Extracting oil and gas from the
earth can be a daunting process. At times, the land
will not easily yield the petroleum treasures
that lie beneath, and Canadians have had to be
innovative to tap into these
underground riches. Some of Canada’s brightest minds
attacked the problem of fossil fuel resource
extraction, and have developed many innovations
over the years that have accelerated the evolution
of Canada’s Petroleum history as a whole.
One major area of innovation
has been that of drawing oil out of oil sands
deposits. Scientists like Dr. Karl Clark and Dr. Tawfik Nasr have worked on developing
innovative ways to extract oil from the oil
sands, while companies like Syncrude have advanced
methods of transporting oil sands to extraction
plants.
Drilling for oil in more
conventional oil reserves has also been an area that
has seen a lot of innovation over the years.
Drilling rigs have evolved from the early cable tool rigs to
the rotary drilling rigs of the modern day. Other
innovators, like those at the Alberta Research
Council, have concerned themselves with solving the
problems associated with drilling, like keeping
water from water reservoirs from entering oil wells
while pumping oil up from the ground.
As the petroleum industry
continues to explore for new reserves of oil and
gas, there will be new challenges to meet in regards
to the extraction and refining of petroleum products.
New innovations will always be called upon to
address these challenges, and to ensure that the oil
treasures buried beneath are brought up to the
surface for human use.
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