Posted on 11/16/2016 4:41:20 PM PST by Kaslin
Tuesday the U.S. Geological Survey announced the largest ever assessment of “continuous oil” ever made in the United States. The Wolfcamp shale in the area of Midland, Texas is estimated to contain three times the oil and gas of the Bakken shale formation in Montana and North Dakota. From the USGS:
The Wolfcamp shale in the Midland Basin portion of Texas’ Permian Basin province contains an estimated mean of 20 billion barrels of oil, 16 trillion cubic feet of associated natural gas, and 1.6 billion barrels of natural gas liquids, according to an assessment by the U.S. Geological Survey. This estimate is for continuous (unconventional) oil, and consists of undiscovered, technically recoverable resources.
The estimate of continuous oil in the Midland Basin Wolfcamp shale assessment is nearly three times larger than that of the 2013 USGS Bakken-Three Forks resource assessment, making this the largest estimated continuous oil accumulation that USGS has assessed in the United States to date.
“The fact that this is the largest assessment of continuous oil we have ever done just goes to show that, even in areas that have produced billions of barrels of oil, there is still the potential to find billions more,” said Walter Guidroz, program coordinator for the USGS Energy Resources Program.
Continuous oil refers to resources that are spread out rather than concentrated into a single area. So why is this massive amount of oil and gas just being assessed as recoverable now? Because technology has changed:
Oil has been produced using traditional vertical well technology. However, more recently, oil and gas companies have been using horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, and more than 3,000 horizontal wells have been drilled and completed in the Midland Basin Wolfcamp section.
The Fort Worth Star Telegram reports this backs up industry claims that the area could be the 2nd largest oil and gas field in the world:
The estimate lends credence to the assertion from Pioneer Natural Resources CEO Scott Sheffield that the Permian’s shale could hold as much as 75 billion barrels, making it second only to Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar field. Irving-based Pioneer has been increasing its production targets all year as drilling in the Wolfcamp produced bigger gushers than the company’s engineers and geologists forecast.
Okay everyone, repeat after me, “peak oil”. LOL
At the state the oil is found,true, lateral drillin , steam, the advances in fishin an bailin, true, but oil is mobil an will from shale, or dead toads,find it’s puddle
I’m not convinced that the Soviet Abiotic Theory of Hydrocarbons is false.
Why else would petroleum reserves continue to be discovered? I mean, there’s only so much decayed plant and animal matter to cause it.
We also know that hydrocarbons exist in space and other planets, so how did they get there?
Yet I’m supposed to believe the Peak Oil crowd, which says its garbage, even though we’ve run out of oil 0 of the past 9 times they said we would.
Things will be looking up around here after that news. Woohoo.
My in-laws live smack dab in that area. They have already received a check and a letter stating that their property will be a prospect for drilling. They own the mineral rights to the property. They have signed the contracts of course.
This could be life changing for a lot of people.
Sarah says,
“Drill Baby, drill!”
fracking only works in the US.
why is that?
32 billion barrels per annum is what the world is consuming in oil so this is about 33 weeks supply of oil.
3 years sounds about right.
“dead dinosaurs”
The ‘Dino Theory’ has never held up under rigorous scientific scrutiny and analysis.
The ‘Abiotic Theory’ makes much more sense, and is in alignment with observed physical findings, including those of other worlds, such as the moon, Titan, which has seas of hydrocarbons.
“Trump’s fault.”
Agree. He’s going to be responsible for an unbearable quantity of winning.
And liberal tears will flow like rivers. Boo freaking hoo.
#24 The planet Uranus is one that contains lots of methane as the aliens use it for a pitstop on their trips here to earth to gather up humans for dinner.....
“For over 40 years I didn’t think dinosaurs and oil are related.”
Prepare for incoming from the ‘Dino Theory’ believers, you denier.
Huh?
Speak English, please.
Last time I checked, a billion is a thousand million.
It comes from algae that died and fell into the bowels of the ocean. All oil is associated with basins. To my knowledge, there is never been a drop found outside of a sedimentary basin.
Yep, 20 million per DAY. So 1000 days is approaching 3 years. I said it was really rough in the numbers. Since its not actually 20 million per day and more like 19.some millions.
It is very expensive to drill these types of wells. The rest of the world has been coming around, especially Canada, South America, etc. The Mooselimbs are still producing their conventional reserves. They have a lower lifting cost.
Ok, then explain the methane seas on Titan.
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