ABSTRACT
Heavy oil and bitumen (the primary organic component of tar sand) are often defined (loosely and incorrectly) in terms of API gravity. A more appropriate definition of bitumen, which sets it aside from heavy oil and conventional petroleum, is based on the definition offered by the US government as the extremely viscous hydrocarbon which is not recoverable in its natural state by conventional oil well production methods including currently used enhanced recovery techniques (Chapter 1). By inference, conventional petroleum and heavy oil (recoverable by conventional oil well production methods including currently used enhanced recovery techniques) are different to tar sand bitumen. Be that as it may, some stage of production, conventional petroleum (in the later stages of recovery) and heavy oil (in the earlier stages of recovery) may require the application of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) methods for recovery (Speight, 2009).
