Oil sands are natural mixtures of sand, clay, water, and bitumen. These mixtures are so dense and viscous that technologies such as steam and solvent injection are applied to lower viscosity for oil sands development and production. Oil sands are found all around the world, but they are heavily deposited in Athabasca, Canada and the Orinoco Belt, Venezuela.

KNOC bought the BlackGold oil sand assets in Canada in 2006 and exploration/development feasibility and enhanced oil recovery studies assigned by the Korea government had been performed for not only oil sands but also bitumen in unconventional carbonate reservoirs since 2007.