heavy oil and tar sand

Introduction
History of use
- Discovery
- Potential as a crude oil source
Composition and origin
- Chemical composition
- Formation
- The geologic environment
World distribution of heavy oils and tar sands
- Heavy oil
- Tar sands
Recovery and exploitation
- Heavy oils
  - Steam soak
  - Steam flooding
  - In situ combustion
  - Solvent extraction
- Tar sands
- Economic and technical constraints

References & Edit History Related Topics

Images & Videos

Thematic map showing the Arabian-Iranian basin region highlighted in purple, spanning parts of Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Oman, Jordan, and Syria. Major oil fields, including supergiant fields such as Al-Ghawar, Kirkuk, and Ahvaz, are marked with black shapes within the basin. Major water bodies like the Persian Gulf, Red Sea, Gulf of Oman, and Caspian Sea are labeled.

Thematic map of Europe, Russia, Transcaucasia, and Central Asia highlighting major sedimentary basins in purple and marking the locations of major oil and gas fields, with triangles indicating supergiant and selected giant fields. The map shows regional seas, geographic features, and the distribution of hydrocarbon resources across northern Eurasia.

The environmental impact of Canada's oil sands industry

The environmental impact of oil refineries in Canada

Related Questions

How did conventional oil deposits become tar sand deposits?
How do asphaltenes and resins make bitumen thick and dense?
How do heavy oil wells compare with giant conventional oil wells in daily production?
How do heavy oils differ from lighter conventional crude oils?
How does bitumen flotation concentrate the material during processing?
How does forward combustion differ from reverse combustion in heavy oil recovery?
How does in situ combustion recover heavy oil from a reservoir?
How does solvent extraction recover heavy oil underground?
How does steam flooding move heavy oil toward production wells?
How does steam soak recovery increase production from a heavy oil well?
How does vacuum distillation help refineries process heavy petroleum materials?
How is bitumen separated from sand after tar sand is mined?
How large is the Orinoco Belt heavy oil deposit?
How much energy can be needed to produce steam for heavy oil recovery?
What share of global oil resources is made up of heavy oils and tar sands?
Where are the largest tar sand deposits located?
Which country has heavy oil reserves in the Orinoco Belt?
Which regions of Russia contain deposits of tar sands?
Which reservoir conditions make steam soaking effective for heavy oil recovery?
Why are shallow heavy oil reservoirs suited to steam recovery methods?
Why are the lighter parts of crude oil removed as tar sands form?
Why do nickel, vanadium, sulfur, and other impurities complicate bitumen processing?
Why does heavy oil need heating before it can flow more easily?
Why does tar sand mining wear out equipment quickly?
Why does the Athabasca region of Alberta have major tar sand deposits?
Why is a heavy oil well closed for several days after steam is injected during a steam soak?
Why is a solvent used in the final separation of bitumen from sand and water?
Why is water injected with air during some in situ combustion projects?
Why might water be injected during a steam-flooding operation?
Why must heavy oil sometimes be heated or diluted before pipeline transport?
Why must topsoil and overburden be removed before open-pit tar sand mining?

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External Websites

World Resource Institute - Heavy Oil and Tar Sands

heavy oil and tar sand

Written by

Joseph P. Riva

Specialist in Earth Sciences (geologist), Congressional Research Service, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. Author of World Petroleum Resources and Reserves and others.

Joseph P. RivaAll

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Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

History

heavy oil and tar sand, crude oils below 20° on the American Petroleum Institute (API) gravity scale that require mining or thermal recovery. Although the lighter conventional crudes are often waterflooded to enhance recovery, this method is essentially ineffective for heavy crudes between 20° and 10° API gravity, and thermal recovery becomes necessary. Heavy crude oils have enough mobility that, given time, they will be producible through a well bore in response to thermal recovery...

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