Posted on 04/16/2015 4:15:29 AM PDT by IBD editorial writer
Energy: Since 2008, domestic oil and gas production has exploded, and so have the nation's oil and gas reserves. How is that even possible? Weren't we supposed to be running out of oil and gas 40 years ago?
(Excerpt) Read more at news.investors.com ...
Maybe its the same thing that has caused that flooding of the entire gulf state region Al Gore was talking about a few years ago.
I graduated with a degree in Petroleum Engineering 42 years ago, and I recall someone telling me I would have to change jobs as there would be no more oil in 10 years.
Maybe it is because when something is cooking constantly, it always gives off a gas along with the resulting pressure if it is contained. Think about how a pressure cooker works.
Cooling gas condensates into a liquid.
Cooling liquids eventually turn to more of a solid.
Now, think about the earth’s core and the next time a volcano erupts, or go back to those streaming videos of the Deep Horizon spill.
I know I am going to gets lots of jokes made, but maybe it is because the biggest lie in conventional wisdom is that it is not a renewable resource.
I don’t think I’d fault your end question about ‘renewable’ per se.
I first would try to look at oil, gas whatever usable energy source as a reasonably natural energy source and see what it is comprised of. Try to estimate what the logical distribution of it would be in all the cubic miles, mass of the earth, or however you want to quantify it. Then possibly see if there is a mechanism like continual heat and core movement that would help the process of formulation along.
In the end, I’d tend to think that the potential quantity of what we are talking about with respect to the mass of the earth could well be considered renewable or virtually inexhaustible given practical expected usage of it (that we could actually get).
I can’t answer all that because I’m not a geologist with all the right inputs to work with, but a lot of the people that conclusively say the science is settled and that we’re all gonna die (run out) are not either. Not even close.
It is about power and control and the money that goes with. Whether it’s oil or the environment it makes no difference IMO.
And yet...my local gas prices went up 10 cents/gallon yesterday!
Simple, the price of oil tripled.
When Bush took office the price of oil was around $30 per barrel, which meant there wasn't a lot of profit to be made producing oil from shale formations or from the Alberta Tar Sands.
But the price oil kept rising, meaning the profit margins kept rising, meaning more oil would be produced.
Now that the price of oil has collapsed, the profit margins are shrinking, so less oil will be produced.
Blame it on Obama. He relaxed the sanctions on Iran, allowing Iran to put more of their oil onto the world market, driving the price down.
The reserves have been known for many, many years.
America actually began developing those reserves 30 + years ago only to have the Arabs tank the market to $10/bbl shut down our domestic competition to their inexpensive ($7 bbl) to produce oil.
This shut down much of the domestic land based oil production for decades, even after the prices reached a point that domestic production was profitable.
They are doing the same thing right now.
We’re starting to see it here in West TX the purchaser are getting backed up. I now have 14 loads of oil sitting on the ranch waiting to be hauled, 8 were called in at the first of last week. I’m fixing to shut in some wells on the front of the ranch due to lack of storage. Whats really going to hurt is those are all gas lift’s which means no gas sales also.
Proved reserves are far different than estimated total oil in place.
Proved reserves require drilling and flow testing. We don’t spend money proving reserves that are too expensive to produce, until the prices rises to the point they become economic.
Thanks for sharing. I was wondering when it would start to impact the producers.
I believe you have given a simple explanation regarding what a large proportion of the O&G industry believes.
And, the resultant loss in production flow / pressure. PV=nRT
Shut-ins have been known to become shut-downs out here.
I know I am going to gets lots of jokes made, but maybe it is because the biggest lie in conventional wisdom is that it is not a renewable resource.
Ding ding ding!!!!!!!!!!!!!! No joke!!!!!!!!!!!
Yep. Oil is a byproduct of magma.
The whole idea of “running out” of any resource is economically ridiculous.
At the present price and technology level?
Sure, we might “run out”.
But let the price float, and innovation will follow, and there will never be a time when the resource actually “runs out”.
I’m with you - I think more and more is being “made” even today, and it’s not a fixed amount created some time in the past. The rate of creation may or may not be higher than our rate of consumption,
but then, economics will take care of that.
Except they have no fresh water to frac with. I have asked Dr. Fracenstein at my company why we can’t frac with salt water and I have never gotten back at answer. Maybe someone else can comment.
I hope you were being sarcastic.
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