Oil Reserves - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Botnst · #1 03-05-2007, 08:35 PM

Oil innovations pump new life into old wells

By Jad Mouawad
http://news.com.com/Oil+innovations+pump+new+life+into+old+wells/2100-11392_3-6164239.html

Story last modified Mon Mar 05 07:54:34 PST 2007

BAKERSFIELD, Calif.--The Kern River oil field, discovered in 1899, was revived when Chevron engineers here started injecting high-pressured steam to pump out more oil. The field, whose production had slumped to 10,000 barrels a day in the 1960s, now has a daily output of 85,000 barrels.
In Indonesia, Chevron has applied the same technology to the giant Duri oil field, discovered in 1941, boosting production there to more than 200,000 barrels a day, up from 65,000 barrels in the mid-1980s.

And in Texas, Exxon Mobil expects to double the amount of oil it extracts from its Means field, which dates back to the 1930s. Exxon, like Chevron, will use 3D imaging of the underground field and the injection of a gas--in this case, carbon dioxide--to flush out the oil.

Within the last decade, technology advances have made it possible to unlock more oil from old fields, and, at the same time, higher oil prices have made it economical for companies to go after reserves that are harder to reach. With plenty of oil still left in familiar locations, forecasts that the world's reserves are drying out have given way to predictions that more oil can be found than ever before.

In a wide-ranging study published in 2000, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that ultimately recoverable resources of conventional oil totaled about 3.3 trillion barrels, of which a third has already been produced. More recently, Cambridge Energy Research Associates, an energy consultant, estimated that the total base of recoverable oil was 4.8 trillion barrels. That higher estimate--which Cambridge Energy says is likely to grow--reflects how new technology can tap into more resources.

"It's the fifth time to my count that we've gone through a period when it seemed the end of oil was near and people were talking about the exhaustion of resources," said Daniel Yergin, the chairman of Cambridge Energy and author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning history of oil, who cited similar concerns in the 1880s, after both world wars and in the 1970s. "Back then we were going to fly off the oil mountain. Instead we had a boom and oil went to $10 instead of $100."

There is still a minority view, held largely by a small band of retired petroleum geologists and some members of Congress, that oil production has peaked, but the theory has been fading. Equally contentious for the oil companies is the growing voice of environmentalists, who do not think that pumping and consuming an ever-increasing amount of fossil fuel is in any way desirable.

Increased projections for how much oil is extractable may become a political topic on many different fronts and in unpredictable ways. By reassuring the public that supplies will meet future demands, oil companies may also find legislators more reluctant to consider opening Alaska and other areas to new exploration.

On a global level, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, which has coalesced around a price of $50 a barrel for oil, will likely see its clout reinforced in coming years. The 12-country cartel, which added Angola as its newest member this year, is poised to control more than 50 percent of the oil market in coming years, up from 35 percent today, as Western oil production declines.

"We're still finding new opportunities here. It's not over until you abandon the last well, and even then it's not over."
--Steve Garrett, geophysicist, Chevron
Oil companies say they can provide enough supplies--which might eventually lead to lower oil and gasoline prices--but that they see few alternatives to fossil fuels. Inevitably, this means that global carbon emissions used in the transportation sector will continue to increase, and so will their contribution to global warming.

The oil industry is well known for seeking out new sources of fossil fuel in far-flung places, from the icy plains of Siberia to the deep waters off West Africa. But now the quest for new discoveries is taking place alongside a much less exotic search that is crucial to the world's energy supplies. Oil companies are returning to old or mature fields partly because there are few virgin places left to explore, and, of those, few are open to investors.

At Bakersfield, for example, Chevron is using steam-flooding technology and computerized three-dimensional models to boost the output of the field's heavy oil reserves. Even after a century of production, engineers say there is plenty of oil left to be pumped from Kern River.

"We're still finding new opportunities here," said Steve Garrett, a geophysicist with Chevron. "It's not over until you abandon the last well, and even then it's not over."

Some forecasters, studying data on how much oil is used each year and how much is still believed to be in the ground, have argued that at some point by 2010, global oil production will peak--if it has not already--and begin to fall. That drop would usher in an uncertain era of shortages, price spikes and economic decline.

"I am very, very seriously worried about the future we are facing," said Kjell Aleklett, the president of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas. "It is clear that oil is in limited supplies."

Has production peaked?
Many oil executives say that these so-called peak-oil theorists fail to take into account the way that sophisticated technology, combined with higher prices that make searches for new oil more affordable, are opening up opportunities to develop supplies. As the industry improves its ability to draw new life from old wells and expands its forays into ever-deeper corners of the globe, it is providing a strong rebuttal in the long-running debate over when the world might run out of oil.

More at:http://news.com.com/2102-11392_3-6164239.html?tag=st.util.print

dlssmith · #2 03-05-2007, 09:01 PM

Increased reserves, better and more efficient ways to release the heat energy from each molecule of oil, lo and behold you've got optimism.

Let the market place do it's thing and we will never, ever run out of oil.

t walgamuth · #3 03-05-2007, 10:34 PM

i heard a discussion on NPR one day a few years ago in which they discussed the oil supply.

the thing i remembered most and thought was pretty profound was stated by one of the experts....he said "i think that before we run out of petroleum we will find other sources of energy because we are no longer willing to pay the price for the ill side effects of petroleum use".

i think this has a strong possibility of being true.

tom w

AustinsCE · #4 03-05-2007, 10:57 PM

Bakersfield baby, yeah! Thats why Austins getting a raise this month.

t walgamuth · #5 03-05-2007, 11:00 PM

good for you!

tom w

AustinsCE · #6 03-05-2007, 11:02 PM

thank you. Too bad gas is 30 cents higher here than anywhere else, i give it all back!

