THE TEREX TITAN
Posted on 10/28/2010 7:43:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
The Energy Crisis is Over!
Not because of some humongous breakthrough in alternative energies but because of new ways to access two sources widely used today: oil and natural gas. The recent news story about China's national oil company, Cnooc, purchasing a stake in Chesapeake Energy's Texas shale oil and gas fields and agreeing to pony up most of the capital to develop them underscores what an amazing transformation is taking place in the U.S.' energy picture.
The word "revolution" is overused, but it's truly appropriate when applied to these technological breakthroughs: hydraulic fracturing--a.k.a. fracking--and horizontal drilling. With fracking, drillers inject water, sand and chemicals deep underground to crack gas-bearing rocks. The technology, which has been around for a long time, has advanced dramatically. Literally trillions of dollars' worth of shale oil and gas can now be economically extracted.
Horizontal drilling is another impressive breakthrough that allows us to get to oil and gas that was previously unattainable.
The implications are staggering. Within a decade the U.S. will be a major natural gas exporter. In those Texas Chesapeake fields alone production will reach the equivalent of 400,000 to 500,000 barrels of oil a day. Pennsylvania and upstate New York will also become major gas producers.
Oil production, too, in the U.S. will increase far beyond what experts thought possible a few short years ago.
China made that sweetheart deal with Chesapeake Energy precisely because it wants to learn more about these technologies so it can enormously increase its domestic oil and gas production.
Environmentalists worry that fracking might poison our water, even though the drilling takes place thousands of feet below the water table. Fortunately the technology is there to get at these reserves in an extremely safe way.
The Earth is awash in energy.
(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...
Paraphrased from an ‘Extreme Trucks’ Website:
The Terex Titan is the largest tandem-axle dump truck ever built. It is powered by a 16 cylinder locomotive engine that delivers 3300 horsepower. This is combined with a huge generator which delivers power to 4 traction engines, one located at each of its rear wheels. The generator produces enough power to supply 250 homes with electricity.
Terex Titan Specifications:
Height: 22.5 ft Height With Box Raised: 56 ft
Length: 66 ft Width: 25 ft
Weight: 260 tons Payload: 350 tons
Max Weight: 610 tons
Horse Power: 3300
Its Tires are 11.5’ in diameter and weigh 4 tons each.
Two greyhound buses and two full-size pick-up trucks can fit in its dump bed at the same time.
...I suppose the traction engines would qualify it as a ‘true’ hybrid...
http://www.cnoocltd.com/encnoocltd/aboutus/default.shtml
CNOOC Ltd.
About Us
CNOOC Limited (the “Company”, together with its subsidiaries, the “Group” or “we”), incorporated in Hong Kong Special Administration Region (“Hong Kong”) in August 1999, was listed on the New York Stock Exchange (code: CEO) and The Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (code: 00883) on 27 and 28 February 2001, respectively. The Company was admitted as a constituent stock of the Hang Seng Index in July 2001.
The Group is China’s largest producer of offshore crude oil and natural gas and one of the largest independent oil and gas exploration and production companies in the world. The Group mainly engages in oil and natural gas exploration, development, production and sales.
The Group has four major production areas in offshore China, which are Bohai Bay, Western South China Sea, Eastern South China Sea and East China Sea. In addition, it is one of the largest offshore crude oil producers in Indonesia. The Group also has upstream assets in Nigeria, Australia and some other countries.
As at 31 December 2009, the Group owned net proved reserves of approximately 2.66 billion BOE, and its average daily net production was 623,896 BOE. The Group had 4,019 employees and total assets of approximately RMB 242.3 billion.
Thank you.
I still haven’t figured out how to post pictures.
No
I believe the new 2011 Congress will early on capitalize on the recently discovered technology that has unlocked many multiples of domestic gas reserves by encouraging more of it. This will:
1. cause many thousands of jobs to appear
2. enrich the governments and landowners in the form of royalties and tax revenue boost.
3. cause an expanding usage of natural gas whether in power generation or transportation as it is cheaper and more environmental friendly than alternatives, as well as require no massive governmental subsidies such as ethanol or wind.
4. strategically, reduce the need for imports, which will improve our balance of payments, reduce the possibility of tanker spills and give us more control of our energy needs.
Obama will veto of course but if presented properly to the public, can be overidden.
That’s actually funny. In Northwestern Louisiana fracking. Has driven up property and right-of-way prices.
LOL
I actually worked on the engineering on that truck back in the 70s.
It did use the traction motors for braking but had no energy storage.
The electricity generated from braking was turned into heat in resistive grids and dumped into the atmosphere with cooling fans.
Has hydraulic fracturing evolved recently or is it advances in horizontal, steerable drilling and using fracking with that?
Look for the demonrats and envirowackos to rain on this parade. For instance, look at the recent announcement by the dim governor of PA:
Rendell halts further leasing in Pennsylvania state forests
Short answer: It's a combination.
Neither technology is new. Fracking has been around for a long time, with frac fluids tailored to the formation, whether acid is used to open pore throats, or the pressure of the frac fluid to induce fractures to enhance drainage from the wellbore.
Combined with a horizontal wellbore which can put two or more miles of wellbore through a formation when a vertical wellbore might have only penetrated six feet of thickness, frac technology has the opportunity to further enhance the effect the wellbore itself provides--namely the further improvement of the improvement created by horizontal drilling.
Another technology, pretty much unsung, is the development of MWD tools (measurement while drilling) which make it possible to get real-time data in regards to formation characteristics, the angle of the wellbore and azimuthal direction, as well as the orientation of steering tools, enabling steering the wellbore in an economical fashion compared to older directional drilling techniques.
New advancements in both MWD and directional drilling are constant in a highly competitive industry. I should note the development of better drill bit technology goes hand in glove with the MWD and other downhole tool tech—the advancement has occurred on several fronts at the same time.
These technologies in concert have made the large scale development of gas shales and formations like the Bakken and Three Forks not only possible, but an economic winner.
All the technologies are in a constant state of change, as competitors jockey for an edge in efficiency or data quality which enables them to win out in a highly competitive marketplace.
Typically, development of such technology starts offshore where drilling in different directions from one spot is a real money saver because the operation is relatively expensive to begin with, but relocating the rig and infrastructure costs are significantly less when multiple wells can be drilled (and later produced from one site. Those benefits have funded a lot of the raw R&D over the years, and the spin-off from the developments offshore to applications onshore has made the current natural gas and oil activity possible.
Needless to say, the Chinese will be looking at more than frac technology, and with an eye to apply it both onshore and off.
Thanks for taking the time for that Joe.
http://dnr.louisiana.gov/haynesvilleshale/haynesville.pdf
It keeps moving our way. We are very hopeful it continues.
You’re welcome, thackney!
Yes, that’s part of it. But also, Exxon used to be the biggest oil company in the world, and the Seven Sisters were the 7 biggest and most influential.
Now, they are midgets compared to the Russian and Chinese national oil companies, or even Petrobras.
Yep, amazing what can happen when your gubmint isn't standing in the way. Obama signed on to several billion dollars in loan guarantees to Petrobas, meanwhile putting up a drilling moratorium on domestic drilling in the Gulf. Even more amazing is it's the Chi-coms and the Russians showing us how to do it. There's a real good lesson to be learned here, but it will no doubt fall on deaf ears. It's quite clear that Obama's main foreign policy goal is to make sure other Marxists thugs around the world prosper while the USA is left in ruins....
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.