Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Supplies of oil may be inexhaustible
Detroit News ^ | 5/29/2002 | Bruce Bartlett

Posted on 05/29/2002 8:18:56 AM PDT by jimkress

Edited on 05/25/2004 3:03:02 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

On April 16, Newsday, the Long Island newspaper, published a startling report that old oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico were somehow being refilled. That is, new oil was being discovered in fields where it previously had not existed.


(Excerpt) Read more at detroitnews.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: abiogenic; energy; oil; thomasgold
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-94 next last
Comment #61 Removed by Moderator

To: maestro
You confuse distribution and resource. The mom and pops have gone out of business because they could not change to meet the demands of the market and they were not big enough to make the market adapt to them. It has nothing to do with the amount of oil in the world of which there is actually quite a bit. Of oil I mean.

a.cricket

62 posted on 05/29/2002 11:45:01 AM PDT by another cricket
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 55 | View Replies]

To: rohry; aruanan
There was at least one deep test bore which produced some suggestion of evidence in support of Thomas Gold's hypothesis of petroleum origins. The hole was drilled perhaps 15 years ago into igneous ( hard rock ) formations in Norway which, according to conventional theory, should be free of organic materials. The hole showed evidence of a black tar like substance at a depth in excess of 20,000 ft. I'll have to see if I can find anything further on the subject.
63 posted on 05/29/2002 12:53:50 PM PDT by Dukie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: Frohickey
10-4 on that. I work in a law firm that represents corporations that have to do battle with the enviro wackso. Earthjustice is who we deal with each and every day here in the Northwest and Western USA. They seem to have endless money to launch lawsuits all the time.
64 posted on 05/29/2002 1:03:14 PM PDT by RetiredArmy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: jimkress
I'm warm all over.....i NEVER bought that it was decayed plant and animal life and that they all ended up in the Middle East!!! Like it was a giant funnel.
65 posted on 05/29/2002 1:08:44 PM PDT by Ann Archy
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jimkress, tamu, aggie mama
Scientists, led by Mahlon Kennicutt of Texas A&M University...

WHOOP!

66 posted on 05/29/2002 1:08:44 PM PDT by Texaggie79
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: WilliamWallace1999
Isn't that one of the problems in confirming that the "current" (oil is fond only like coal is -> from plant matter ONLY deposited in the pre-Cambrian Era) theory may have problems?

After all, to my limited knowledge, wehave never been able to duplicate the formation of oil in the lab.

Peat - Yes. (And its formed new in beds that are only a few hundred years old.) Coal. Yes. (Somewhat hard to make in the lab, but it's been done.) But never oil. And coal is found in wide beds at genreally very, very shallow depths (50' to 150' underground) in massive layers that are NOT 15,000 feet deep.

Further, coal isn't found as deep as oil is, even though it is supposedly much older by several hundred million years. .... If they both come the same source, then both should be found in the same areas.

67 posted on 05/29/2002 1:30:13 PM PDT by Robert A Cook PE
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 23 | View Replies]

To: jimkress
Fill 'er up!
68 posted on 05/29/2002 1:33:49 PM PDT by TADSLOS
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: jimkress
See what Col. Fletcher Prouty has to say on the "abiotic" theory of the origins of petroleum.

A lot of us who have digested what Prouty has to say about Gold's ideas would like to hear what knowledgeable skeptics have to say in reponse.

Click here.

69 posted on 05/29/2002 1:42:16 PM PDT by a merkin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

Comment #70 Removed by Moderator

To: Texaggie79
TAMU does have a top flight pet. eng. department.
i hope this guy's right!!
71 posted on 05/29/2002 2:11:09 PM PDT by tamu
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 66 | View Replies]

Comment #72 Removed by Moderator

To: jimkress
Pennsylvania, the future.
73 posted on 05/29/2002 2:34:04 PM PDT by VRWC_minion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ramius
"Don't get thrown by "organic" compounds. Just because living things produce a compound doesn't mean that's the only way the compound can happen.

