Energy Return On Investment Explained

From the transcripts of the Joint Review Panel on Naorthern Gateway:

7325. So what can be said? What conclusion can we reach from these calculations? What is the ratio of energy gained from the diluted bitumen to energy expended in extracting, diluting, pumping, shipping and rendering it equivalent to crude oil for refining purposes?

7326. When you place the energy output of a barrel of oil above the line and the energy input below the line, the 16,042.1 kilojoules per litre, you multiply the 6.142 gigajoules per barrel by 1000 to get kilojoules per barrel, all of the units cancel out and you are left with an energy return on investment ratio of 2.41 for the entire process, from extraction to the rendering of it equivalent to a barrel of crude oil at the destination.

7329. Depending on whether the extraction process is mining or in situ, the energy return on investment for oil sands extraction is either greater than or less than one barrel of oil expended to produce six barrels of oil. For the process of which the Enbridge Northern Gateway Project is a part, the energy return on investment is one barrel of oil expended to achieve 2.41 usable barrels of crude oil equivalent at the refinery.

https://www.neb-one.gc.ca/ll-eng/livelink.exe/fetch/2000/90464/90552/384192/620327/628981/783833/International_Reporting_Inc._-_Vol.13-WedJan18.12_-_A2L2R0?nodeid=783834&vernum=0&redirect=3&redirect=4

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You can watch a BCSEA webinar by the engineers who made the above presentation at:
http://www.bcsea.org/past-webinars   BCSEA is grand as well!

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May 2012

Alberta to China: What's the energy return ?