Where's the beef?!

new process ? air injection, fireflood, insitu combustion, call it what you like (one guy i know called it farflood...... far = texan for fire). this has been tried since at least the 1950's.

some of the problems( as related to insitu combustion in an "oil" reservoir)

1) the combustion process tends to sweep only the upper portion of the oil zone.

2)much of the heat generated is wasted. everything is heated including the rock above and below the oil zone.

3) mobility. the combustion gases have a much lower viscosity than the "displaced" oil.

4) capital requirements although this is most likely a fraction of the capital requirments for tar pit mining.
but much greater than "conventional" oil production (of course the capital requirments for drilling for oil at the north pole are much greater than for "conventional" oil production also.
5) operational problems corrosion, scale deposition, polution, sand production, carbon and wax or tar deposits
hazardous gases (such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulphide) and tubing and casing failure due to excessive temperatures.

maybe these problems can be overcome but not in time to save us from peak oil. go ahead and park the suv.