Pictures of big open pit mines will soon paint an inaccurate picture of the oil sands.
A new forecast from the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers says pit-mining will make up a minority of oil sands production by 2015; a year earlier than its last report predicted.
That’s because of the rise of in-situ mining like steam assisted gravity drainage.
Peters and Company says those methods have hit a new high of 750 thousand barrels per day; with the biggest contributor being Suncor’s firebag plant whose production rose to 100 thousand b-p-d.
Published June 15, 2012
