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Post by glennkoks on Apr 18, 2012 5:00:55 GMT
sigurdur, considering natural gas is a bi-product of oil drilling any conversion to diesel would be better to the alternative of simply flaring it off. As oil prices continue to rise new plants will spring up to take advantage of gas to liquid technology.
I was considering investing in companies involved with LNG plant construction. However considering the pressure and temperature required to convert natural gas into a liquid this new process seems to hold more promise.
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Post by sigurdur on Apr 18, 2012 12:13:28 GMT
glenn:
I agree. Flaring is not an acceptable practice as it is wasting a by product.
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Post by phydeaux2363 on Apr 18, 2012 14:03:44 GMT
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Post by glennkoks on Apr 25, 2012 3:53:52 GMT
In addition to Gas to Liquid technology my neighbor is working on certain scrubbers that help "scrub" sandstone and help extract oil from the formation chemically. This new technique along with the gas to liquid technology will be game changers.
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Post by ebrainsh on Jul 11, 2012 1:28:24 GMT
IT IS NOW ESTIMATED THAT KSA CRUDE RESERVES HAVE FALLEN BELOW 28 GB (BILLION BARRELS)[/size] westexas on July 10, 2012 - 12:20pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Parent subthread | Comments top I'm estimating that Saudi post-2005 CNE depletion rate was about 8%/year from 2005 to 2011: The following graph shows the ECI ratio for Saudi Arabia, from 2002 to 2011: i1095.photobucket.com/albums/i475/westexas/SaudiECI.jpgThe extrapolation on the preceding Saudi graph is based on extrapolating the 2005 to 2011 decline in the Saudi ECI ratio. The extrapolation predicts that they will approach a 1.0 ECI ratio (and thus zero net oil exports) in 2034, which is slightly more optimistic than what prior ECI decline extrapolations showed. An extrapolation of the 2005 to 2008 rate of decline in the Saudi ECI ratio suggested that they would approach zero net oil exports in 2032. Based on the initial six year extrapolation, estimated post-2005 Saudi CNE are about 45 Gb. Saudi Arabia shipped about 17 Gb of cumulative net exports from 2006 to 2011 inclusive, putting estimated remaining post-2005 Saudi CNE at about 28 Gb, or about 38% depleted (in six years). www.theoildrum.com/node/9327#more
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Post by glennkoks on Jul 11, 2012 2:57:45 GMT
ebrainsh, I would not bet on a zero net export from Saudi Arabia for a long, long time. The technology we are using now to unlock oil from the Bakken and Eagle Ford Shale plays will become a bigger and bigger factor in other areas of the world, slowing the decline.
It's going to get more expensive but we will still have it in ample supplies for the foreseeable future.
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Post by ebrainsh on Jul 11, 2012 14:27:05 GMT
Glen,
The article not only references Bakkens' steep depletion rate per well but also their cost of extraction due to the depletion rate. Additionally, Bakken will have a hard time sustaining any significant flow rate because of the rapid decline per well.
Since you are working on these wells first hand, your knowledge and input is invaluable.
As far as KSA, they are spending billions trying to sustain their output. I am sure everything you guys are doing in the Bakken formation came from the experiences of the KSA or other middle eastern fields.
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Post by glennkoks on Jul 11, 2012 16:43:13 GMT
ebrainsh, decline and depletion rates are relatively well known. However, what is much harder to predict is future production rates. Technology changes and as oil gets more expensive and profitable more and more wells come on line.
The Oil sands and tar sands become more profitable and more production comes online. So many factors come into play and one of the biggest is the economy.
Horizontal drilling has been around for decades but within the last 10 years in combination with multistage fracking they have really unlocked potential that has surprised even the experts.
With that being said cheap, shallow, easily recoverable crude is probably a thing of the past. I don't see us running out of oil on any given date but I do see it becoming much more expensive and as it does so we will turn to Natural Gas.
My neighbor is a chemist for Shell and they built one of the biggest plants in the world to convert Natural Gas to liquid fuels. If my memory serves me correct the plant in Qatar produces something like 170,000 bbl of liquid fuel a day from natural gas.
So personally I do not give into the "No Oil in 2100" theories.
