Industry Code: 06600
The industry covers employers engaged in both the mining and the processing of bituminous sand. Oilsands are deposits of bitumen, heavy, thick, black viscous oil that must be treated to convert it into an upgraded crude oil before it can be used by refineries to produce gasoline and diesel fuels.
Operation Details:
This is an open pit mining process that removes oil-laden sand from the earth and transports this sand to an extraction plant.
Conventional methods of mining include the use of draglines, with booms measuring over 100 meters, equipped with enormous buckets that dig up the oil sand, bucketwheel excavators, equipped with a series of toothed buckets on a revolving wheel are used to scoop up the sand and put it on conveyors or loaded onto specialized trucks for transport to an extraction plant. The trend is towards excavating through the use of front end loaders and with emerging technology, hydro transportation is being used to move slurry by pipeline to the upgrading plants.
Once the raw bitumen is separated, it is upgraded into synthetic crude oil because it contains impurities, and is too thick and heavy to flow through pipelines.
Upgrading units include the coker, which breaks down the bitumen into smaller molecules and the fractionator, which separates the bitumen products into gas, naphtha and gas-oil molecules, removing the impurities. Upgrading plants are comparable to oil refineries in many ways. The end product, synthetic crude oil, is shipped to refineries for further processing into other products such as gasoline, jet fuel and lubricating oil.
All employers in this industry are members of Energy Safety Canada (ESC). Safety associations represent the interests of employers and promote workplace safety through education and other initiatives. Improved workplace safety can result in fewer claims and help lower premiums. A portion of premiums collected is allocated to the association to support these initiatives.
Underwriting Considerations:
While conventional crude oil flows naturally or is pumped from the ground, or with new oil and gas production technology the use of steam injection recovery techniques have been used, the oil sands are generally mined or can be recovered in-situ: meaning "in place" by using steam injection technology. This is an oil well recovery method using a series of automated processes with steam and chemical agents to separate the bitumen from the sand. If the oilsands company is performing steam injection well recovery to recover bitumen and it is done in conjunction with their oilsands operation, an additional industry is not required.
Often employers in this industry engage contractors on a long term basis. This will include day to day maintenance, plant shutdown work and overburden removal. Such contractors are classified according to their particular business activities.
Power plants (also called co-generation power plants) are occasionally constructed at these types of mining/processing sites to produce their own power for the operation of the facility. If excess power is produced from the power plants that run the facility, it is sold to a power utility company where the excess power is placed on their grid and sold to customers. These power plants, when used to produce power for their own facility, are not allowed an additional industry. The selling of the excess power is considered incidental.
Premium Rate History:
Activities:
Bituminous Sand, Mining and Processing
Mining/Processing, Oil, Bituminous, Tar Sands
Tar Sands - Mining and Processing
Oil Sands - Mining and Processing
Rate Group History:
There have been no changes made involving this rate group since major restructuring began in 1990.
The industry covers employers engaged in both the mining and the processing of bituminous sand. Oilsands are deposits of bitumen, heavy, thick, black viscous oil that must be treated to convert it into an upgraded crude oil before it can be used by refineries to produce gasoline and diesel fuels.
Premium Rate History:
Activities:
Bituminous Sand, Mining and Processing
Mining/Processing, Oil, Bituminous, Tar Sands
Tar Sands - Mining and Processing
Oil Sands - Mining and Processing
Operation Details:
This is an open pit mining process that removes oil-laden sand from the earth and transports this sand to an extraction plant.
Conventional methods of mining include the use of draglines, with booms measuring over 100 meters, equipped with enormous buckets that dig up the oil sand, bucketwheel excavators, equipped with a series of toothed buckets on a revolving wheel are used to scoop up the sand and put it on conveyors or loaded onto specialized trucks for transport to an extraction plant. The trend is towards excavating through the use of front end loaders and with emerging technology, hydro transportation is being used to move slurry by pipeline to the upgrading plants.
Once the raw bitumen is separated, it is upgraded into synthetic crude oil because it contains impurities, and is too thick and heavy to flow through pipelines.
Upgrading units include the coker, which breaks down the bitumen into smaller molecules and the fractionator, which separates the bitumen products into gas, naphtha and gas-oil molecules, removing the impurities. Upgrading plants are comparable to oil refineries in many ways. The end product, synthetic crude oil, is shipped to refineries for further processing into other products such as gasoline, jet fuel and lubricating oil.
All employers in this industry are members of Energy Safety Canada (ESC). Safety associations represent the interests of employers and promote workplace safety through education and other initiatives. Improved workplace safety can result in fewer claims and help lower premiums. A portion of premiums collected is allocated to the association to support these initiatives.
Underwriting Considerations:
While conventional crude oil flows naturally or is pumped from the ground, or with new oil and gas production technology the use of steam injection recovery techniques have been used, the oil sands are generally mined or can be recovered in-situ: meaning "in place" by using steam injection technology. This is an oil well recovery method using a series of automated processes with steam and chemical agents to separate the bitumen from the sand. If the oilsands company is performing steam injection well recovery to recover bitumen and it is done in conjunction with their oilsands operation, an additional industry is not required.
Often employers in this industry engage contractors on a long term basis. This will include day to day maintenance, plant shutdown work and overburden removal. Such contractors are classified according to their particular business activities.
Power plants (also called co-generation power plants) are occasionally constructed at these types of mining/processing sites to produce their own power for the operation of the facility. If excess power is produced from the power plants that run the facility, it is sold to a power utility company where the excess power is placed on their grid and sold to customers. These power plants, when used to produce power for their own facility, are not allowed an additional industry. The selling of the excess power is considered incidental.
Rate Group History:
There have been no changes made involving this rate group since major restructuring began in 1990.