Oil Sands Potential

The U.S. has sufficient oil sand deposits to substantially add to domestic production. While U.S. oil-sand deposits pale in comparison with those in Canada, which hold reserves estimated at 1.7 trillion barrels, U.S. reserves are nonetheless significant.

In the United States, oil sands are primarily concentrated in Eastern Utah. Utah has dozens of sandstone formations which hold known oil reserves estimated at 12-19 billion barrels – about 55% of US known oil-sands resources. An additional 23-28 billion barrels of undiscovered oil are believed to be in place. There are eight major deposits in the Utah counties of Carbon, Garfield, Grand, Uintah and Wayne, mostly on lands controlled by the Bureau of Land Management.

Currently, oil is not produced from oil sands on a significant commercial level in the United States. However, the U.S. imports 20-percent of its oil and refined products from Canada, and over 50-percent of Canadian oil production is from oil sands.

The primary reason that the U.S. currently lacks an oil sand industry is a gap in appropriate technology. U.S. oil sands are “oil wet”, whereas the Canadian oil sands are “water wet”. As a result of this difference, the steam extraction technique widely used in Canada will not work on the U.S. sands. A particular issue with the Canadian technology is the large amount of water required. Eastern Utah has scarce water resources.

Oil sand operations have acquired a very poor environmental reputation due oil sand operations Canada. In Alberta, tar sands operations require the use of vast quantities of water, which become contaminated and must be stored in huge tailing ponds. This both depletes local water reserves and threatens to pollute the environment and nearby communities. The tailing ponds: contain heavy metals which have the potential to pollute groundwater; risk production of excess greenhouse gas through the growth of bacteria; and require constant management.

A considerable amount of research has been done in the quest for commercially viable production technology to be employed in the development of the Utah oil sands. Production from Utah’s oil-sands began on a small scale in the early 1970s, but the exorbitant cost of older, inefficient extraction practices and a dramatic drop in oil prices in the mid-1980s brought these efforts to a halt. Recently, interest in this potential domestic supply source has intensified as oil prices have risen and stabilized; production technology has advanced; the risks of U.S. dependence on foreign fuel sources has become more apparent; and significant new reserves of conventional crude oil have become harder to find.