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Prospects of Oil Sands Mining in Nigeria

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DOI: 10.51459/futajeet)

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 FEDERAL UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY, AKURE
JOURNAL OF ENGINEERING AND ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY

PROSPECTS OF OIL SANDS MINING IN NIGERIA

Omotehinse, A. O.
Department of Mining Engineering, Federal University of Technology Akure, Ondo State Nigeria
Corresponding Email: [email protected]

Omotehinse, A. O. (2023): Prospects of Oil Sands Mining in Nigeria. Journal of Engineering and Engineering
Technology /17(1), 62-72

Submission Date: 07-02-23 Accepted Date: 03-05-23

Abstract
An overview of oil sands in the southwestern region of Nigeria was carried out to critically discuss why the oil
sands should be developed. A review reserves statistics was carried out within different locations and it shows
the presence of extensive oil sands deposits and indicates that the oil sands bearing beds are continuous
throughout the study area. The laboratory analysis of samples collected during the fieldwork showed that the
samples collected have a high bitumen content and the sulphur content was within the range of 1.91% and 0.89%.
Outcrops of oil sands were visible on the banks of most of the rivers and farmlands are seen impregnated with
bitumen. Some drilled holes were seen, which confirmed the previous exploration activities in the area. The
presence of oil sands deposit at a very shallow depth was confirmed indicating that surface mining can be carried
out in the area. Therefore, oil sands should be developed in Nigeria for the country's self-reliance on its own
natural resource, and the exploitation of this resource will offer a great opportunity for technological
development. In addition, the country will be able to save a huge amount of foreign exchange and reduce the
dependence on crude oil resources.

Keywords: Surface mining, in-situ mining, upgrading, Nigerian oil sands, Athabasca oil sands, oil sands
prospects
Introduction Studies estimate that unconventional oil reserves
The economic development and the growth in exceed 6 trillion barrels, which is equivalent to about
population in recent years have caused a continuous 70% of all energy resources derived from fossil fuels
increase in demand for world energy. For many in the world. The large sum of proven and recoverable
decades, the world has relied on conventional oil oil reserves in North America and South America can
resources for energy and this has resulted into a be related to the giant reserves of heavy oils and
decline of its availability (Giesy et al., 2010; Santos et bitumen from Venezuela and Canada. Unconventional
al., 2014) and new discoveries of conventional oil are oils resources include heavy oil, extra heavy oil, oil
insufficient to meet the increase in energy demand sand, tar sands, oil shale and bitumen. However, these
(Santos et al., 2014). Sequel to decline of conventional terms are often interchanged and confused because of
oil reserves, new oil discoveries were made and these their similar characteristics. The oil quality is defined
oils have a clearly distinct nature from those inherent based on the American Petroleum Institute gravity (or
to light oils (conventional oils) and are therefore called API gravity), which is the oil density–based standard
“unconventional” (Santos et al., 2014). used and is reported in degrees; this is the most widely
Unconventional resources have grown in importance used definition for heavy oil (Omotehinse, 2020).
and the development will require a paradigm shift in Characteristics of heavy oils include high specific
exploration and production as compared to gravity, high viscosity, low H/C ratio as well as high
conventional resources considering the physical and contents of asphaltene, resin, heavy metals, sulfur and
chemical properties and the recovery methods and nitrogen, often featuring a black color (Santos et al.,
rates (Arthur & Cole, 2014). The unconventional oils 2014).
cannot be recovered in their natural state by applying
normal production methods used for conventional oils Oil sand is an unconventional source of petroleum that
because of its resistance to flow, but require heating occurs naturally; it consists of a mixture of clay, sand,
and dilution during transport. This majorly water and bitumen, small amounts of heavy metals and
differentiates unconventional oil from the other contaminants (Brandt, 2012). The oil in oil sands
conventional oil and it increases the recovery costs is called bitumen and it comprises about 10% of the oil
(Santos et al., 2014). sands (Mech, 2011). Oil sands can be found in
countries including Alberta, Canada and Venezuela.

