Title | Canada's oil and gas resources - made yesterday, here today, gone tomorrow? |
Author | Fowler, M G; Riediger, C L |
Source | GAC-MAC-CSPG-CSSS Halifax 2005, building bridges - across science, through time, around the world: abstracts/AGC-AMC-SCGP-SCSS Halifax 2005, Jeter des ponts entre les disciplines scientifiques, les
époques, et unifier le monde : recueil des résumés; GAC-MAC-CSPG-CSSS Joint Meeting, Abstracts vol. 30, 2005 p. 60 |
Year | 2005 |
Alt Series | Earth Sciences Sector, Contribution Series 2004328 |
Meeting | GAC-MAC-CSPG-CSSS Halifax 2005 - AGC-AMC-SCGP-SCSS Halifax 2005; Halifax Nova Scotia; CA; May 15-18, 2005 |
Document | serial |
Lang. | English |
Media | on-line; digital; paper |
File format | pdf |
Province | British Columbia; Alberta; Saskatchewan; Manitoba; Ontario; Quebec; New Brunswick; Nova Scotia; Prince Edward Island; Newfoundland and Labrador; Northwest Territories; Yukon; Nunavut |
NTS | 1; 2; 3; 10; 11; 12; 13; 14; 15; 16; 20; 21; 22; 23; 24; 25; 26; 27; 28; 29; 30; 31; 32; 33; 34; 35; 36; 37; 38; 39; 40; 41; 42; 43; 44; 45; 46; 47; 48; 49; 52; 53; 54; 55; 56; 57; 58; 59; 62; 63; 64; 65;
66; 67; 68; 69; 72; 73; 74; 75; 76; 77; 78; 79; 82; 83; 84; 85; 86; 87; 88; 89; 92; 93; 94; 95; 96; 97; 98; 99; 102; 103; 104; 105; 106; 107; 114O; 114P; 115; 116; 117; 120; 340; 560 |
Lat/Long WENS | -141.0000 -50.0000 90.0000 41.7500 |
Subjects | economic geology; fossil fuels; petroleum generation; petroleum industry; petroleum resources; source rocks; environmental impacts; Hibernia Well; Terra Nova Well |
Program | Consolidating Canada's Geoscience Knowledge |
Abstract | Petroleum has been exploited for hundreds of years in Canada, from utilisation of bitumen and oil seeps by the First Nations and early settlers, to the first commercial well in North America at Oil
Springs, Ontario in 1858, to the major discoveries in Western Canada in the middle of the twentieth century and the present day offshore industry. In 2001, Canada was the world's third largest natural gas producer and eleventh largest oil
producer. A number of prerequisites (i.e. a 'petroleum system') are required for economic quantities of oil and gas to be present. These include a mature source rock, a migration pathway, a reservoir, and a trap with a good seal, and all of
these elements need to be in place at the right time. While this has occurred in many of Canada's basins, historically, the bulk of Canadian hydrocarbon production has been from the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). This area contains
the world's largest hydrocarbon accumulation, the Athabasca tar sands, the residue of an even larger conventional oil accumulation that was microbially degraded. It is becoming harder to find additional conventional oil and gas reserves in
Western Canada despite record drilling levels, and production is predicted to decline in the coming decade. However, this basin is also thought to contain abundant unconventional resources that will be come more important in the future such as
coalbed methane, shale gas and the tar sands. Environmental considerations will play an important role in the exploitation of these resources. Over the last decade, the Atlantic offshore has also become a significant producing area with oil from
Hibernia and Terra Nova, and gas from Sable Island. In the future there will be more emphasis on frontier areas including additional Atlantic offshore areas, possibly the Pacific if the moratorium on exploration is lifted, and the north including the
Mackenzie Corridor and Delta, and the Arctic Islands. Exploration in frontier regions will pose significant economic, and in some cases environmental, challenges. |
GEOSCAN ID | 216766 |
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