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Post by trbixler on Jul 12, 2012 1:36:54 GMT
No more oil. "Investing in Israel’s Epic Oil and Gas Boom" "Last week, Israel Opportunity Energy Resources LP discovered an offshore oil and gas field with an estimated 1.4 billion barrels of oil and 6.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. According to the company’s Chairman, Ronny Halman, “The quantity of gas discovered… makes it the third-largest offshore discovery to date.” It follows last June’s announcement of uncovering 16 trillion cubic feet of natural gas and 800 million barrels of oil in Israel’s Tamar and Leviathan offshore fields. Yet, for Israel, these discoveries are only the beginning. And investors should pay close attention. That’s because Israel’s largest oil and gas opportunities aren’t offshore. They’re on land in the nation’s shale deposits. As The Wall Street Journal reports, “The World Energy Council estimates Israel’s shale deposits, located some 30 miles southwest of Jerusalem, could ultimately yield as many as 250 billion barrels of oil.” To put this into perspective, Israel could soon be the world’s third-largest nation in terms of proven oil reserves… behind Venezuela – which took the top spot last year – and Saudi Arabia. To get an idea of the scope of these massive reserves, it would potentially be enough to cover the United States’ entire oil needs for the next 35 years." countingpips.com/forex-news/2012/06/investing-in-israels-epic-oil-and-gas-boom/ |
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Post by ebrainsh on Jul 13, 2012 17:01:50 GMT
trbixler,
The 1.4 billion barrel discovery is not a significant find. If in fact the southwest shale deposits hold 250 billion barrels of URR's then that is a short term game changer. Remember, the world consumes one billion barrels of crude oil every 11 days.
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Post by trbixler on Jul 13, 2012 19:27:18 GMT
CaChoo 6.7 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. trbixler, The 1.4 billion barrel discovery is not a significant find. If in fact the southwest shale deposits hold 250 billion barrels of URR's then that is a short term game changer. Remember, the world consumes one billion barrels of crude oil every 11 days. |
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Post by dontgetoutmuch on Jul 13, 2012 20:42:32 GMT
trbixler, The 1.4 billion barrel discovery is not a significant find. If in fact the southwest shale deposits hold 250 billion barrels of URR's then that is a short term game changer. Remember, the world consumes one billion barrels of crude oil every 11 days. It really annoys me when people pick a single item like this and apply it to everything else. Yes it is true that this single find is small compared to global consumption. It is also true that if we approach all of our problems like this we might as well sit on our hands and give up because going on is useless. On the other hand you could say. Good for you guys. A billion barrels here, a Trillion cubic feet of gas there, and pretty soon, there will be enouph to go around... One thing downers never seem to get is that when motivated people are allowed to solve problems in the world, those problems get solved. Period. |
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Post by hairball on Jul 14, 2012 1:40:09 GMT
Sigurdur is a wily and coy fox not to tell us about this. North Dakota is well on its way to producing a million barrels of oil per day by 2015. Life is certainly hard for the drillers and their families but they're getting $100,000+ per year starting (if they can handle the punishing long hours). North Dakota apparently has the lowest unemployment rate on the planet. It seems that the drilling will continue for 20 or 30 years as long as oil is above $45 per barrel. That's accounting for the the natural gas they originally drilled for being worth almost nothing. It's depressing that neighbouring states on the Bakken formation aren't prospering because they are strict about drilling. What is really criminal is that the gigantic Green River shale formation around Utah is on Federal land - ( there's lots of it - most bought 200 years ago) - and it looks like a few people and their billionaire backers want to see that it's never developed. We need 100 North Dakotas around the world on every shale play we can find. |
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Post by glennkoks on Jul 14, 2012 3:07:42 GMT
Hairball, not all shale plays are created equal. Some are gas plays, some have wet gas and others have oil. Dry gas plays are not worth drilling unless the price gets above 5-6 dollars and MCF if not higher. The Bakken and parts of the Eagle Ford shale play in Texas have oil but many like the Fayetteville Shale in Arkansas, Haynesville Shale play in Louisiana are dry gas and currently not economically feasible to drill.
Due to the higher costs of drilling shale plays oil has to stay above the 60-65 dollar range to stay profitable.
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Post by sigurdur on Jul 14, 2012 12:10:04 GMT
Hairball:
Ayep, we are doing ok concerning the oil etc.
And it does look like we will continue to be 2nd as far as states in production for years to come.
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