Ikelic - Alliance Digital Repository

OIL SANDS
In addition to using these natural bitumens to ob
tain hydrocarbons, they also can be used as a
high quality source for chemicals for the
electrotechnical industry, lacquer industry, road
building, extraction of vanadium, nickel and other
accompanying components, etc. The develop
ment of natural bitumens in the future would
make it possible to reduce the volume of oil
needed for the production of technical bitumens.
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PROSPECTING FOR BITUMEN IN MONGOUA
COULD BE PROFITABLE
A perspective on the Mongolia energy situation
was provided by V. Isayev of Irkutsk State Univer
sity, Russia, at the International Conference on
Problems of Complex Development and Produc
tion of Hard-Accessible Oils and Natural
Bitumens held in Kazan, Tatarstan in
October 1994.
According to Isayev, the Mongolia energy
economy is based on coal. That is why they con
sider the prospecting for, and exploitation of, oil
deposits to be the most important economic,
energy
and environmental problem.
The first (and to date, only) deposit of highly vis
cous oils was discovered by Soviet geologists in
the 1950s in the Eastern Gobi. Heavy, resinous
oils occur at depths of over 1,000 meters. A
sample of oil selected by the author at the Dzun-
Bayan oil deposit has the following characteris
tics:
- Kinematic
- Resin
- Asphaltene
- Hard
Density 0.885
viscosity 46.7 millimeters per
second at 50C
content 20.75 percent
content 1 .37 percent
paraffins content 22.43 percent
3-21
- Sulfur
Prospecting
content 0.3 percent
for new occurrences of these oils
must be carried out at greater depths. The
development of these occurrences will then take
place by injection of steam for lowering the vis
cosity. This will increase the completeness of oil
extraction from the layer.
Isayev believes that, for the present economic
situation of Mongolia, a more profitable course
would be the study and exploitation of natural
bitumen occurrences which are not deeply
buried or which outcrop on the earth's surface
and do not require large expenditures for
prospecting.
Bitumen sands at Bayan-Erchet and Dzun-Bayan
were examined by an Irkutsk University expedi
tion. They contain 13-16 percent bitumen, in
which 24-36 percent are hydrocarbons. The
bitumens contain 7.4 to 8.5 percent heavy paraf
fins. Elemental composition of bitumen shows
carbon = 84.3 to 85.8 percent, and
hydrogen 11.7 percent. The exploitation of the
occurrences is possible by opencast mining
methods. After the extraction of hydrocarbons,
the remainder is useful for production of road as
phalt and bitumen for construction materials.
Isayev says there are all the necessary geological
conditions for the discovery of new occurrences
in Mongolia. Modern technologies for develop
ing the heavy oil accumulations and natural
bitumen would allow Mongolia to create its own
base of hydrocarbon raw materials.
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROBLEMS SEEN FOR
BITUMEN DEPOSITS OF TATARSTAN
At an international conference held in Kazan,
Tatarstan in October, a paper by
B. Anisimov et al. of TatNIPIneft Institute,
Bugulma, Tatarstan, states that the development
of bitumen deposits compared with oil reservoirs
THE SYNTHETIC FUELS REPORT, JANUARY 1995