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An estimate of about 5.6 trillion barrels of bitumen and Upgrading Processes

heavy oil resources can be found in the world with Upgrading involves the conversion of the bitumen to
more than 80% found in Venezuela, Canada and the lighter fractions with fewer contaminants by reducing
U.S.A. (Hein, 2006; Omotehinse and De Tomi, 2021). the size of the hydrocarbon molecules and increasing
The Alberta, Canada accounts for more than 70 % of the hydrogen-to-carbon ratio of the oil (McWhinney,
World bitumen in place with the largest oil-sand 2014). The upgrading comprises two stages, which are
deposits (Tenenbaum, 2009). primary and secondary upgrading. Primary upgrading
is carried out either thermally, by the coking process,
Methods of Extracting Bitumen from Oil Sands or catalytically, by the resid-hydrocracking process or
The extraction methods are selected based on the both. In the secondary-upgrading stage, the resulting
depth of the deposit (Bhattacharjee, 2011) or on the liquid oil from the primary step is further processed to
overburden ratio, which is the ratio between the produce a syncrude that meets the refiner feedstock
thickness of the overburden and the thickness of the specifications (Banerjee, 2012; Omotehinse, 2020).
bitumen deposit. When the deposit is near the surface, The product obtained is called the synthetic crude oil,
there will be low overburden ratio, generally below 1 which can be refined to products like jet fuels, gasoline
and the surface mining technique can be used. and other petroleum products. There are four various
However, the in-situ mining method is used if the methods or processes to the upgrading process:
deposit is deeper below the surface (Zhang, 2014)'—. Thermal Conversion (coking), Catalytic Conversion,
Oil sands that are mineable by surface mining methods Distillation, and Hydrotreating (Bhattacharjee, 2011).
in Alberta is about 8-20 %, while deeper deposits can
be mined using secondary recovery methods In-situ Extraction Process
(Tenenbaum, 2009). Oil sands can be converted to The in situ technique is used when the depth of the
petroleum products, such as diesel, gasoline and jet deposit is greater than 75m usually about 350 to 600
fuel and it is an important source of energy (Adamu et metres below the surface (Mech, 2011) and a variety
al., 2014). In oil sands operation, maximum recovery of in situ techniques is used to recover bitumen from
always encompass the three basic operations: mining, deposits that are too deep from surface (Brandt, 2012).
extraction and upgrading. All in-situ techniques involve drilling of two wells and
injecting energy (steam) into the ore body from one of
Mining the wells thereby reducing the viscosity and increasing
The surface mining operation of oil sands include the ease of flow and thus forcing bitumen to exit
techniques such as open pit, open cast and strip mining through the other drilled wells. The first well is called
methods (Mech, 2011) and can be done when the the injection well and the second well is called the
depth is less than 75m below the surface (Banerjee, production well. Extraction of bitumen by in situ
2012; Omotehinse and De Tomi, 2020). In surface methods of extraction is done directly from the ground
mining, there is removal of the vegetation and the and the bitumen is separated from the sand without
overburden, which can be the underlying clay, silt and removing it from the ground (McWhinney, 2014;
gravel, thereby exposing the oil sands deposits (Zhang, Zhang, 2014).
2014). The deposit is thereafter excavated and
transported to a processing facility (Brandt, 2012). The Oil Sands Occurrence in Nigeria
oil sands thickness is usually between 40 to 60m. The Oil sands have been known to occur in southwestern
overburden removal and the mining operation use Nigeria especially in parts of Ondo, Ogun, Edo and
“benches” that are up to 15 to 17m high. The oil sand Lagos states (Omotehinse et al., 2020) since early
can either be mined with diesel or electric hydraulic 1900s. There have been various industrial attempt to
shovels or using trucks and shovel technology conduct exploration of these deposits. The first
(Bhattacharjee, 2011). attempt was by the defunct Nigeria Bitumen
Corporation in 1908-1914. Shell Darcy carried out
Extraction surface geological surveys and four wells were drilled
The ore that was mined by the truck and shovel in Agbabu, Araromi, Gbekebo and Benin west
operation is crushed for size reduction and hot water is localities in 19221935. Tennessee Nigeria Inc. drilled
added to make an ore slurry. This slurry is transported three wells Ise I, Ise 2 and Orimedu localities in 1963
in a pipeline so as to separate the bitumen from the (Figure 1). The oil sand deposits in Nigeria are
water and sand (tailings) (Bhattacharjee, 2011). The estimated to be between 32-47 billion barrels in place.
slurry is fed into the primary separation vessel (PSV) The deposits covers about 5-8 km wide belt stretching
where it separates into three primary streams, which over a region of 120 km in length (Adegoke et al.,
are the impure bitumen that is recovered as froth, the 1980; Ako et al., 1983; Enu, 1985).
coarse tailings majorly sands and the middling
consisting of clay, sand, water and some bitumen
(Zhang, 2014). The bitumen froth is treated using
naphtha or paraffinic solvents and a bitumen ready for
upgrading to synthetic crude oil is produced (Brandt,
2012).