Puleeez, one word - kerogen, look it up. All oil IS organic in origin although it is not the decomposed remains of dead dinosaurs. As for why aren't oil forming processes occuring today? They are!

74 posted on 05/29/2002 2:34:52 PM PDT by slouper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: Ann Archy
"I'm warm all over.....i NEVER bought that it was decayed plant and animal life and that they all ended up in the Middle East!!! Like it was a giant funnel."

This is just sad. The Middle East was not always the Middle East. Think about it!

75 posted on 05/29/2002 2:40:11 PM PDT by slouper
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]

To: Dukie
The hole showed evidence of a black tar like substance at a depth in excess of 20,000 ft. I'll have to see if I can find anything further on the subject.

It's in the Siljan Ring in central Sweden. This is described in USGS paper at Gold's site linked to above as well as in his book The Deep Hot Biosphere. They pulled considerable amounts of petroleum out of the bore. The problem was that it was filled with tiny crystals of magnetite formed presumably by the bacteria that lived in the petroleum at depth and was difficult to pump. Here is the relevant portion:
Results in Sweden

The distinction between hydrocarbons derived from biological materials and hydrocarbons of primordial origin would be made most clearly by examining igneous or metamorphic rocks which could not have maintained either hydrocarbons or biogenic materials capable of producing them, before they froze to their present condition. If crude oil, methane and other hydrocarbon gases can be found in such locations, at depths that would exclude a seepage down from above, then this would demonstrate an origin from sources below.

Crude oil has been found and produced from crystalline and basement rocks in numerous locations, but mostly in places where a transport from neighboring sediments could be invoked as an explanation. The clearest example we have where a production from sedimentary materials can be excluded comes from two deep bore-holes in the granitic rock of central Sweden (Gold, 1991).

As we have noted, the granite and gneiss of Sweden has many signs of impregnation with hydrocarbons. Tar is frequently found during tunneling and mining operations as a substance filling cracks in the granite. Methane explosions and prominent shows of methane have been seen frequently. If hydrocarbons come from depth, one might judge that the large granitic block which makes up most of Sweden overlies an area of mantle that is particularly hydrocarbon rich, and one might think that the hydrocarbons of the Norwegian Trench or of the countries surrounding the Baltic signify an outflow from this area of the mantle. Fractures of the rock within Sweden may then have been conduits for hydrocarbons from the same source.

It is with this consideration in mind that I persuaded the Swedish Government to study the region of a giant meteoritic impact crater, the "Siljan Ring" in Central Sweden. An impact that left a circular formation 44 kilometers in diameter would undoubtedly have fractured the rock to great depth, and one might therefore have expected this to be a particularly favorable location for finding upwelling hydrocarbons.

It was quickly ascertained that just the area of the Siljan structure was quite anomalously rich in soil methane and other light hydrocarbons, that many ordinary water wells produced copious amounts of gas and that a number of stone quarries in the area had oil seeping out of the rocks and making oil pools in the ground. It is true that the stone quarries were in the sedimentary rock which fills a ring shaped depression, but those sediments are nowhere deeper than 300 meters. Oil seepage generated after 360 million years from such a small quantity of sediments seemed improbable. Aside from the ring shaped depression, the basement rock is very close to the surface in the whole area; there is barely enough soil for the trees to grow both inside and outside the Siljan Ring feature.

