'Monterey' Eric Burdon
Posted on 04/08/2014 9:51:16 AM PDT by Praxeologue
SHAFTER, Calif. — A bustling city is sprouting on five acres here, carved out of a vast almond grove. Tanker trucks and heavy equipment come and go, a row of office trailers runs the length of the site and an imposing 150-foot drilling rig illuminated by football-field-like lights rises over the trees.
It's all been hustled into service to solve a tantalizing riddle: how to tap into the largest oil shale reservoir in the United States.
Across the southern San Joaquin Valley, oil exploration sites have popped up in agricultural fields and on government land, driven by the hope that technological advances in oil extraction — primarily hydraulic fracturing and acidization — can help provide access to deep and lucrative oil reserves.
The race began after the federal Energy Information Administration estimated in 2011 that more than 15 billion barrels of recoverable oil is trapped in what's known as the Monterey Shale formation, which covers 1,750 square miles, roughly from Bakersfield to Fresno.
But getting at that oil isn't easy. The Monterey Shale is unlike other oil shale formations across the United States. In those booming oil fields, reserves are pooled in orderly strata of rock. Once the rock is cracked open by fracking or other means, operators can sink a single well with multiple horizontal shafts and pull in oil from a wide area.
California's geology is far more complicated. The earth under the Monterey Shale has undergone constant seismic reshaping that has folded, stacked and fractured the substrate, trapping the oil in accordion pleats of hard rock at depths of up to 12,000 feet. To reach the crude using conventional methods requires oil companies to drill far-deeper wells, and more of them — a prohibitively expensive undertaking.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
From the article:
“In the Monterrey formation, that expense might run to $5 million, and with every chance of yielding a dry hole.”
...............
I agree the geology is way complex and they have not yet cracked the code and they may never do so. But 5 million is on the low side for fracking wells. They’re glad to pay 5 million in the baaken and elsewhere.
Recently there are reports that the geologic code for the Tuscaloosa marine shale formation in Louisiana and Mississippi has been cracked. Current estimates are that that formation has 4 billion barrels of recoverable oil. (meaning that number is likely to go up as it closely track early estimates for baaken.) But they’re currently paying over 12 million for a well.
well, we can hope...
In the Monterrey formation, that expense might run to $5 million
- - - -
I would think that an average (or below average) price and not a maximum.
The liberals are so foolish.
If only they would allow this oil to be extracted, they would have zillions more dollars to throw at their precious welfare programs and expensive boondoggles like the proposed high speed train linking LA to SF.
Well, THAT just blew away the rest of your post. These are 'unattended kids in a candy store' you're talking about here.
I bet you don't believe in man-made Global Warming either. You do know that deniers belong in prison, don't you?
Ping.
Pong
The question is:
Will California lawmakers establish an environment that encourages the exploitation of this resource?
They have figured out how many taxes they could collect from it, so it may be possible.
The Monterey Shale & California’s Economic Future
http://gen.usc.edu/assets/001/84955.pdf
Also, they have likely figured out some personal skims and kickbacks for themselves. These ARE Democrats, after all. ;-)
“I drink your milkshake”.
A Monterey-fueled oil shale industry could create 2.3 million new jobs by 2020 and boost the state’s GDP by as much as 14%.
Naw, let’s instead build a train to nowhere that cost $100 billion and going up. Plus free tuition for illegals andhigher taxes all around except them movie folks.
She lifted that from the anti-fracking articles that attempted to refute last year's USC study.
'Monterey' Eric Burdon
California Law to Regulate Fracking Signed by Governor
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/bloggers/3069432/posts
CA DEMOCRATS PASS PRO-FRACKING BILL
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3073965/posts
Will the Golden State Go Brown? The fracking revolution might finally be coming to California
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3034673/posts
California’s Brown hears fracking gripes
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/3131130/posts
Maybe that's why no one has been able to crack the code on the Monterey.
They've had Eric Burdon doing the seismic analysis.
There are many parts of the world where the weather is better than California and no one will drink their milkshake. Their standard of living would be subsistence-level, however. If they want a decent material existence, they either need energy or they need money to pay for it. Otherwise, there will be blood.
:’)
Or will be blamed for bringing on “ THE BIG ONE “ quake.
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