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 Prospects of Oil Sand Mining in Nigeria ..................................................................................................................

Figure 1: Geological Map of Southwestern Nigeria Showing Oil Sand Locations (Modified after Ako et al., 1983)

The oil sands occur within the Cretaceous sequence of in Table 1. The samples were taken to the laboratory
the Dahomey (Benin) Basin. The basin covers five to analyse the bituminous content, saturate, asphaltene,
West African countries coastline (Ghana, Ivory Coast, aromatic and sulphur content using the Soxhlet
Togo, Benin republic and Nigeria) (Orire, 2009). The extraction technique using dichloromethane as a
stratigraphy of the sequence was carried out by solvent. Each sample was weighed directly into the
Omatsola and Adegoke, (1980) where three cellulose cartridge and the organic extract was
Formations (Ise, Afowo and Araromi) in the Abeokuta concentrated on a rotary evaporator, which was
Group were recognized based on similarity of origin weighed to determine the organic extract in the sample
and lithologic homogeneity. The Abeokuta group is (% organic extract). Column chromatography was
overlaid by the Imo (Ewekoro and Akinbo used to analyse the saturated and aromatic fractions.
Formations), Oshosun, Ilaro Formations, Coastal plain The aromatics were extracted using a hexane /
sands and the Recent Alluvium (Adegoke et al., 1980; dichloromethane mixture.
Enu, 1985) group. Finally, based on some data from available literatures,
the potential for the development of the Nigerian oil
Methodology sands were analysed in comparison with Athabasca oil
sands.
The investigation for this research involved both the
fieldwork and laboratory analysis. The fieldwork was
carried out in Ondo state and some parts of Ogun state
in Nigeria. This involved extensive bush trekking in
order to collect oil sand samples and the exercise was
carried out with the aid of global positioning system
(GPS), sledge hammer, chisel, pen, and sample bags.
A survey of the oil sand outcrops was carried out to
observe the deposit. Some oil sands samples were
collected from some locations in Ondo state for
laboratory analysis. Eighteen samples of oil sands
were collected at various depth for analysis as shown

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Table 1: Samples Location and Depth at which they were Collected

Pit no Sample no Depth Location
06° 38’31.4’’N 04° 49’46.5’’E

P1 1 800cm
2 850cm
P2 3 350cm 06° 38’32.3’’N 04° 49’46.8’’E
4 400cm
P3A 5 150cm 06° 38’32.9’’N 04° 49’46.6’’E
6 200cm
P3W 7 110cm 06° 38’32.9’’N 04° 49’46.6’’E
8 160cm
9 200cm
P4A 10 570cm 06° 38’12.9’’N 04° 49’52.8’’E
P4B 11 570cm
Ilubirin tar sand 12 50cm 06° 38’16.1’’N 04° 49’50.7’’E
Mulekangbo tar sand 13 50cm 06° 39.406’N 04° 50.497’E
Point 5 outcrop 1 14 20cm
Point 5 outcrop 2 15 20cm
Agbabu bitumen 16 Borehole 06° 35’24.6’’N 04° 49’56.3’’E
Mile 2 bitumen 17 Water surface 06° 36’47’’N 04° 49’55.1’’E
Mulekangbo bitumen 18 Borehole

