Natural Bitumen

Natural Bitumen

Natural bitumen (often called tar sands or oil sands) and heavy oil differ from light oils by their high viscosity (resistance to flow) at reservoir temperatures, high density (low API gravity), and significant contents of nitrogen, oxygen, and sulfur compounds and heavy-metal contaminants. They resemble the residuum from the refining of light oil. Most heavy oil is found at the margins of geologic basins and is thought to be the residue of formerly light oil that has lost its light-molecular-weight components through degradation by bacteria, water-washing, and evaporation.

Natural bitumen, also called tar sands or oil sands, shares the attributes of heavy oil but is yet more dense and viscous. Natural bitumen is oil having a viscosity greater than 10,000 cP.

Composition

Carbon                        84 Min .(WT.PERCENT)
Sulphor                       3 Min
Hydrogen                    1.5 Min
Oxygen                       1.09 Min 
Nitorogen                     1.02 Min
Toluene                        21.85 Approx.
Solubity In CS2             39.53 +/- 1Min.
Solubity In Benzene      31 Min
Solubity In Methanol      0.5 Min
Solubity In Ethanol        1-2 Min
Miosture                       0.05 Min
Softening Point             200+Deg. c approx 
Denisty (Srec. Grav. )    0.070 gm per cubic centimeter
Viscosity                      Only in solution
Particle Size (Natural)   0-800 MM

Geographic Distribution

Distribution of the world\\\'s known recoverable oil resources and reserves by type. Technically recoverable oil in known heavy oil and natural bitumen accumulations is about equal to reserves of light oil (API gravity greater than 22°) in known conventional accumulations. BBO, billion barrels of oil. 

In spite of an immense resource base, heavy oil and natural bitumen accounted for only about 15% of crude oil produced in 2006. Compared to light oil, these resources are generally more costly to produce and transport. Also, extra-heavy oil and natural bitumen must usually be upgraded by reducing their carbon content or adding hydrogen before they can be used as feedstock for a conventional refinery. The extra production, transportation, and upgrading costs explain why development and production of extra-heavy oil and bitumen are still limited. Their abundance, strategic geographic distribution, quality, and costs will shape their role in the future oil supply.

The Western Hemisphere has 69 percent of the world\\\'s technically recoverable heavy oil and 82 percent of the technically recoverable natural bitumen. In contrast, the Eastern Hemisphere has about 85 percent of the world\\\'s light oil reserves.

The estimated volume of technically recoverable heavy oil (434 billion barrels) and natural bitumen (651 billion barrels) in known accumulations is about equal to the Earth\\\'s remaining conventional

Region                R.Factor                   RecoverableFactor BBO
North America      0.19 35.                   3 0.32 530.9
South America     0.13 265                   7 0.09  0.1
W. Hemisphere    0.13 301                   0.32 531
Africa                  0.18 7.                      2 0.1 43
Europe                0.15 4.9                    0.14 0.2
Middle East         0.12 78.                    2 0.1 0
Asia                    0.14 29.6 0.              16 42.8
Russia                0.13 13.4 0.              13 33.7
E. Hemisphere     0.13 133.                  3 0.13 119.7
World                  434.3                        650.7

Heavy oil and natural bitumen are present worldwide . Each category is dominated by a single extraordinary accumulation. The largest extra-heavy oil accumulation is the Venezuelan Orinoco heavy-oil belt, which contains 90 percent of the world\\\'s extra-heavy oil when measured on an in-place basis. Eighty-one percent of the world\\\'s known recoverable bitumen is in the Alberta, Canada, accumulation. Together the two deposits contain about 3,600 billion barrels of oil in place.

In addition to extra-heavy Orinoco oil, South America has an estimated 40 billion barrels of technically recoverable heavy oil, so that, in total, 61 percent of the known technically recoverable heavy oil is in South America.

Of the 35 billion barrels of heavy oil estimated to be technically recoverable in North America, about 7.7 billion barrels are assigned to known producing accumulations in the lower 48 States, and 7 billion barrels are assigned to the North Slope of Alaska.

The U.S. bitumen accumulations are largely in Utah. No U.S. accumulations are being produced commercially, although, in total, they are estimated to contain 6.1 billion barrels of recoverable bitumen.

Production Technology

In conventional production, reservoir pressure from gas and water associated with the oil is generally sufficient to cause light oil to flow to a production well. If natural reservoir pressure becomes depleted, then oil flow may be enhanced by injecting gas or water into the reservoir to push the residual oil to the production well.

Natural bitumen is so viscous that it is immobile in the reservoir. For oil sand deposits less than 225 feet deep, bitumen is recovered by mining the sands, then separating the bitumen from the reservoir rock by processing it with hot waters, and finally upgrading the natural bitumen onsite to a synthetic crude oil. In deeper oil sand deposits, where the bitumen is commonly less viscous, steam is injected into the reservoir to mobilize the oil for recovery by production wells. The product may be upgraded onsite or mixed with diluent and transported to an upgrading facility.

Projections

Natural bitumen is extracted from Alberta oil sand deposits that are too deep to surface mine by a process known as steam-assisted gravity drainage (SAGD); . Production wells could produce in excess of 2,000 barrels of bitumen per day. In 2001, about 735,000 barrels per day were extracted by mining and by in-situ production from Alberta oil sands, accounting for 36 percent of Canada\\\'s total oil production. Projected 2011 production is 2.2 million barrels per day (Alberta Energy and Utility Board, 2002, Alberta\\\'s Reserves 2001 and Supply/Demand Outlook 2002-2011, Statistical Series 2002-98, p. 2-8 to 2-9).

Iran has abundant natural bitumen which is being mined in the recent years and are exported.

Gilsonite Natural Asphalt , Natural Bitumen
HS.CODE     : 27149000
Gilsonite ( Natural Bitume ) are available various types of packing :

Application

Asphalt, Bitumen road construction, Water Profing, Drilling Cement, Modify Bitumen, Inking, Ink, Print Ink and etc

Packing

Powder: 25kgs 2Ply Poly bags laminated & Lump: 1000Kgs Jumbo Bags.

If You Need Any Solution.....We Are Available For You

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