As a result of the clear demonstration that the area was quite anomalous for its hydrocarbon content, it was decided to engage in a major drilling operation. Since 1986 two wells have been drilled: one to a depth of 6.7 kilometers, the other to a depth of 6.5 kilometers. Both holes showed the presence of methane and of other hydrocarbon gases, as well as of crude oil. While in the first hole (Gravberg I) diesel oil was used for a time as a component of the drilling mud, only water-based mud was used in the second hole (Stenberg 1), which is situated in the center of the ring, and is 12 km distant from the ring sediments, and also from Gravberg 1. Although the detailed chemical makeup of the oil found at deep levels in Gravberg was not the same as diesel oil, many considered nevertheless that the diesel drilling oil could be held responsible. Some 15 tons of oil were pumped up, oil that had hydrocarbon components and organo-metallic compounds that are frequently in natural crude oils, but were absent or present only in very much lower abundance in any of the drilling fluids. Some biological molecules, steranes, were found to be from the same set and in closely similar ratios as had been seen in the surface seepage oils (Figure 8 ), and this strengthened the case that the two oils had a common origin. Steranes are thought to derive from sterol, a component of methane-oxidizing bacteria.

Figure 8. The four most prominent biomarker molecules, steranes, found in the oils of the Siljan region, Sweden. The steranes are present in similar proportions in surface-seep oil (Solberga quarry), local near-surface oil shale (Tretaspis Shale), and oil in black sludge obtained from 5.6 km depth in Gravberg 1 well. This similarity indicates a common origin of all three oils. The identity of the four sterane molecules is given in the usual notation by the number of carbon atoms and the right or left symmetry of the molecule.

In both holes the hydrocarbon content of the rocks increased with depth and in both holes high spots in methane (and in Gravberg 1 also in heavier hydrocarbons) were in the locations in which volcanic intrusive rock, dolerite, was present (Figure 9). (Heavier hydrocarbons were not measured during drilling in Gravberg 1).

Figure 9. Stenberg 1 well, Sweden: Methane content of drill cuttings as function of depth. Presence of intrusive volcanic rock, dolerite, is marked below graph, showing correlation with high spots of methane readings. Heavier hydrocarbons were also measured, and were largely in step with methane.



The carbon isotope ratio of the methane became heavier with increasing depth, and in the dolerite zones and their immediate surroundings it was as heavy as between -12 to -15 per mil in the Gravberg hole, and -7.2 to-7.8 per mil in the Stenberg hole. In both holes the helium concentrations were frequently as high as several percent of the total gas present, and possibly exceeding the highest concentration seen in any well.

The investigations during the drilling of Stenberg I gave the clearest indication that a range of hydrocarbon gases and liquids had indeed entered from deep levels. The content of hydrocarbon gases and liquids (aromatics) in the drilled out rock was carefully measured every five-foot interval during drilling. It showed very large increases in the dolerite and in the granite closely adjoining it (Figure 9). Since the dolerite has undoubtedly intruded from below, one has to conclude that the pathways which guided it up, or the pathways which it generated in the intrusion, are the pathways later used by the hydrocarbons. This relationship also confirms that contaminants introduced during drilling were not responsible for the observed hydrocarbon.

In both holes large amounts of a magnetite/oil sludge were discovered, the magnetite present as very small grains, mostly submicroscopic and highly concentrated in the sense that it formed more than 95 percent of the mineral content of the sludge. Twelve tons of this substance were pumped up from the Gravberg hole from a depth below 5.2 kilometers. [emphasis added] It was suspected that the magnetite had been refined and concentrated by bacterial action, as has been seen in other oil-bearing regions at shallower levels (Sparks and others, 1990). Sample collection of liquids that entered the Gravberg wellbore below 5.2 kilometer depth was carried out by the Swedish State Bacteriological Laboratory in Stockholm and several strains of previously unknown thermophilic and anaerobic microorganisms were cultured from these samples (Szewzyk and others, 1993).

During the test procedure of the Stenberg well a gas cylinder was brought up containing free gas that would readily burn. Apart from a nitrogen contamination (due to nitrogen used to expel the drilling water), the gas consisted principally of methane with approximately 10 percent helium and 10 percent hydrogen. No continuous flow could be obtained, apparently due to the blocking effect of the entry of dense magnetite sludge into the wellbore.

The oil brought up with this sludge was investigated in detail by the Danish Geological Survey and considered to be a biodegraded crude oil. Chromatograms of it matched closely those obtained from the oil pumped up in Gravberg.

