This is probably the best article I've read on non-conventional oil sources in a mainstream magazine. If you can get your hands on the hard copy, there are some excellent diagrams on the various techniques being used by companies around the world, such as toe-to-heel-air-injection (THAI), steam-assisted-gravity-drainage (SAGD) and other methods.
What is non conventional oil? For those that don't know, non conventional oil sources are aimed at extracting hydrocarbons from sources other than highly pressurised wells - the traditional drilling image where Texans drill a well and get covered in gushing fountains of black gold.
Non-conventional sources are far more energy intensive, requiring steam, fire, heat or just sheer tar sand processing to generate signficant quantities of marketable hydrocarbons. And potentially there is as much or more non conventional oil in the ground as there are in traditional pressurised wells.
The most famous of the non-conventional resources are the Canadian tar sands, where proven reserves are second only in size to Saudi Arabia's conventional crude.
Ecological Issues - But ecologically, non conventional oil sources are in for a tough time - due to their hugely energy intensive nature, the processes emit enormous amounts of filth... and the green lobby has it in for them.
Furthermore, Obama has pledged to introduce a nationwide Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS), requiring American fuel suppliers to cut carbon emissions from burning their fuels by 10 per cent between 2010 and 2020. Globally, non-conventionals would be penalised by any carbon-pricing regime that may result from the UN's climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, next week. The IEA is pushing for a carbon-emissions price of $50 per tonne, which it says would add $5 to a barrel of fuel derived from tar sands, $12.50 to a barrel of GTL fuels and $30 to CTL ones.
Saviour or Con? But while many non-conventional oil companies around the world are marketing themselves to investors as saviours of the oil industry, the truth is they won't solve the problem due to the cost and issues.
The IEA's chief economist Fatih Birol says non-conventionals can defer global peak oil to "around 2030". Others are not convinced. "If everything goes well," says Steven Sorrel, the lead author of the UKERC report, "oil sands might produce 6 million barrels per day in 20 years' time, but by then we'll need to add…
