Tar Sands Basics
So Saudi Arabian oil is what they call "sweet crude", because it is relatively easy to extract.....just drill and pump it out essentialy...on the other end of the spectrum they have tar/oil sands which is a shiit load more difficult, expensive, and environmentally toxic because you are literally mining the surface of the earth. The substance is called bitumen, which is a rock...and you have to break the rock apart, use millions of gallons of fresh water. Bitumen has a lot more toxic substances in it than "sweet crude". Its so toxic and heavy that unlike regular oil that floats on water, it sinks to the bottom of any body of water. This is exactly what happened a few years ago when a pipeline burst in Kalamazoo, Michigan into the Kalamazoo River, that was carrying bitumen derived oil/tar sands. Its going take a long time to clean it up, cause you can't scrape it off the surface.
to clean and mine that oil, how financially profitable is it? seems like a huge burden and pain in the azz
that oil in saudi arabia is a dream, you can literally dig a hole in the ground there and the oil comes up