450slcguy · #7 03-05-2007, 11:31 PM

Enough with oil. It's time for a alternate energy solution. It's like an addict finding a new drug supplier. I don't want to be enslaved by hostile foreign countries and at the mercy of the greedy oil empires. I don't want the pollution, the global warming, and the lingering threat of oil based wars. I want new technologies and renewable energy resources. I want energy independence instead of energy dependence.

More oil is not the solution, it's just more of the same problems.

PC Dave · #8 03-05-2007, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 450slcguy

Enough with oil. It's time for a alternate energy solution.

What alternate energy solution do you propose?

300SD81 · #9 03-05-2007, 11:41 PM

Everyone produce biodiesel

$0.80/gallon + good for the enviorment, sounds great to me..

kknudson · #10 03-05-2007, 11:54 PM

Oil Reserves.
For those of you older folks, remember the Oil crisis of the 70s, the world would be OUT of Oil in 20 years Tops.

Interestingly today the proven reserves are about 3 times what they were back then, and how much have we consumed in that time. Some of the "new" reserves reflects the ability to get oil out of what were once dying, or dead wells. Most though is new discoveries.

Right now it's really a supply and demand crunch, producing near cappacity, and using just a shade under that. So any little ripple screws up the market.

While I am not a diesel guy, a comment about the BioFuels.
Something on, Future Cars I think, when you burn Bio fuels the pollution drops to almost nothing. In some cases it was nothing, sorry I don't remember the details.

Personally, I am not sold on ethanol. For one we need the corn as food, in one form or another.
Wait till people start complaining about the price of food going through the roof, because al of the corn is being routed to ethanol production.
There are a number of other issue's as well.

450slcguy · #11 03-05-2007, 11:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PC Dave

What alternate energy solution do you propose?

How about the ones our billions of tax dollars have been been spent on for the last 30 years. How about hydrogen, solar, wind, nuclear, magnetic, and organic waste? The solutions are there, we just need to focus on building the up the technology and infrastructure to deliver these alternatives. Of course big oil is the King, that's the way they want it to be, with no competing or alternative remedies.

cmac2012 · #12 03-05-2007, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dlssmith

Increased reserves, better and more efficient ways to release the heat energy from each molecule of oil, lo and behold you've got optimism.

Let the market place do it's thing and we will never, ever run out of oil.

Dream on. I'm not going to complain that they're getting more out but one thing it means is that when they pump those at with those methods, the wells will just about definitely be dry.

dlssmith · #13 03-06-2007, 12:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 450slcguy

Enough with oil. It's time for a alternate energy solution. It's like an addict finding a new drug supplier. I don't want to be enslaved by hostile foreign countries and at the mercy of the greedy oil empires. I don't want the pollution, the global warming, and the lingering threat of oil based wars. I want new technologies and renewable energy resources. I want energy independence instead of energy dependence.

More oil is not the solution, it's just more of the same problems.

With all due respect, replacing oil is impossible with current technologies. There is nothing, absolutely nothing on the planet that can produce the btu energy of oil or coal. Nothing else is so portable, or mutable. Nothing else is as efficient. I'm talking big picture efficiency, ease of use, etc. There is no substance or technology that has been able to lift mankind as far away from the caves of our ancestors as oil (or coal). Everything you do, everything you are, is by and of these products. The food, medicine, clothing; everything. The very reason we enjoy the high standard of living today is because we've figured out how to deliver an almost unlimited supply of electrical energy to every home in the US and much of the world.

You say you don't want to be at the mercy of greedy oil empires, or under threat of war for oil, but have you stopped to consider that energy will be controlled by some one, no matter what the energy is made from? A giant solar energy cartel based in the earth's deserts is likely to emerge if we perfect that technology - you'll have to buy it from some one.

Your sound bites, all 10 or 11 of them, despite their passion, are lacking in logic. You could do much more for humanity by promoting the dissemination of current energy technology to everyone on the planet. What a goal, "An electric outlet in every home on earth within 10 years!!! Rather than world bank suppression of the construction of oil and coal fired power plants in the third world, because they "pollute". We live here in America, all electrically wired, amongst all this "pollution" - yet we live to an average age of 78?

A couple of years ago in France during a fairly common place heatwave, over 15,000 people died, mainly in their homes. Air conditioning would have saved most of them, but since the French government prices electricity so high, few can afford to operate an airconditioner. A couple of coal fired power plants would have saved 15000 people!!!! So much for passionate soundbites.

dlssmith · #14 03-06-2007, 12:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kknudson

While I am not a diesel guy, a comment about the BioFuels.
Something on, Future Cars I think, when you burn Bio fuels the pollution drops to almost nothing. In some cases it was nothing, sorry I don't remember the details.

Personally, I am not sold on ethanol. For one we need the corn as food, in one form or another.
Wait till people start complaining about the price of food going through the roof, because al of the corn is being routed to ethanol production.
There are a number of other issue's as well.

Alternative fuels. Ethanol, bio diesel, etc. Pres Bush recently stated that we should have as a goal 20% of our fuel needs met with ethanol and biodiesel at some point in the future. Folks, there isn't enough land in the US to grow the crops necessary to do this and feed ourselves. Then there is all the energy to make those fuels. I guess we'll just have to import it.

450slcguy · #15 03-06-2007, 12:22 AM

I guess most people don't care about pollution, global warming, and oil dependency. I suppose oil at any price tag will work for the privileged few who will be able to afford it in the not so distant future. Most folks aren't worried about the current and future wars that will occur when the spigots gets turned off. Let's not worry about the future for our kids and grand kids, let us enjoy the temporary promised bonanza while it lasts. And when the time does eventually occur that oil can no longer supply our homes and cars and infrastructure, we can look back and say why didn't the government act to prevent the collapse of our world.