Another Peak Oil Cufuffle Part V
We thank KiltedGreen for his comments and thought provoking questions. There is the question of whether at least some methane and oil deposits are classically depletable.
The DOE appointed Yergin task force speculated that some oil and gas deposits are steady state rather than depletable because of evidence of upward migration of fossil fuels from deeper sources.
Dr. K.K. Bissada, a geochemist for Texaco commented in 1995: "It's impossible to put a number on the rate at which this goes on, but I could imagine that this kind of stacked reservoir system, with favorable geographic plumbing between the reservoirs, might refill the upper reservoirs in, say, 10 or 20 years.
If we were to go back to some oil field that had been abandoned 50 years ago, we might drill a test well, and we might find fresh oil. The trouble is that that kind of experiment is too expensive in the present economic climate."
Times have changed and that kind of experiment is not too expensive in today's economic climate.
The theory of abiotic oil maintains that as production draws oil out of known reservoirs through oil wells, field pressure is slightly reduced, thereby allowing more ultra deep oil to migrate up from the mantle and restock the reservoir from below.
Long ago, oil reservoir engineers in many different locations discovered that their existing reserves were somehow being replenished or "topped up" from below.
What these engineers observed were naturally occurring ultra deep oil wells, leaking oil from the mantle of the earth upwards through fractures into "sedimentary oilfields", located relatively close to the surface.
Abiotic theorists maintain that migration from the mantle is probably 20 to 30% less than current production at Middle East wellheads.
This means that if the flow rates of existing Iraqi and Saudi wells were reduced by about 30%, oil supply and production could continue perhaps forever, constantly replenished by ultra deep oil being generated in the mantle itself.
"Peak Oil" claims that world oil reserves are running out and that we will shortly be unable to pump sufficient oil out of the ground to keep up with demand.
Questions: If the Saudi's were peaking, would Saudi Aramco be tripling their number of drilling rigs? And experimenting with "new" extraction technologies?
Perhaps, but the Saudis are drilling more offset wells, which slow's the flow rates and pours more fuel on the "peak oil" fire.
Why would or should oil companies pay to drill more expensive holes here in North America or elsewhere, when they don't really need to?
To extract crude from Middle East sources is far cheaper and "by proxy" the sisters can take by force the known reserves and holes that have already been drilled in Iraq. Ponder this, more to come in Part VI.
Another Peak Oil Cufuffle
Another Peak Oil Cufuffle Part II
Another Peak Oil Cufuffle Part III
Another Peak Oil Cufuffle Part IV
Another Peak Oil Cufuffle Part V
Another Peak Oil Cufuffle Part VI
Another Peak Oil Cufuffle Part VII
Another Peak Oil Cufuffle Epilogue
The DOE appointed Yergin task force speculated that some oil and gas deposits are steady state rather than depletable because of evidence of upward migration of fossil fuels from deeper sources.
Dr. K.K. Bissada, a geochemist for Texaco commented in 1995: "It's impossible to put a number on the rate at which this goes on, but I could imagine that this kind of stacked reservoir system, with favorable geographic plumbing between the reservoirs, might refill the upper reservoirs in, say, 10 or 20 years.
If we were to go back to some oil field that had been abandoned 50 years ago, we might drill a test well, and we might find fresh oil. The trouble is that that kind of experiment is too expensive in the present economic climate."
Times have changed and that kind of experiment is not too expensive in today's economic climate.
The theory of abiotic oil maintains that as production draws oil out of known reservoirs through oil wells, field pressure is slightly reduced, thereby allowing more ultra deep oil to migrate up from the mantle and restock the reservoir from below.
Long ago, oil reservoir engineers in many different locations discovered that their existing reserves were somehow being replenished or "topped up" from below.
What these engineers observed were naturally occurring ultra deep oil wells, leaking oil from the mantle of the earth upwards through fractures into "sedimentary oilfields", located relatively close to the surface.
Abiotic theorists maintain that migration from the mantle is probably 20 to 30% less than current production at Middle East wellheads.
This means that if the flow rates of existing Iraqi and Saudi wells were reduced by about 30%, oil supply and production could continue perhaps forever, constantly replenished by ultra deep oil being generated in the mantle itself.
"Peak Oil" claims that world oil reserves are running out and that we will shortly be unable to pump sufficient oil out of the ground to keep up with demand.
Questions: If the Saudi's were peaking, would Saudi Aramco be tripling their number of drilling rigs? And experimenting with "new" extraction technologies?
Perhaps, but the Saudis are drilling more offset wells, which slow's the flow rates and pours more fuel on the "peak oil" fire.
Why would or should oil companies pay to drill more expensive holes here in North America or elsewhere, when they don't really need to?
To extract crude from Middle East sources is far cheaper and "by proxy" the sisters can take by force the known reserves and holes that have already been drilled in Iraq. Ponder this, more to come in Part VI.
Another Peak Oil Cufuffle
Another Peak Oil Cufuffle Part II
Another Peak Oil Cufuffle Part III
Another Peak Oil Cufuffle Part IV
Another Peak Oil Cufuffle Part V
Another Peak Oil Cufuffle Part VI
Another Peak Oil Cufuffle Part VII
Another Peak Oil Cufuffle Epilogue
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