Results a thick clay sequence that is overlain by oil sands

Field work indicating the presence of oil sands at shallow depths.
Extensive bitumen seepages occur across the streams The presence of oil sands deposit at a very shallow
in Mile 2 and Ilubirin communities as shown in Figure depth was confirmed from the holes that was dug hole
2. A sealed and an unsealed drilled hole of oil sands as shown in Figure 5, indicating that surface mining
deposit was located during the recognisance survey as can be carried out on some of the oil sands deposits in
shown in Figure 3, which showed that exploration Ondo state. An extensive outcrop which covers some
activities were carried out in the area. Figure 4 shows kilometres was intercepted by our team at different
locations in Ogun state as shown in Figure 6.

Figure 2: Bitumen seepages on river in Mile 2 and Ilubirin communities

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Prospects of Oil Sand Mining in Nigeria ..................................................................................................................

Figure 4b: Thick clay sequence overlaid by oil sands

Figure 3a: Sealed drilled holes

Figure 5: A shallow well dug to locate bitumen deposit

during the field trip

Figure 3b: Unsealed drilled holes

Figure 6a: Tar sand outcrops in Onipanu, Ogun state

Figure 6b: Tar sand outcrops in Imeri, Ogun state

Figure 4a: Observing thick clay sequence overlaid by
oil sands

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Locations of oil sands outcrops in Ondo and Ogun Mile 2 6°37.08'N and 4°50.5'E: There are no visible
States, Nigeria outcrop in this location, however extensive bitumen
Surface and subsurface evidences as observed during seepage occurs across the streams in the area.
the field work strongly indicate that the oil sands
bearing beds are continuous throughout the study area. Agbabu 6°35.8'N and 4°49.5'E: No bituminous outcrop
Outcrops of oil sands are visible on the banks of most was found at Agbabu. However, an extraction probably
of the rivers in Agbabu and Irele of Ondo state and in abandoned by the former Nigeria Bituminous
Ijebu-Ife area of Ogun state. In the vicinity of Camp Corporation was located at community leader's
Loda and Ilubirin, of Ondo state, the farmlands are backyard (now fenced).
mostly on bitumen impregnated soil. The oil sands
consist predominantly of coarse to fine grain quartz. Gbegude 6°40.5'N and 4°25'E: The bituminous sand is
The coarsest sediments outcrop in central portion are arched and forms a cliff, which is 3m high above the
found around Abusoro and Gbegude villages in Ondo river channel. A miniature is also present. Tar seepage
state. In the west of this region, which is Imeri near forms a thin natural blanket over a cliff surface. The
Ijebu-Ode, Ogun state, the sands tends to be finer. sand is very coarse-grained and easily separates from
Some of the well-known outcrop locations and wells as the bitumen.
seen during the field work are as presented in Sections
Idobilayo 6°39'N and 4°35'E: The Idobilayo outcrop is
4.2.1 and 4.2.2
situated along the bank of Ofara river. A cliff that is 6m
above the river channel constitute the bituminous sand
Ondo State
outcrop in this locality. A waterfall is present. Natural
Loda I 6°39'N and 4°525'E: The bituminous outcrop is
seepage occurs and this forms a thin blanket on the top
overlain by overburden of clayey material. Loda I is
of the outcrop.
about 8km on the east of the road from Olowo junction
to Ode-Irele. Lagba 6°38.8'N and 4°45.5'E: Few natural seepages
occur within cultivated areas. These natural bitumen
Loda II 6°39'N and 4°53'E: An extensive oil sands
seepages are highly indurated and covers the top soil
outcrop is present in this region. This location is
for over a stretch, which is 250m by the bank of the
approximately 1.2km northwest of Loda I on the road
River Oluwa near the old village of Lagba.
to Igbobini.

