1

Unit 3

Energy

2

1. Canadian Energy Use • Why are Canadians the sixth highest

energy users in the world?

• Our major industries are energy intensive,

overall industry consumes 31% of all

energy in Canada.

3

1. Canadian Energy Use • Canada is a very large nation, therefore

multiple modes of transportation are

needed. Transportation is dependent on

energy and consumes 30% of all energy in

Canada

4

1. Canadian Energy Use • Canada has long, dark and cold winters,

therefore large amounts of energy are

consumed for heat and light

• Residential users consume 19% of all

energy, commercial (or business) users

consume 15%

5

1. Canadian Energy Use • Key Points to Remember:

– Ontario has high energy use because:

• Large population

• Large industrial base

– Alberta & Saskatchewan have high energy uses because:

• Energy production is centered in these two provinces. It takes a great amount of energy to make energy.

• Energy is more accessible (cheaper), therefore use is high.

6

2. Sources of Canada’s Energy

7

2. Sources of Canada’s Energy • Fossil Fuels 70%

– Coal 52%

– Natural Gas 15%

– Oil 3%

• Nuclear 19%

• Hydro 9%

• Tidal 0.5%

• Solar 0.5%

• Geothermal 0.5%

• Wind 0.5%

8

3. Nonrenewable Energy Sources • Fossil Fuels:

• Examples: petroleum (oil), natural gas and coal

• They are composed of hydrocarbons (atoms of hydrogen and carbon)

• They are formed from the remains of plants and animals that once lived in tropical swamps and shallow seas

• The carbon compounds that were once their bodies, and were once storehouses of the sun’s energy

9

3. Nonrenewable Energy Sources • As these remains fell to the bottom of the

seas or swamps, they were buried in soft

muds and preserved from further decay

• Eventually these muds were covered by

other sediments

• The mud became sedimentary rock as

pressure from above was placed upon it

10

3. Nonrenewable Energy Sources • Animation:

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/ge

o/earth2/content/chapter_14/animati

ons.asp

11

3. Nonrenewable Energy Sources • This process repeated itself and huge basins

containing layers upon layers of carbon rich

sediments were formed

• As millions of years passed – these carbon

sediments were transformed into petroleum

through pressure and chemical reactions

• These basins are the world’s major reservoirs

of fossil fuels, specifically petroleum and

natural gas

12

4. Canada’s Sedimentary Basins • Sedimentary Basin:

• An area in which sediments have

accumulated during a particular time

period at a significantly greater rate and to

a significantly greater thickness than

surrounding areas.

• They usually contain hydrocarbons – the

source of fossil fuels

13

4. Canada’s Sedimentary Basins • Western Canada – Largest land basin,

located in the Northwest Territories, Yukon, British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba

• Cordilleran – British Columbia and the Yukon

• Beaufort Sea-Mackenzie Delta

• Arctic Islands

14

4. Canada’s Sedimentary Basins • Eastern Canada-Offshore – The

largest offshore basin, located on the

continental shelf off the Atlantic coast

• St. Lawrence – Encompasses the St.

Lawrence, Nova Scotia, western

Newfoundland, Lake Huron, Lake Erie,

and Lake Ontario

• Hudson Bay – located in parts of

northern Ontario and Quebec

15

• Fig 11.9 page 215

• Draw, label and colour all 7

sedimentary basins

• Label the provinces and territories

16

5. Oil and Natural Gas Traps Fig 11.10

17

5. Oil and Natural Gas Traps • Reservoir Rocks:

– Often porous rock such as sandstone or

limestone where petroleum can mix with

water

• Traps:

– Areas in the reservoir rock where oil floats

above water and accumulates

• Cap Rock:

– Rock that prevents oil from flowing out of

the traps

18

5. Oil and Natural Gas Traps • Animation:

http://www.wwnorton.com/college/ge

o/earth2/content/chapter_14/animati

ons.asp

19

20

5. Oil and Natural Gas Traps • Fault Trap

– Oil and natural gas form in the impervious

shale layer (source rock)

– The oil and natural gas migrate upward in

the layer of porous sandstone (reservoir

rock) above the source rock

– A fault develops, cutting off the sandstone

layer and tilting it on an angle

– A porous layer is blocked by impervious

shale (cap rock)

– The oil and natural gas are trapped

21

22

5. Oil and Natural Gas Traps • Salt Dome Trap

– Oil and natural gas form in the impervious

shale layer (source rock)

– Oil and natural gas migrate upward in a

layer of porous sandstone (reservoir rock)

