1 One of Alberta's largest resources is oil. Oil is found under the ground, and it is formed by decayed plants and animals. This is why it is called "fossil" fuel. It takes a very long time, millions of years, for dead plants and animals to form oil.
2 There are two types of oil in Alberta. The first type of oil is crude oil. Crude oil flows underground like a thick river. Oil companies drill wells and set up pumps to pump the crude oil up to the land so it can be sold. Crude oil is found throughout Alberta. The first successful oil well, Leduc #1, was drilled in 1947 south of Edmonton.
3 The other type of oil in Alberta is called oil sands. Oil sands are made up of bitumen, a really thick oil, and sand. To get the bitumen out of the sand, oil companies have to heat it up or add water to it to thin it before they can pump it out of the ground. They heat up the bitumen by pumping steam into the ground. Then the bitumen becomes thinner and can be pumped easier. When they add water to it, it also becomes thinner and can be pumped out of the ground. Oil companies also scoop out the oil sands with huge trucks, the largest in the world. After they scoop out the oil sands, they can heat them up easier to remove the bitumen. The oil sands in Alberta hold a huge amount of oil and are found in areas in northeast Alberta.