Petu Village 6°395'N and 4°55'E: A highly indurated Ogun State

bituminous sand forms the water table. Exposures of Mafowoku 6°41.6'N and 4°12.1'E: No outcrop of
the sand occur on both banks of the stream. appreciable thickness occur, however, a sealed
borehole is present.
Gbogi 6°39.5'N and 4°56'E: The tar sand is coarsely
grained, highly indurated and forms a cliff, which is Onipanu 6°41.6'N - 6°43'N and 4°12'E - 4°43'E:
approximately 0.3m high. It is associated with a Extensive bitumen seepage occurs across the Oke-Odo
waterfall. streams. The tar sands flows into the stream on hot
days and especially during the dry seasons. Over eight
Osumo 6°32.2'N and 4°54'E: The bituminous outcrop other spots of natural tar seepage within the locality
is also present along a streambed. It has an overburden was seen.
thickness of 1m and it is underlain by white clay.
Imeri 6°47'N and 3°59'E: The Imeri outcrop probably
Abusoro 6°38'N and 4°44'E. extends eastwards, which is some 2.2km away. The
bituminous outcrop is fairly extensive along the
Abusoro I: here the bituminous sand is approximately Yemaji river near Imeri village.
0.69m thick and it is underlain by 0.07m of hard clayey
material. Tar sands occurs on the cliff surface. The Oso/Iwopin 6°42'N and 4°15'E: Other outcrops in
outcrop forms the water table. Ogun state include those at Obada and Irele/Ijebu-Ode.

Abusoro II: the outcrop lies to the southeast of Abusoro Laboratory analysis results of collected samples
I. The bituminous sands outcrop is over 1m thick. A The laboratory analysis result (Table 2) shows that
thick vegetation cover is present and it is associated sample 14 has the highest bitumen content, which is
with a waterfall. The material is highly indurated. At 67.7% while sample 8 has the lowest with 0.08%.
both Abusoro I and II, the tar sand is coarse grained. Sample 5 has the highest saturate content with 76.9%
and sample 13 has the lowest with 12.7%. Sample 2 has
Ilubirin 6°38'N and 4°50'E: This outcrop is located at the highest aromatic content with 60.9% while sample
kilometre 5 on the Foriku-Agbabu road, approximately 5 has the lowest with 10.1%. Sample 6 has the highest
184m east of Ilubirin camp. A clay sequence, which is asphaltene content with 72.2% and sample 5 has the
approximately 0.6m thick is overlain by tar sand. lowest with 13%. The sulphur content analysis shows
sample 5 has the highest sulphur content with 1.91%
sulphur and sample 12 has the lowest with 0.89%.

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Prospects of Oil Sand Mining in Nigeria ..................................................................................................................

Table 2: Saturates, Aromatics, Asphaltenes and Sulphur content analysis in oil sands samples

Sample E.O % Saturates % Aromatic % Asphaltenes % %

(mg) (mg) (mg) (mg) Sulphur
(S)
Sample 1 1727.1 10.4 3.9 20.2 6.4 33.2 9.0 46.6 0.96

Sample 2 2533.8 16.5 6.1 24.6 15.1 60.9 3.6 14.5 0.90
Sample 3 782.6 5.1 5.3 22.4 5.5 23.2 12.9 54.4 0.95
Sample 4 105.3 1.97 4.2 22.6 3.9 21.0 10.5 56.5 0.90
Sample 5 23.8 0.55 18.3 76.9 2.4 10.1 3.1 13.0 1.91

Sample 6 268.3 1.66 3.8 17.6 2.2 10.2 15.6 72.2 0.96
Sample 8 10.2 0.08 3.2 31.4 1.8 17.6 5.2 51.0 0.92

