Peak Oil- what it is and how it will impact your life

Re: Peak Oil; what it is and how it will impact your life

 

Re: Peak Oil; what it is and how it will impact your life

Found that above article any input?

 

Re: Peak Oil; what it is and how it will impact your life

Step one...

Obama Eyes Western Land for National Monuments, Angering Some
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010...nal-monuments/

More than a dozen pristine landscapes, wildlife habitats and scenic rivers in 11 Western states, some larger than Rhode Island and Delaware combined, are under consideration by the Obama administration to become America's newest National Monuments -- a decision the administration can make unilaterally without local input or congressional approval.

 

Re: Peak Oil; what it is and how it will impact your life

Check this one out!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_tribal_oil

You tell me the US isn't getting screwed on all this lack of US Oil!

 

Re: Peak Oil; what it is and how it will impact your life

We have the fossil fuels, never was an open question about it. Minuteman is right, and has said so, the Peak Oil theory is real, but subject to some adjustments. "Light sweet" is in short supply. The Bakken reared its ugly head long ago, long about the time the Athabasca sands popped up as a possible source, too. Both are extensive, both will be extremely expensive to exploit. Now, says me, why not hold it as our reserve and when the gulf is used up they can finance the recovery of our resource, much as we have theirs?

Then there is natural gas. We've a sock full of it, and it has not yet all been found. Every time the geologists have a peek at the Marcellus play, the years of production from the shall doubles, it seems. And the Barnett isn't done yet.

It's a question of how much do we want to spend? Scarcity is defined by cost of production.

 

Re: Peak Oil; what it is and how it will impact your life

I'm curious, BakkenSHALE with an emphasis on the word shale is 'light crude'? I thought we knew about the shale reserves but they actually had to refine ore to extract it? Maybe I'm wrong.

edit: didn't come out right

edit: From the Bakkenshale.net website:

What is the Bakken Shale oil field?

The Bakken oil shale is a deposit of shale deep below the earths surface that contains oil. Oil shale is a sedimentary rock that contains solid Kerogen materials that get released as liquids when the shale rock is heated. Oil Shale, like the Bakken Shale play, was formed millions of years ago by deposits of organic debris or silt that formed in lake beds and sea bottoms. Oil can be extracted out of the Bakken Shale formation area but the process is tricky and expensive since the shale is a solid. The Bakken oil shale must be mined and heated at high temperatures. This is referred to in the oil business as retorting. After the Bakken Shale is retorted, it is separated and collected. The Bakken Shale formation can also be heated under the ground at high temperatures in which companies can pump the oil out of the ground.
​

 

Re: Peak Oil; what it is and how it will impact your life

Correct. Both the Bakken and the Athabasca deposits are immense and both require processing before the oil can even be refined. Light sweet they ain't. The main difference is that the Athabasca "sands" are a bit easier to handle and closer to the surface. Google "Syncrude" for a peek at what one of those operations looks like.

 

Re: Peak Oil; what it is and how it will impact your life

Ghrit is right. The Bakken is a major field but it certainly isn't "light sweet". I have seen reports like the one that Quig posted several times. A lot of times they are from investing firms trying to pump up investors.
Just a couple of points to think on.
These things are usually written by people who have no real understanding of the subject. ie: light sweet.
They tend to think of all oil as the same and we just "have to go get it". Not that simple. The Bakken is a very heavy tarry crude that is very expensive to refine.
The vast sea of oil under the Rockies is not a reservoir but trapped in very non-porous rock. It cannot be conventionly drilled, it has to be mined. Can you imagine the uproar if we decided to start strip mining the Rocky Mountains? Never happen. Maybe someday some new technology will let us produce that oil, but nowhere in the near future.
That is the thing with the Marcellus and the Bakken and the Haynesville shales that are spurring the current drilling activity. New technology and the elevated price of oil and natural gas is allowing us to drill and produce here-to-fore un-productive fields.
These aren't "new" discoveries. We have always known they were there, it just wasn't feasible to obtain. The recent practice of high pressure water fracking is unlocking these tight shales and allowing the trapped oil and gas in them to be produced. But that technology is not cheap and would not be practical if oil was $16 a barrel.

I have said many times and I will reiterate. Peak oil is not about running out of oil. It is about running out of cheap oil.

 

Re: Peak Oil; what it is and how it will impact your life

Speaking to natural gas rather than oil, "hydrofracturing" of the rock is what lets gas out. So-called slickwater frac fluids are sent down with a load of "proppant" which is nothing more than sand that gets jammed in the micro fractures the fracking creates, making pathways for the gas to escape. About 99.5% of the frack fluid is water, the rest is sand and some chemicals to help things along. Seldom are there any truly toxic materials sent down, mostly surfactants (soap, basically) and bactericidal materials. The difficulty with fracking fluids is when they are returned to the surface, they come up with a load of salts as well as some of the injected materials. Disposal can be a problem. Only some 30 to 50 percent of the water injected returns to the surface, but it is an inconvenient truth that it has to be handled carefully lest the EPA (or some other regulatory goon) gets in your face.

There are current experiments with propane as the frack fluid. I'm not at all sure how well that is going, but there are no disposal problems with it. In fact it gets separated and either sold with the gas or reused, I think.

I know that fracking has been used in oil field development. Usually IIRC, for field stimulation after the initial recovery has dropped off to something less than economical to keep the well on line. Also, usually in rock formations where the oil is some heavier than light sweet.

