Geothermal power for the oil sands

Major players in the oil sands, under political pressure to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions, have quietly formed an industry-wide consortium to explore using heat in the Earth’s crust as a clean alternative to natural gas.

The consortium, called GeoPower in the Oil Sands, or GeoPOS, plans to drill an appraisal well to assess the heat potential of granite rock that lies 500 metres below the Earth’s surface. If the required heat levels are found, an “enhanced geothermal system” could be built that supplies the hot water needed for extracting oil from the tarry sands


It could also deflate the nuclear industry’s hope of building reactors in northern Alberta, an idea being pushed by the federal government and investigated by Husky Energy Inc. and France’s Total SA.

“We are a member of the GeoPower consortium,” confirmed Shell Canada Ltd. spokesperson Janet Annesley. “Geothermal fits with our principles of sustainable development, in that there’s a potential economic benefit, which is reducing our operating costs and dependence on natural gas, and (it) reduces our greenhouse gas emissions.”

Toronto Star