Sample 9 273.6 1.73 6.8 34.7 5.9 30.1 6.9 35.2 1.21
Sample 11 630.0 6.0 6.5 29.0 6.1 27.2 9.8 43.8 0.92
Sample 12 3930.3 20.9 6.6 27.4 7.1 29.5 10.4 43.2 0.89
Sample 13 4925.7 34.5 3.2 12.7 6.0 23.9 15.9 63.3 0.96
Sample 14 8394.6 67.7 3.5 14.5 5.7 23.6 15.0 62.0 0.96

Sample 16 0.0 #### 6.0 24.1 5.7 22.9 13.2 53.0 0.96
Sample 17 0.0 #### 6.1 25.1 14.4 59.3 3.8 15.6 0.95
Sample 18 0.0 #### 4.7 19.7 6.7 28.2 12.4 52.1 0.94
Note: There was no bitumen extraction from samples 16, 17 and 18. They were directly fractionated.

Potential of Nigerian oil sands in comparison with

Athabasca oil sands

The data used for this comparison was sourced from The average clay content for the Nigerian oil sands
available literature, which were cited accordingly. was lower than the Athabasca oil sands and often, oil
Table 3 shows some peculiar similarities in the textural contents in oil sands is controlled by the clay content
characteristics of the Nigeria and Athabasca oil sands and the particle size (Enu, 1985). The low clay content
formation. Both deposits are divided into three of the Nigerian oil sands can help to hasten the settling
formations occurring in marine environment in the of clay in the tailing ponds thereby enhancing
upper cretaceous to Palaeocene between Neocomian recycling of wastewater.
and Albian times (Orire, 2009). The two deposits sit on In summary, the Nigerian government can invest in
an angular unconformity and both have wet sand technology transfer, which will be between the two
grains, similar textural parameter and have high mean countries with little modification to accommodate the
oil saturation content. visible differences (viscosity, resin, asphaltenes,
sulphur and heavy metal contents).

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Table 3: Major Textural Characteristic of the Nigerian and Athabasca Oil Sands Formation (Carrigy,
1973; Enu 1985)
Characteristics Nigeria Athabasca (Canada)

Rock unit Afowo Formation McMurray Formation

Age of sands Upper Cretaceous Early Cretaceous
Net thickness of oil impregnated sands 27m 60m
Grain size Fine to medium sands Fine to medium sands
Sorting Moderately well sorted Moderately well sorted

Skewness Positively skewed to near-symmetrical Positively fine skewed

Kurtosis Mesokurtic Leptokurtic
Grain shape Sub-angular to sub-rounded Angular to sub-angular
Clay content 2-7% 10-25%
Porosity 24-355 Average 35%
Oil content (wt%) 8-16% Average 16%
Packing Water wet Water wet
Mineral content Rare Rare
Nodules Pyrite Pyrite and siderite
Organic matter Lignite Lignite, commented carbon

Mineral composition
(a) Major constituents Quartz, feldspar, mica, staurolite, zircon Quartz and K-feldspar,
and rutile muscovite
(b) Significant non-opaque heavy Tourmaline Tourmaline, zircon and
chloritoid
mineral
(c) Dominant clay Kaolinite and illite
Kaolinite and illite

Environment of deposition Fluviatile Fluviatile

Fossil content Foraminifera, pollen, spores, molluscs Agglutinated foraminifera,
pollen, spores, fish teeth
Table 4 shows the result of some elemental analysis of
the bitumen samples. It was seen that the value for C, and this may be reflection of the gross elemental
H, O are slightly higher than the Athabasca bitumen, composition. Most of the values for the trace metals
while the other elements have lower values. The higher are lower; this may be of significance in the upgrading
sulphur content of the Athabasca bitumen is said to be and refining processes. The chromatographic result
as a result of microbial degradation as sulphur shows that the Nigerian bitumen have slightly more
compounds are resistant to bacteria degradation. The Asphaltene, which may cause more hydro-cracking
calorific values are higher for the Nigerian bitumen volume while the Athabasca bitumen have more
saturates, aromatics and resins.

