of oil.

Emissions are so high that U.S. mayors passed a resolution in June 2008, urging American cities to stop using fuel from the oilsands. "Production of tarsands oil from Canada emits approximately three times the carbon dioxide pollution per barrel as does conventional oil production and significantly damages Canada's Boreal forest ecosystem — the world's largest carbon storehouse," said the resolution.

How much natural gas is used?

Surface mining of oilsands requires about 750 cubic feet of natural gas for every barrel of bitumen. For deeper oilsands reserves, an in-situ process — meaning 'in place' — is needed to recover the oilsands using wells similar to conventional oil. The in-situ process, however, uses twice the natural gas that conventional oil production requires — to heat and pump steam deep underground to release the oilsand and let it flow to the well bore. Alberta Energy estimates that 82 per cent of Alberta's oilsands can only be recovered via the in-situ method, making the oilsands production very energy-intensive.

Currently, about 0.6 billion cubic feet of gas are used every day in the oilsands region —enough to heat 3.2 million Canadian homes, according to a Pembina Institute report.

In 2006, former Alberta premier Peter Lougheed called for an immediate moratorium on new oilsands projects because of its heavy natural gas use — a relatively clean-burning and cheaper energy source — to produce synthetic oil. Lougheed suggested natural gas could be better used in building a sustainable petro-chemicals industry in Alberta.

Industry realizes this reliance is inefficient and makes for bad optics. Oilsands companies have been testing new technologies to reduce their need for natural gas. They are trying to use hydrogen, carbon dioxide, petroleum coke, bitumen combustion, and air and solvent injections for in-situ mining. A consortium of oilsands companies called GeoPower in the Oilsands, or GeoPOS, is testing the potential of deep geothermal heat instead of burning natural gas, although CAPP says this technology is at least a decade away from production.

How big a problem are these emissions?

Industry plans to triple oilsands production from 1.25 million barrels of bitumen per day in 2008 to 3.5 million barrels per day by 2020. This rapid growth will put a strain on natural gas supply and prices, and exponentially increase Alberta's greenhouse gas emissions. It is estimated that by 2020, greenhouse gas emissions from Alberta's oilsands will account for 16 per cent of Canada's emissions.

What is being done about it?

As of July 1, 2007, all oilsands operations in Alberta are required to reduce their carbon intensity by 12 per cent over 2003-2005 levels. That means they can reduce the amount of emissions produced per barrel of oil, while increasing their total emissions as production increases.

If they cannot meet the targets through efficiencies in their operations or by buying Alberta-based carbon credits, they will pay into Alberta's technology fund. The fund, expected to raise $500 million in the next five years, will support research and development of emissions-reducing technologies such as Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS).

Emphasis placed on carbon capture and sequestration

With the projected rapid expansion of the oilsands, CAPP admits on its Stewardship Initiative website that Alberta's intensity-based targets will not reduce emissions, but rather "the 12 per cent target will only slow the growth in Alberta's GHG emissions between now and 2016."

To bolster support for CCS among other premiers, Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach and Saskatchewan Premier Brad Wall presented carbon capture to the Council of the Federation in July 2008 as their solution to reducing emissions. The presentation reveals Alberta's climate-change strategy banks on 70 per cent of its reductions coming from CCS and only 30 per cent from energy conservation and renewables. The province has invested $2 billion in commercial CCS projects, targeting annual storage of five million tonnes of CO2 by 2015.

Will it reduce emissions?

Critics say the technology is not proven on a large scale, nor is it operational in Alberta. All eyes are on EnCana's Weyburn project in southeastern Saskatchewan, which has successfully injected and stored 10 million tonnes of carbon dioxide. CAPP says  Encana's target is to inject 30 million tonnes of CO2 — equivalent to the CO2 emissions from 6.8 million cars in one year.

U.S. concerned about oilsands emissions

U.S. uncertainty about carbon capture worries the industry. Jason Grumet, Barak Obama's senior energy adviser, is quoted in a June 24 article in The National Post, saying: "If it turns out that those technologies don't advance ... and the only way to produce those resources would be at a significant penalty to climate change, then we don't believe that those resources are going to be part of the long-term, are going to play a growing role in the long-term future."

Carbon-heavy energy sources like oil shale, coal to liquid, and oilsands produce more greenhouse gas emissions than cleaner-burning fuels like natural gas. Grumet, who is also Executive Director of the National Commission on Energy Policy, has said there are "unacceptably high carbon emissions" associated with production of oilsands. "And I think it's an open question as to whether or not the Canadian resources are going to meet those tests." Since June 2008, oilsands lobbyists and Canadian politicians have been meeting with Obama's advisers, including Grumet, to resolve their concerns.

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