Gas wells in my area are some 5000 feet plus or minus down, then another 3 or 4K feet with horizontal drilling. The frack is only on the horizontal legs. Up to $4M or more to drill. Here, the gas is dry and requires no particular processing to get it in the retail pipeline. The producers expect to make money hand over fist at $6 per million BTU at the point of sale. That compares to around $13 per million when this play got interesting in 08. Right now, it is under $6, but the outlook is for lots higher sooner. There have been some oil shows southwest of here, but so far minor.

More than you ever wanted to know or care about, I'm sure --

 

Re: Peak Oil; what it is and how it will impact your life

Guys
I’m just posting relevant info to the thread so we don’t have 50 + threads on the same subject.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com<img src=" />

 

Re: Peak Oil; what it is and how it will impact your life

Works for me, thanx.

 

Re: Peak Oil; what it is and how it will impact your life



That's a good contribution to the discussion. I have seen Emails of that and other variations.

G, you have a good grasp on the processes. Been doing your homework?
The Hydrofracturing debate is a hyped issue. We only frac the lateral section. Here in the Haynesville around 12,000' deep. The enviro's in the area are claiming that it contaminates the water table. The water table is less than 1500'. The fracing process does not travel 10,000 feet, especially through softer sand formations.
We frac with about 100,000 gallons of water and recover about 10%.

Another note on production figures. These plays are too new to get any kind of realistic production numbers. The wells may be producing millions of cubic feet a day now but no one knows how long that will last. As the gas is produced it reduces the pressure on the entire zone and wells tend to play down over time. Some play out in as little as 2 years.
There have been problems around here of killing a producing well when fracing one close to it. We are just learning how to effeciently drill and produce these wells and they have been producing this field for more than 2 years now.

 

Re: Peak Oil; what it is and how it will impact your life

Yup, the landmen keep coming back, and I want a good lease when the time comes. So far, I've sent him home 4 times with questions. Haven't seen him in months but expect to as soon as the hill thaws so he can get up again.

We see Initial Production figures in the 5-10 million cubic feet per day on the better performing wells that have been tested, petering down we don't yet know how far. Fluid use is pushing several million gallons to the well. And the NIMBYs and greens are going ballistic trying to kill the drill, and might succeed in the NYC water sheds. Regulations aren't well developed yet in either PA or NY; NY has a moratorium in place that is holding up a LOT of drilling.

Rumor has it that one well came in at 5000 psi. There was some surprise on the platform ---

 

A little surprise I had. This was actually after I had flared off most of the gas. The flare was about 80' in the air when I started.

 

nice!

 

Yeppers, they flare off the initial delivery after fracking to get more of the junk out before they turn them into the pipe or cap until the pipe is installed. We have a few like that up here.

Glad you didn't do a suborbital launch of the string.

 

The price of oil is poised to make a signicant upswing. And the same old "oil companies are gouging us" cries will start. Here are some of the real reasons for the upcoming rise.

Eliminating tax incentives for oil companies may seem like a good thing on the surface it is a recipe for higher prices and for job losses and decline in local economies. It is political PC gaming.

API voices opposition to administration's oil and gas tax proposals
The oil and gas industry could lose $80 billion in the next 10 years under the Obama administration's plan to roll back industry tax breaks, the American Petroleum Institute said. "The proposals are aimed at crippling our industry," Devon Energy CEO and API Chairman Larry Nichols said, adding that attempts to curb domestic oil and gas output are "absurd." However, Alan Krueger, an official with the Treasury Department, told a Senate subcommittee that such changes would have a minimal effect on world prices and can be handled by the industry.
Reuters | 09/10
　
API denounces oil, gas taxes in the budget
Oil and gas groups criticized the Obama administration for requesting that Congress discontinue some $36.5 billion in tax breaks for companies, which include deductions for drilling costs and tax credits for low-volume oil and gas wells. "With America still recovering from recession and one in 10 Americans out of work, now is not the time to impose new taxes on the nation's oil and natural gas industry," American Petroleum Institute President Jack Gerard said.
Reuters | 02/01
　
Lawmaker warns U.S. against lifting tax breaks on industry
The White House should drop proposals to raise $45 billion through removing tax subsidies for fossil fuel companies, including ExxonMobil and Chevron, said Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La. "There's going to be fierce opposition to taxing this industry, because it is counter to creating jobs and counter to energy independence," she said during a Senate hearing. Bloomberg BusinessWeek (3/3)
　
API airs disappointment over missed deadline for drilling study
Jack Gerard, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute, said the industry was disappointed with the Interior Department's failure to meet a deadline to file a court-ordered study of the environmental impacts of new offshore drilling in Alaska. "This will delay investment decisions, delay the production of much-needed oil and natural gas and delay the creation of much-needed jobs," he said. The Wall Street Journal/Dow Jones Newswires (2/25)
　
Study: U.S. could lose $2.4T through drilling bans
A move to restrict oil and gas drilling on particular onshore and offshore sites in the U.S. will lead to a loss of about $2.4 trillion through 2029, according to a study. Without access to these energy resources, the country's petroleum and natural gas imports would climb by $1.6 trillion over that span, the report added. "It's clear from this report that the status quo on energy production simply won't suffice," American Gas Association President David Parker said. Reuters (2/16)
　
Obama budget plan could discourage new jobs, lawmaker says
President Barack Obama vowed to prioritize employment in his State of the Union speech, but his budget proposal could derail job generation brought by new taxes on drilling and production, writes Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo. The oil and gas sector supports 9 million jobs, and the country should make it easier for it to hire employees to boost the economy, he argues. If the president is really focused on jobs, he should revise his plan with one that advances responsible energy development, Barrasso writes. The Politico (Washington) (2/8)



For Ghrit, this is a great search function for anything O&G related. Great newsletter too.
　
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Explorer | Alaska's Last Oil | Video | | National Geographic Channel

interesting video