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 Prospects of Oil Sand Mining in Nigeria ..................................................................................................................
Table 4: Comparative Analysis of the Elemental and Chromatographic Analysis of the Nigeria and
Athabasca Oil Sands (Oluwole et al., 1987)
Characteristics Nigerian oil sands Athabasca oil sands

C 85.56 82.59
H 11.55 10.26
N 0.13 0.50

Cl 0.12 -
S 1.13 4.64
O 1.52 1.21
N 0.103 -

Calorific value:
kJ/Kg 53,500 41,700
Btu/lb 18,740 17,900
C/H atomic ratio 0.68 0.67
Molecular weight 634 544

Trace metals (ppm by weight):

Calcium 133 21.1
Iron 57.7 54.2
Potassium 5.38 15.5
Magnesium 3.9 4.9
Sodium 7.58 17
Nickel 35.8 74.9
Vanadium 28.9 198

Chromatographic analysis:
Saturates 22.3 22.5
Aromatics 12.9 19.3
Resin 33.2 36.7
Asphaltenes 21.3 18.2

Why the development of the Nigerian Oil sands is synthetic crude oil from oil sands and it is
necessary economically viable in today's oil prices.
There are several reasons why the development of the iii) The development of oil sands mining and extraction
Nigerian oil sands deposits should begin. These plant will offer Nigeria a great opportunity for
include: technological development. The mine will offer
i) The Nigerian government is totally dependent engineers, scientists and operators unlimited scope to
on imported materials, in which bitumen is not adapt mining equipment and technology and in-situ
excluded; the national instinct for survival and self- mining will similarly offer unlimited scope for human
reliance makes it imperative for the country to develop resource development and technology acquisition.
her own resources at any cost. iv) The total development of oil sands takes about 10-
ii) It has been demonstrated from the Canadian 15 years of hard and sustained serious work to achieve.
and Venezuelan experience that availability of If Nigeria were to begin today, positive results will not
conventional crude oil does not stop the production of

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 Omotehinse /FUTA Journal of Engineering and Engineering Technology /17(1), 62-72, 2023
come until Year 2040. The abandoned refinery at technologies and in particular, technical manpower
Kaduna, Kaduna state can be recouped to meet this development should be funded and encouraged in
need. This will result in saving of a huge amount of various universities and research centres in order to
foreign exchange thereby developing our local oil accelerate the pace of this development. A research
sands resources. With the commercialisation of a less institute on oil sands should be set up to coordinate the
capital intensive in-situ plants, Nigeria's prospect for development activities and act as a centre for the
developing her oil sands resources will be much technological knowledge acquired or developed
brighter. The oil from the oil sands can be sent to locally.
refineries to make gasoline, diesel, aviation fuel and
other consumer products. It is recommended that the government should consider
v) As exemplified by Canada, despite its light crude oil the mixed ownership mode of investment for the oil
resources, the country still meets about 40% of her sands mining, so as to attract private capitals. The
domestic hydrocarbon from oil sands sources. This can small-scale mining for production of tar should also be
be done in Nigeria without totally reliance of our crude encouraged in the country, as this will minimize the
oil resources. importation of tar for road construction.
vi) Over 68 billion CAD $ was added to the economy
in 2019 by the oil sands extraction companies in Acknowledgement
Alberta, which was over 18% of Alberta's provincial The author is indebted to Prof B. D. Ako for his
GDP. The mining of oil sands will be economically guidance and provision of some of the data that was
viable if the country can plan it right and follow due used in this research. I will also like to appreciate the
processes not neglecting the environmental and social members of the Geological Consultancy Unit (GCU),
impacts of oil sands development. University of Ife for their assistance in this research.
vii) The by-products such as bitumen, sulphur,
ammonia, pitch and phenol are important feedstock for References
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