usually takes more energy (hot water) to heat the stuff up and get it moving than is economically justified. It’s the same as trying to get the bacon grease down the trap. Hot water makes the job easy. Otherwise, pretty much impossible. Cold water (which is the case ambiently in N Dakota) = locked to whatever it’s sticking to. Please play again. The ME is wonderful for oil because it’s hotter than hell :).
Extraction costs become more recoverable as the per barrel price increases.
This is being hyped by $100/bbl but what will the producers do when the oil hits the market and the price goes down? Same thing they’ve down in the past, shut it in and wait for higher prices.
Any flowing water in the area? Sounds like a good use for nuclear power generation byproduct.
They’ve figured out how to pump it profitably out of Alaska at a lot lower than $100/bb.
Not the same stuff.
The Bakken Formation is an overpressured, often oil-wet, formation with 41 degree API gravity crude oil resident in its natural fractures that is capable of producing at high production rates.
If the oil is down a few thousand feet the surface temperatures won't matter - it will still be quite warm. If you need something hotter why not bring in a number of the small nuclear power plant technologies to produce steam. If nothing else, why not stick a few refurbished nuclear subs out there? These could be portable and cheap sources of a whole lot of BTU's.
The greens will scream naturally but why not answer their paranoid rantings with the argument that this is the best way for us to avoid a whole series of future Iraq style wars. This line of argument won't make them any happier but it might convince the sane in the rest of the nation to go along. In one fairly simple and inexpensive play we could undercut nearly all the enemies of this nation for decades to come.
Install a small nuke plant, and you will have all the steam you would ever want to keep the oil moving