Peak Oil
Related: About this forumEver wonder why we keep finding more and more and more and more and more OIL .... ?
Last edited Fri Mar 28, 2014, 08:16 PM - Edit history (3)
How many of us actually thought that oil comes from dinosaurs ... even though I have used the term dinosaur juice as a metaphor ... ?
happyslug
(14,779 posts)And that has been the situations since the 1960s when the last real huge (Sometime called elephants) oil fields were discovered. We are finding more oil fields, but way below replacement levels.
Now, Fracking has increased oil production, but from what are called "Tight oil" and those fields have been known for decades but are expensive to extract oil from AND will last less then five years (and enter decline after 18 months). See my previous posts on other sites for details. One of the pushes to get these fields into production is the high costs to drill them AND that the leases have drill or lose the lease clauses. Thus the money is already invested, even before the first dirt is drilled.
As to his point that oil is pumped from 48,000 feet, that is NOT true. While Natural Gas can exist below 20,000 feet (Natural Gas does exists as deep as 100,000 feet). Below 20,000 feet, the heat of the earth converts Oil to Natural Gas, thus 20,000 feet is the approximate bottom level for oil. With fracking we are hitting those levels (we had the capacity to drill to 20,000 feet in 1938). We are getting some liquefied natural gas products along with the natural gas below 20,000 feet, thus this is a source of some of the "Oil" discovered over the 40 years.
Sorry, Peak oil is hitting us right now, there is some question as to when peak Natural Gas will hit but it Will hit (the exact date is unknown for it is hard to determine how much natural gas is below 20,000 feet AND you have the problem of huge natural gas at the bottom of various seas in the world, for example the Caribbean and the seas around Japan, but can NOT be profitable extracted at the present time do to the price of natural gas is to low).
This is a version of the aerobic oil theory, disproved decades ago, but keep coming back supported by people who just like ignoring facts.
NickB79
(19,625 posts)And he's including the depth of the water the platform is operating in with the depth of the borehole.
NathanSharp
(16 posts)so, it can't possibly keep up with the sensationalism of the 24/7 news cycle.
4dsc
(5,787 posts)We are finding many little oil fields and not the giants that are needed to keep our society going in the coming decades.
jambo101
(797 posts)I've never bought into the fossil fuel theory as it just doesnt sound right that decaying dinosaurs and forests can provide the Earth with the amount of oil we are pumping out of the ground and using it globally at a rate of 100 million barrels per day.
A more plausible theory is the Abiotic Theory, which of course has conveniently been debunked.
http://www.viewzone.com/abioticoil.html
Socialistlemur
(770 posts)Not from dinosaurs or trees. The abiotic oil idea has been debunked.
jambo101
(797 posts)Can you imagine the economic chaos that would ensue if the Abiotic theory were proven to be true..
NickB79
(19,625 posts)Those that have the most money to lose if the theory proved to be true have said the theory cant possibly be true thereby debunking the theory..In other words the debate continues.
http://peakoil.com/geology/abiotic-oil-and-gas-a-theory-that-refuses-to-vanish
Socialistlemur
(770 posts)So what's the point you want to bring to the debate?
Socialistlemur
(770 posts)Abiotic oil is like the Loch Ness monster, Atlantis and black republican presidential candidates....fakes.
Crystalite
(164 posts)It's a shame, really, that we can keep finding new reserves and keep designing new ways to get at it.
"Peak Oil" as a moment in time keeps shifting due to changes in technology.
From www.oilposter.org: