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Canadian Oil Sands Jobs – Fort McMurray
Canadian oil sands jobs are now a significant part of the employment picture, since we now have the technology to extract oil from the geological formations called shale formations, oil sands or tar sands. When we think about oil, the Middle East or the USA come to mind but with oil reserves second only to Saudi Arabia, Canada is the place, especially for Alberta and Saskatchewan oil field jobs. Canada actually has sufficient reserves to produce an estimated 2.5 million barrels of oil per day for the next 200 years!
Located in northeastern Alberta, Canada, the Athabasca oil sands are the world’s largest oil tar deposit. The same shale formation runs south into the USA, primarily in North Dakota, although oil sands deposits have been found in Alabama, Alaska, California, Kentucky, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Southwest Texas and Utah. In addition to Canada and the USA, oil sand deposits can also be found in Albania, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Indonesia, Jordan, Madagascar, Nigeria, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Tobago, Trinidad and Venezuela and 52 other countries.
Oil sands are extracted from open-pit mines by operations involving digging the oil-filled sand with huge shovels, transporting them to processing plants and separating the bitumen from the sand. Most of the deposits, however, are located under at least 75 m of soil, shale and rock and must be extracted in-situ by some sort of steam assisted process.
Over the next 5 years, it is estimated that 340,000+ new jobs will be created from oil sands production. The jobs involved in the extraction of oil from sand or shale include (but are certainly not limited to) people working in the areas of the environment, engineering, geology, mining, construction, transportation, accounting and administration, and the support services for all of these.
The expected growth of oil sands production means that many more specialists will also be needed. Depending on whether surface or in-situ mining is used, mine and subsurface geologists will be needed, plus reservoir engineers, geophysicists, computer modelers, policy specialists, reclamation specialists, environmental specialists, economists and many others.
With the exception of the specialists, oil sands jobs are a bit different from others in the oil industry because oil sands companies typically hire certified trades people, such as pipefitters, welders and rig welders, scaffolders, process and heavy equipment operators, etc. all of whom have their safety training tickets already.
Generally people filling oil sands jobs are employed either directly by the oil sands mining companies or by contractors which are often in construction. With oil sands, it is your skills, experience and education that will determine the job you will get, although people can work their way up through apprenticeship programs or by gaining their certifications through additional training. As mentioned earlier, mining companies and contractors will also need many skilled people as well.
Salaries for Canadian oil sands jobs depend on the person’s experience and the type of work being done. This could mean an entry level laborer looking at available Fort McMurray jobs will start at $17/$18/hour. If you are looking for such an entry level job, a word of warning – housing is very limited and expensive around Fort MacMurray, so as part of your search for jobs, be sure to research housing options as well or try to get housing included as part of the jobs package.
Canadian Oil Sands Jobs – Athabasca – Fort McMurray – Athabasca Oil Sands
Oil Sand Fields in Canada Are Leading The Way
The “mining” of Canada oil sands, as well as US oil sands offers significant job opportunities. The Alberta Oil Sands are described by the Canadians as deposits of a semi-solid, thick and sticky crude oil that must be heated so it will flow more easily. Otherwise, it is very thick, somewhat like molasses, when it is cold. It’s similar to what is called extra heavy oil in Venezuela where the oil there flows better due to the heat.
Right now, Canada is the only country that has a large-scale operation in collecting and refining oil from the oil sands. They are leading the way in the technology that will be used by other countries such as Russia, Venezuela, the Republic of the Congo, Tsimiroro (Madagascar) to produce oil from their oil sands as well. Read the rest of this entry »