"Here's a challenge for you: head to the oil sands where you will find lots of oil but it is mixed with more sand than a desert, hardened at times as solid as a hockey puck, locked between multiple layers of thick rock, compressed by as much as one hundred stories of earth, and sealed with a dense sprawling forest, then try getting just the oil out."
This passage is from a television commercial inviting us to "learn how Cenovus is taking on the oil sands challenges".
The commercial tells us Cenovus is approaching oil sands mining in a different way. Gone are the massive shovels that could strip out 9,000 tonnes per hour. Instead, hot water under pressure is injected into the formation and the resulting water/oil mixture is pumped back to the surface.
In the grand scheme of things, it is marginally more environmentally friendly than previous mining methods. It still requires an awful lot of energy, though. But it is not Cenovus that everyone is talking about.
The report from the Joint Review Panel for the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project was issued last week with 209 recommendations.
Minister of Natural Resources Joe Oliver said: "Now that we have received the report, we will thoroughly review it, consult with affected aboriginal groups and then make our decision."
Janet Holder said: "From the beginning of this project, Northern Gateway has worked with one goal in mind: to access new markets by building a safer, better pipeline."
B.C. Environment Minister Mary Polak said: "Economic development is important to... all of Canada and B.C., but it can't be at the cost of our environment... We are not yet in a position to consider support for any heavy oil pipeline in B.C."
Enthusiasm from the proponent, a lukewarm response from B.C., and unabashed glee from the federal minister would seem to sum up the official responses. I have no doubt that Albertans are dancing in the aisles.
So what is the connection between Cenovus and Northern Gateway? Everything. The issue that should be at the heart of any consideration of this pipeline is in Cenovus' commercial message.
"Oil sands" is not nice stuff.
It is hard. Indeed, it is the same sort of chemical components that are used to actually make hockey pucks. Sure, hockey pucks are vulcanized rubber but rubber is little more than long chain organic molecules. Bitumen is long chain organic molecules.
It is difficult to handle. This is why they have to inject massive amounts of steam in order to soften the material to the point where it can be pumped by pipes. This requires a lot of energy.
And it is dirty. Lots of sand is present in the oil sands - "more sand than a desert" - which means that the bitumen needs to be heavily processed before it can be shipped or piped anywhere. Again, this is energy intensive and not particularly successful.
In the 1980s, the recoverable and useable oil from the tar sands only represented about 40 per cent of the material that companies such as Syncrude were mining. Yes, the technology has dramatically improved but the product is not really much better.
So, to paraphrase the Cenovus commercial: "Here's a challenge for you: loads of heavy tar has been removed from the oil sands and you have to get it moved to the coast. Just try moving it."
The way that Enbridge has been doing this is to mix it with condensate. Condensate is an interesting word. What it means is "light oil fractions" or as the Joint Review Panel put it: "Condensate is a gasoline-like mixture of light oil components usually obtained from natural gas production."
Put another way, it is the stuff that you find in a Bic lighter. A mixture of butanes and similar compounds which are very volatile, very flammable, and able to dilute bitumen to turn it from a hockey puck into something that has properties similar to heavy crude oil.
The problem with this "dilbit" or diluted bitumen is that if the condensate evaporates, you have something that resembles a hockey puck. Or, as the panel points out: "Raw bitumen does not flow easily through pipelines..."
What happens when dilbit is spilled? The condensate evaporates and you now have something with the density of a hockey puck. If this is in Douglas Channel, well, ever seen what happens to a hockey puck when you drop it overboard? It sinks.
Or just imagine what a small leak in the pipe will do. A massive hockey puck blocking the way and ensuring that the whole thing ruptures.
Yup, the one thing that can be certain is that when the Northern Gateway Pipeline is built, we are going to have one massive, world-class spill that is going to irrevocably damage our environment.
Merry Christmas everyone!
