What is meant by heavy oil?

Heavy oil is defined as liquid petroleum of less than 20°API gravity or more than 200 cp viscosity at reservoir conditions. The oil in oil sands is an immobile fluid under existing reservoir conditions, and heavy oils are somewhat mobile fluids under naturally existing pressure gradients.

What is heavy end oil?

The term ‘heavy ends’ is widely used in the petroleum industry as a general description for the high-molecular- weight, high-boiling components of crude oil.

Where is heavy oil used?

While light oils primarily used to create fuels such as gasoline, diesel and aviation fuels, heavy crudes (which also yield these transportation fuels) also provide feedstock for plastics, petrochemicals, other fuels and road surfacing.

Is bitumen heavy crude?

Bitumen is a kind of crude oil found in natural oil sands deposits—it’s the heaviest crude oil used today. The oil sands, also known as tar sands, contain a mixture of sand, water and oily bitumen.

How many types of oil are there?

According to the Canadian Fuels Association, there are more than 150 different types of crude oil in the world.

Is oil heavier than water?

Since the oil is lighter, it is less dense than water and floats on water.

Why is heavy fuel oil bad?

Heavy Fuel Oil is highly concentrated in sulfur (35,000 parts per million). This means global shipping accounts for 8% of global emissions of sulfur dioxide emissions (SO2), which is highly acidic when mixed with water making shipping a major contributor toward acid rain and other respiratory diseases.

What are advantages of heavy oil?

Advantage: The energy density that creates an alternative source for transportation fuel and other products like plastics. Disadvantage: These processes pose environmental obstacles such as greenhouse gas emissions.

Is tar sands crude oil?

Oil Sands Crude Oil sands, sometimes referred to as tar sands, is a mixture of sand, clay, other minerals, water, and bitumen. The bitumen is a form of crude oil that can be separated out from the mixture. In its natural state, it is very dense and highly viscous.

Is bitumen heavier than water?

crude oils, including diluted bitumen, are less dense than water and therefore float.” There is some truth to this – just not enough to withstand the scrutiny of a reasonable person armed with the facts. When dilbit spills, the condensate evaporates, leaving the bitumen residue.

What’s the viscosity of extra heavy crude oil?

For example, the viscosity of Venezuela’s Orinoco extra-heavy crude oil lies in the range 1000–5000 cP (1–5 Pa·s ), while Canadian extra-heavy crude has a viscosity in the range 5000–10,000 cP (5–10 Pa·s), about the same as molasses, and higher (up to 100,000 cP or 100 Pa·s for the most viscous commercially exploitable deposits).

When is an oil considered to be heavy?

In general, if it has an API gravity less than 20, it is considered heavy. At an API gravity of 10, crude oil will have the same density as water. Any API below 10 and the crude sinks in water rather than floating. Oils with an API in this range are often called extra heavy oils.

What’s the difference between heavy crude oil and bitumen?

Conventional heavy oil and bitumens differ in the degree by which they have been degraded from the original crude oil by bacteria and erosion. ( Meyer, 2003 & 1) Often, bitumen is more viscous than cold molasses and does not flow at ambient conditions.

What kind of methods are used to extract heavy oil?

Production of heavy oil is becoming more common in many countries, with 2008 production led by Canada and Venezuela. Methods for extraction include Cold heavy oil production with sand, steam assisted gravity drainage, steam injection, vapor extraction, Toe-to-Heel Air Injection (THAI), and open-pit mining for extremely sandy and oil-rich deposits.