Excessive steaming was one of the factors that caused more than one million litres of oily water to ooze to the surface at an eastern Alberta oilsands site nearly three years ago, an investigation by the Alberta Energy Regulator has concluded. The AER's report released Monday also said the bitumen-water emulsion was able to travel from deep underground through old unused wellbores, natural fractures and faults as well as man-made cracks in the rock.