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The world is not running out of oil any time soon, at least not the easier to get to, lighter kind. It is estimated that there are of the order of a trillion barrels of heavy oil in the world that can be produced at the current oil price. Is this good news? Not necessarily. These heavy oils, like the tar sands in Alberta or the shale oil in the Rockies, are currently being produced with techniques that are not environmentally friendly.
Professor Tony Kovscek from Stanford University takes us on a tour of heavy oil: where can it be found? How is it produced? and most importantly, what can be done now and in the near future to clean up the production?
Comments
Heavy oil
Mon, 05/26/2008 - 00:02 — Visitor (not verified)Sulphco has been developing sonocracking to the point where it may soon address the heavy oil issues in a highly economical manner. jb
Sonocracking
Wed, 06/04/2008 - 05:40 — margotThis is an interesting point.
However, I am personally looking to a solution that can be used in-situ. Ideally, you want to upgrade heavy oil while it is still in the reservoir, and recover higher quality petroleum leaving undesired substances behind in the subsurface.
One such process is in-situ combustion.