More Oil

[cheap]

Every couple of months a new oil discovery, like this

http://www.smh.com.au/business/minin...18-1059vv.html

I know the world will eventually run out of oil, but that point seems to be a long long long way off. Lets hope this is high grade oil, easily exploited and locally refined, Australia sure could use the stuff to keep our high standard of living going a bit longer.

[cs123]

I don't think supply is an issue. It's what happens when you burn the stuff that has a lot of people worried.

[Lotte]

Sustainability of supply is the biggest issue around oil.
Next in line is sustainability of use of oil products.

It'll be interesting to see how this pans out. Either way though, it'll just help the industry sector to continue to plateu for another few years.

[zilo]

The Chines and Americans will be pleased we will give it to them for 10c a litre.

[buggerlugs]

Originally Posted by zilo

The Chines and Americans will be pleased we will give it to them for 10c a litre.

And then buy it back refined at $1.10 a litre, a bit like our wood chip.............

[Franco Cozzo]

Originally Posted by zilo

The Chines and Americans will be pleased we will give it to them for 10c a litre.

And then we laugh all the way to the bank too thinking we're smart

[2011G6E]

There are still suspicions that the bulk of the oil reserves in a lot of places is being created by a biomass deep in the Earth of bacteria. There have been wells that have "replenished" after being abandoned many years before.

[Spudz27]

When I read things like this it just maked me mad. We are paying heaps for fuel with govco wanting to increase the excise, yet we have so much oil that we could refine ourselves and just sell a portion off to the overseas market.

[ILLaViTaR]

Originally Posted by buggerlugs

And then buy it back refined at $1.10 a litre, a bit like our wood chip.............

That's obviously better than refining it here and creating our own industry/jobs for some great reason!!!

(edit, should see our power bills and how cheap we export coal to the Chinese for!!)

[zilo]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

There are still suspicions that the bulk of the oil reserves in a lot of places is being created by a biomass deep in the Earth of bacteria. There have been wells that have "replenished" after being abandoned many years before.

That's a good one...what source do you rely on for that info?

[cheap]

Originally Posted by zilo

That's a good one...what source do you rely on for that info?

There are a number of theories as to the origin of oil, but of course the stuff we are taught in primary school about it being ancient bogs, forests, algae and dinosaurs seems to be the most popular. But what if it weren't entirely true?

[ford man xf]

Originally Posted by cheap

There are a number of theories as to the origin of oil, but of course the stuff we are taught in primary school about it being ancient bogs, forests, algae and dinosaurs seems to be the most popular. But what if it weren't entirely true?

I thought oil came from pimples? Thats what we were taught

[2011G6E]

Just one article but there are plenty of dry academic papers you can wade through here and there...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenic_petroleum_origin

Surprisingly, the idea that oil comes from old biomatter, for instance, swamps and the like, is still a hypothesis...they don't actually know and haven't proved for sure what made (and possibly still makes) our oil reserves.
They could just be a natural part of planetary formation, as evidenced by the huge hydrocarbon reserves on Saturns moon Titan, which certainly hasn't had forests and swamps in the past to rot down and produce petroleum, and in the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune.

It's a really interesting subject. But one thing is for sure...whatever oils source, we keep finding more and more of the stuff every year...

[mik]

Interesting times ahead, we really still are guessing on so many scientific fronts, we may have a magnetic pole shift one day on our little earth(this happens periodically every so many hundred thousand years apparently), current concensus is that earth it self would also flip upside down, the sun would then rise in the west and set in the east .......... will the oil drain to the bottom ?? We wouldn't be down under any more .

[zilo]

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Just one article but there are plenty of dry academic papers you can wade through here and there...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogen...leum_origin...

s


Wiki is not a factual source, anyone can edit it.

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

Surprisingly, the idea that oil comes from old biomatter, for instance, swamps and the like, is still a hypothesis...they don't actually know and haven't proved for sure what made (and possibly still makes) our oil reserves. ...

It's not a hypothesis mate, oil comes from ancient carbon based life forms.

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

They could just be a natural part of planetary formation, as evidenced by the huge hydrocarbon reserves on Saturns moon Titan, which certainly hasn't had forests and swamps in the past to rot down and produce petroleum, and in the atmospheres of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune....

You better prove that Titan has oil , or Saturn?

it's easy to say it may have ...hard to prove or disprove....

Originally Posted by 2011G6E

It's a really interesting subject. But one thing is for sure...whatever oils source, we keep finding more and more of the stuff every year...

But not enough to match consumption rates, so it's declining.