– A salt dome develops, cutting through the

porous layers

– The salt dome deflects the layer upwards

– Oil and natural gas are trapped in pockets

between the salt dome and the impervious

shale layers (cap rocks)

23

24

6. How is oil discovered? • It can be seeping out of the ground

(Turner Valley, Alberta)

• Using geology – Oil occurs where

sedimentary rock is gently folded or

faulted or where salt domes and porous

reefs are buried under the surface

25

6. How is oil discovered? • Using seismic exploration – Seismic

waves are transmitted below the

surface of the earth and the amount of

time it takes for the reflected wave to

return to the surface indicates what

type of geological formations exist • http://fossil.energy.gov/education/energylessons/oil/o

il2.html

• Shell Animation

26

6. How is oil discovered? • Drilling wildcat wells is still the only

definite way to determine if oil is

present

• When an oilfield is discovered,

exploration wells are drilled outwards

from the original source to determine

the size and extent of the field

27

7. Canada’s Oil Supply

• Conventional Oilfields: These

produce oil in a liquid form that is

capable of flowing naturally or being

pumped without processing

28

7. Canada’s Oil Supply • Most convectional fields in Canada

occur in Alberta, Saskatchewan, British

Columbia and the Northwest Territories

• No new oilfields have been discovered

in the Western Canada Sedimentary

Basin in the last 20 years, however

production and consumption has

continued at high rates

29

7. Canada’s Oil Supply • Fear of exhausting conventional oilfield.

What are the options?

A.

• Technological advances have

increased the amount of oil that is

being recovered from conventional

oilfields

• Despite advanced technology – Only

30% of all the oil in a conventional

oilfield is recovered

30

7. Canada’s Oil Supply B.

• Exploration of additional conventional

oilfields, like the arctic or offshore

C.

• We must attempt to use alternate

energy sources

31

8. Types of Oil Reserves • Potential Reserves: Known deposits

of oil that cannot be recovered

profitable under existing conditions

• Actual Reserves: Known oil reserves

that can be developed profitably

32

9. Arctic Exploration • Potential reserves lie in the Beaufort

Sea-Mackenzie Delta and in the Arctic

Islands sedimentary basins (under the

ocean floor)

33

9. Arctic Exploration • Problems associated with recovering

Arctic oil:

– Extremely cold temperatures

– Long periods of darkness

– Ice conditions

– Extreme distances from the market causes

difficulties with transportation of the

product (via tanker or pipeline?)

34

9. Arctic Exploration • Arctic oil will be developed if:

– World oil prices increase

– Known conventional oil supplies are

exhausted

– New technology lowers the cost of arctic

exploration and production

– Canada changes its domestic policy and

mandates self-sufficiency

35

• Why would oil and gas deposits in

the Arctic have to be much larger

than the deposits in Alberta and

Saskatchewan before they are

developed?

36

• Cold temperatures, long periods of darkness and ice conditions make exploration and development very costly

• The oil and gas is developed far away from consumers in southern Canada, so transportation to market is more expensive

• Therefore the reserves have to be larger, otherwise they wouldn’t make any profit

37

10. Offshore Oil and Gas • Actual reserves lie in Eastern-Canada

Offshore Sedimentary Basin

• The Hibernia and Terra Nova Oilfields

are off the Grand Banks

• The Panuke and Cohasset Oilfields

are off the Scotian Shelf

38

Offshore Oil Rigs Type of Rig Depth of

Sea Water

Anchoring Structure

Submersible 20m Cement foundation on

sea floor

Jack-up 100m Pylons extending into

sea floor

Semi-submersible

anchored

200m Underwater pontoons

anchored with cables to

sea floor

Semi-submersible

dynamically

positioned

2000m Underwater pontoons

stabilized with an

intricate system of

values and pumps

39

Examples: Semi-submersible

Dynamically

Positioned

40 Terra Nova

Hibernia

What type of Oil

Rig is used for

Terra Nova?

41

11. How does the oil industry help the economy?

• The sale of oil will generate profit that

will be circulated in the economy

• The creation of jobs involved directly

with the drilling project and

refining/processing oil

• The creation of jobs associated with the

construction of the project

• The creation of jobs associated with the

many businesses and industries that

must support the oil companies and

their employees

42

• Energy production is 7% of our GDP

(gross domestic product)

• GDP – is the value of all goods and

services produced in a country

43

• Total export – all things we send out

of Canada to other countries

• Energy is 11% of our total export