Bitumen, otherwise known as tar sand, is oil-soaked dirt that needs to be cooked to extract the oil.

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The crude is squeezed out of huge chunks of strip-mined dirt, as opposed to drilled from pools of oil underground.

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For starters, check out UltraTech's Ever Dry -- a miraculous nanocoating that can make practically any object impervious to water, oil, dirt and even wet concrete.

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'Tis also the season to replace your facial cleanser with a gentler, oil-based product, such as one of Shu Uemura's Skin Purifiers, which dissolve dirt and makeup without stripping natural oils.

WSJ: Maintaining the Gloss

Continued efforts by these groups represent a long-term threat not just to the oil and natural gas industry, but to any project that must turn dirt to be completed, including highway projects, water projects, housing developments, etc.

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