Investing in Canada Oil Sands|Is Canada A Slick Investment?

Investing in Canada and the Oil Sands

This is no secret but there is “oil in ’em thar sands”. If you are considering investing in Canada and energy or oil fits the criteria of your portfolio then this is the info that you need.

Alexander Mackenzie is one of the most noted explorers in history and he studied the oil sands as far back as 1790. He didn’t discover the oil sands, but he is credited with being the first person to make notations of the sands. You can see that when I said this is no secret, I really meant it is no secret.

The key to investing in Canada or the Canadian oil sands is to find the companies that have the rights to the land and the companies that have the technology to extract the oil from the sand.

The problem has been getting the oil and the sand to separate. In addition to separation, the amount of material that needs to be processed per barrel of oil creates a logistical problem.

Since 1967, many local and foreign companies have been investing in Canada specifically to bring and develop the technology for moving the oil sands from the source to the processing facility.

The problem with the extraction of the oil from the sand has been that the substance is so hard. It is a substance called Bitumen. It is a very hard; almost like the asphalt on a road. As a matter of fact, after processing, Bitumen is used in making asphalt for roads.

The companies that have invested in Canada and the oil sands industry are primarily the companies that have obtained the license for a specific area or they have developed the technology to move the material from the source to the processing facility.

The problem with the transportation is that the amount of material needed to be moved, and the distance is not conducive for traditional heavy trucking as with coal or gold mines.

The technology brought forth by the companies that have invested in Canada is to create a network of conveyor belts and pipes that automatically transport material directly from the loader onto the delivery system and then to the processing facility.

At the top end of quality and performance, the loaders put the oil sands material through a grinder. That ground up material goes into a “hopper” that holds the grounded material until the facility can receive it.

As the control center needs material for the facility the just send a command to the hopper to start releasing.

Once at the facility the oil sands are heated and cracked and pure crude is the result.