Oil sands glossary

Technical process terms

Bitumen

A thick, sticky form of crude oil that is so heavy and viscous it will not flow unless heated or diluted with lighter hydrocarbons.

SAGD (Steam-Assisted Gravity Drainage)

An in-situ method of bitumen recovery using horizontal well pairs and continuous steam injection to let heated bitumen drain into a lower well for pumping to surface.

Cyclic Steam Stimulation (CSS)

An in-situ recovery method that injects steam to reduce bitumen viscosity in repeating cycles of injection, a rest (soak) period, and production, rather than continuous injection as in SAGD.

In-situ

Latin for "in place" -- in oil sands operations, any non-mining method (like SAGD or CSS) used to recover bitumen where it sits underground, as opposed to digging it up.

Upgrader / upgrading

A facility (and the process performed there) that converts heavy bitumen into lighter synthetic crude oil by increasing its hydrogen-to-carbon ratio, making it easier to refine and transport.

Diluent

A hydrocarbon substance blended with bitumen so the mixture is thin enough to move by pipeline.

Extraction

The process of separating sand from bitumen, an early step in mining-based oil sands processing.

Primary Separation Vessel

The first large tank in a mining operation's extraction process, where bitumen froth rises to the top for further processing while sand, clay, and water exit the bottom as the main tailings stream.

Froth treatment

The processing step that takes the bitumen froth coming off the Primary Separation Vessel and removes the remaining water and fine solids before the bitumen goes to an upgrader.

Tailings

The materials -- water, clay, sand, and residual bitumen -- left over after bitumen has been separated out of mined oil sand, typically stored in tailings ponds pending reclamation.

Coking

An upgrading process that applies high temperature and pressure to heavy oil to produce lighter liquid hydrocarbons and a solid byproduct called coke.

Overburden

The layer of soil, rock, and organic material sitting on top of an oil sands deposit, which has to be stripped off before surface mining can begin.

Muskeg

Acidic, boggy soil common across the boreal region, made of dead plant material, peat, moss, and water -- a common surface condition operators deal with before mining.

Camp and rotation shorthand

FIFO

Fly-in fly-out: living somewhere else (often Edmonton, Calgary, or further away) and flying to site for each rotation instead of relocating near the plant.

LOA

Living Out Allowance -- a per diem or allowance some employers pay to workers who maintain their own accommodation instead of using company camp housing. How it's taxed depends on your specific employer's setup; see our camp tax page.

Dry camp

Camp housing with a strict no-alcohol policy, standard across nearly every major oil sands camp, paired with zero-tolerance drug rules and pre-access/random testing.

Turnaround (or shutdown)

A planned, scheduled maintenance shutdown of a plant or unit, distinct from an unplanned "outage" (an unexpected shutdown due to a fault or failure). Turnarounds are the industry's biggest short-term hiring events, typically concentrated in spring and fall.

Rotation

The repeating cycle of days worked at site followed by days off -- common patterns include 14/7 (14 days on, 7 off) and 21/7. See our rotations page for the detail.

Swamper

An entry-level labourer role, often assisting a heavy equipment operator or tradesperson -- one of the more common no-experience entry points into the industry.

B-pressure welder

A welder qualified to a "B" pressure-piping certification level under the relevant welding code, a common ticket requirement for pipefitting and process-piping work at oil sands sites.

Sour gas / H2S

Natural gas or process gas containing hydrogen sulphide (H2S), a toxic gas that smells like rotten eggs at low concentrations and is undetectable by smell at higher, more dangerous concentrations -- the reason H2S Alive training is so widely required. See our tickets page.

Frequently asked questions

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