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A researcher from the University of Alberta has proposed an experimental electrical heating process to draw oil from largely untapped deposits, which could yield major rewards for oil production and be more environmentally sound than current extractions processes.

The process could boost worldwide oil supplies in the future and lead to lower prices for gasoline, diesel, and home heating oil, the researchers suggest.

According to Tayfun Babadagli, a professor at the University of Alberta’s School of Mining and Petroleum Engineering, an electrical heating process could be used to draw the oil resources of smaller or difficult-to-extract oil deposits, for which current processes—such as steam assisted gravity drainage or SAGD—are impractical and environmentally unsound.

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