oilsand

Oil sands, or bituminous sands, are a deposit of bitumen—an extremely viscous form of crude oil—mixed with sand, clay, and water. The bitumen is too viscous to flow at ambient conditions and must be heated, diluted, or otherwise disrupted to transport and refine it.

The largest and most productive oil sands are in northern Alberta, Canada, notably the Athabasca, Peace River, and Cold Lake regions. Canada accounts for the majority of the world’s oil sands production. Other heavy-oil resources exist globally, including in Venezuela’s Orinoco Belt, but the term oil sands mainly refers to Alberta deposits.

Extraction methods vary by depth. Surface mining is used for shallow deposits to separate bitumen from mined sand, while deeper resources are recovered in situ, most commonly by Steam Assisted Gravity Drainage (SAGD) or other steam-based methods.

Because bitumen is thick, it is upgraded or diluted before transport. Upgrading processes convert bitumen into synthetic crude oil or heavy refinery feed; dilution with light hydrocarbons enables pipeline movement.

Environmental considerations include high energy requirements and greenhouse gas emissions, large land disturbance, water use, and tailings ponds. Regulating frameworks, reclamation obligations, and ongoing technology development aim to mitigate impacts.

Economically, oil sands are a major pillar of Canada’s energy sector, contributing to export revenue and jobs. They are development-intensive and sensitive to crude prices, regulatory policy, pipeline access, and evolving public and Indigenous community engagement.