Here The Syncrude operations are located on the Athabasca Oil Sands Deposit in northeastern Alberta, Canada. Oil sand is key to meeting North America's continued energy needs Oil sand is composed of sand, bitumen, mineral rich clays and water. It requires upgrading to make it transportable by pipeline and usable by conventional refineries. The upgraded bitumen product consists of naphtha, light and heavy gas oils that are combined to produce a light, sweet crude oil that we call Syncrude Sweet Blend.
Water makes up about four percent of the oil sand by weight.
It surrounds each grain of sand, keeping it separate from the oil. Without this water envelope, the oil and the sand could not be separated by the water-based extraction methods we now use. According to the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, Alberta's oil sand deposits contain 1.7 trillion to 2.5 trillion barrels of bitumen, of which over 300 billion are recoverable with current technology. The Athasbasca Oil Sands Deposit is, by itself, the largest petroleum resource in the world. Oil sand is visible on the banks of the Athabasca River, north and south of Fort McMurray, but most of the oil sand in the area lies buried 50 metres or deeper under muskeg and overburden.