[CJR09]

Originally Posted by zilo

s


It's not a hypothesis mate, oil comes from ancient carbon based life forms.

As 2011G6E said there are plenty of scientific papers around on the subject - long standing research by the Russians and most recently by the Americans suggests otherwise

Reported in ScienceDaily, researchers at the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) in Stockholm have managed to prove that fossils from animals and plants are not necessary for crude oil and natural gas to be generated. The findings are revolutionary since this means, on the one hand, that it will be much easier to find these sources of energy and, on the other hand, that they can be found all over the globe.

"Using our research we can even say where oil could be found in Sweden," says Vladimir Kutcherov, a professor at the Division of Energy Technology at KTH.

Together with two research colleagues, Vladimir Kutcherov has simulated the process involving pressure and heat that occurs naturally in the inner layers of the earth, the process that generates hydrocarbon, the primary component in oil and natural gas.

According to Vladimir Kutcherov, the findings are a clear indication that the oil supply is not about to end, which researchers and experts in the field have long feared.

Linky Linky

[bobthebilda]

It doesnt really matter, the earth is never going to run out of oil anyhow. Even as this article says, the field may contain 60 million barrels, but they are only likely to ever recover 30 million barrels. The main issue comes down to how much energy in future, it takes to get oil out of the ground. 50 years ago, they drilled a hole on the land in Saudia Arabia, and 10,000 barrels would spill out a day, every day for 50 years plus. Today, they have to spend hundreds of millions of dollars, to drill a hole kilometres out to sea, to get 10,000 barrels a day, for a few years. When they first started drilling for oil, they were getting over 100 units of energy, for every unit of energy they put into the project. Today the average about 10 to 15 units of energy recovered for every unit spent. Obviously once it gets down to 1 for 1, it becomes pointless, ie, you are not going to use one barrel of oil to get one barrel of oil out of the ground.

But most importantly, we are getting closer to the point, that oil extraction does not have a benefit to human society. Apart from costs that cant be attributed ( global warming, storm costs, rising sea levels etc), oil extraction of the future, is relying on the benefit of cheap and easy oil extracted before today. At some time in the future we will not have sufficient oil left over, to build the roads, build the oil platforms, fly the planes and helicopters, power the pumps etc etc, to look for more oil.

[danzvtil]

Australia is hooked into the world price of oil, so it is a little simplistic to say and oil from here is "ours" and we can buy it cheap.
The problem with oil supply, if worldwide supply were to INCREASE every year for the next 20 years, the price will still skyrocket. It may have something to do with the millions of new "middle class" drivers in India and China who now need this oil just as much as we do.

[zilo]

Originally Posted by CJR09

As 2011G6E said there are plenty of scientific papers around on the subject - long standing research by the Russians and most recently by the Americans suggests otherwise

Linky Linky

mate...that quote suggests that they have simulated the production of oil in a lab.

So what?

It does NOT say that oil occurs naturally without a fossil component.

[CJR09]

Originally Posted by zilo

mate...that quote suggests that they have simulated the production of oil in a lab.

So what?

It does NOT say that oil occurs naturally without a fossil component.

Yes that is exactly what it says - read Kutcherov's research - the simulation is of the proven theory that fossil matter is not a requirement and is in fact what happens under high temp and pressure conditions below the mantle.

The abiotic oil formation theory suggests that crude oil is the result of naturally occurring and possibly ongoing geological processes. This theory was developed in the Soviet Union during the Cold War, as the Union needed to be self sufficient in terms of producing its own energy. The science behind the theory is sound and is based on experimental evidence in both the laboratory and in the field. This theory has helped to identify and therefore develop large numbers of gas and oil deposits. Examples of such fields are the South Khylchuyu field and the controversial Sakhalin II field.

In its simplest form, the theory is that carbon present in the magma beneath the crust reacts with hydrogen to form methane as well as a raft of other mainly alkane hydrocarbons. The reactions are more complicated than this, with several intermediate stages. Particular mineral rocks such as granite and other silicon based rocks act as catalysts, which speed up the reaction without actually becoming involved or consumed in the process.

Experiments have shown that under extreme conditions of heat and pressure it is possible to convert iron oxide, calcium carbonate and water into methane, with hydrocarbons containing up to 10 carbon atoms being produced by Russian scientists last century and confirmed in recent US experiments. The absence of large quantities of free gaseous oxygen in the magma prevents the hydrocarbons from burning and therefore forming the lower energy state molecule carbon dioxide. The conditions present in the Earth's mantle are sufficient for these small hydrocarbon chains to polymerise into the longer chain molecules found in crude oil.