The scientific investigations carried out on products of the two holes have thus demonstrated that hydrocarbons are present deep in granitic rock in the complete absence or proximity of any sedimentary materials and in a distribution that leaves no reasonable doubt that they have come from deeper levels. The mix of the different hydrocarbon molecules, both of the gases and the oils, is quite a typical mix, as it is found in other oil and gas producing regions. The quantities of oil and gas that appear to be present in this 44 km diameter formation, tested in two distant locations, appear to be very large, as judged by the porosity measurements and the vertical intervals showing high concentrations. Production flow rates could not be achieved in either hole, apparently because in a confluent flow towards the wellbore, the sludge quickly concentrates and blocks the pores. The observed concentration of iron oxides in the rock is too low for the magnetite sludge to have been generated in the depth intervals in which it was found, and it must have been gathered and concentrated by a flow. We presume that this flow was that of the oil with which the magnetite is now associated. In that case, deeper levels than those that could be reached by the two boreholes (6.7 and 6.5 km ) would tap into liquids and gases that contain smaller concentrations of magnetite, and would therefore cause less obstruction to a flow.

76 posted on 05/29/2002 4:09:29 PM PDT by aruanan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 63 | View Replies]

To: Robert A. Cook, PE
Peat - Yes. (And its formed new in beds that are only a few hundred years old.) Coal. Yes. (Somewhat hard to make in the lab, but it's been done.) But never oil. And coal is found in wide beds at genreally very, very shallow depths (50' to 150' underground) in massive layers that are NOT 15,000 feet deep.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I thougth the Nazis had successfully converted coal to oil and refined it to fuel. Also, you statements about coal don't disprove, but support the hypothesis. Biomass that did not undergo the pressure of deep core depths did not complete the transformation to oil. Also, oil has been found in may places at much shallower depths than 15,000 feet. In the 1800's it actually oozed to the surface in Pennsylvania and many of those wells were only a few hundred feet deep.

Spindletop is the name of a small knoll just south of Beaumont Texas.

Anthony Lucas, an Austrian-born mining engineer, has been supervising the drilling of an oilwell since October 27, 1900.

His crew must install a new drilling bit on the string of a drill pipe. The date is January 10, 1901. The drilling crew begins lowering the new bit to the bottom of the hole. They run about 700 feet (200 meters) of drill pipe into the 1,000-foot (300-meter) hole. Suddenly, the well starts spewing drilling mud. The mud, a liquid concoction that carries rock cuttings out of the hole, drenches the rig floor and shoots up into the derrick.

The crew evacuates the rig and waits to see what will happen. The flow stops. The workers return to the rig and start cleaning up. Without warning, mud erupts again. Then a geyser of oil gushes 200 feet (60 meter) above the 60-foot-high (18 meter high) derrick.

http://sln.fi.edu/fellows/fellow2/jan99/spindletop.html

77 posted on 05/30/2002 9:59:53 AM PDT by WilliamWallace1999
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: Ramius
If oil is created by a process that starts with a biomass and takes millions of years to become oil, why isn't it still happening? If it is indeed a process shouldn't there be also be deposits that are only 20%, 50%, or 80% finished in the process? These "in process" deposits would also presumably be found at shallower (younger) depths. They should be everywhere. Sure, there are subtle differences between the "flavors" of different oil fields but all the oil we have ever found is for the most part all the same, and the chemistry therein is not hugely different between the shallow stuff and the deep stuff. Wrong dude!

Crude oil - as petroleum directly out of the ground is called - is a remarkably varied substance, both in its use and composition. It can be a straw-colored liquid or tar-black solid. Red, green and brown hues are not uncommon. The image of James Dean dripping with black oil from his Texas gusher in the 1956 movie "Giant" may have been compelling, but it's not descriptive of today's oil producers. For one thing, the days when a gusher signaled a big discovery are long gone. Since the 1930s, oil producers have used blowout preventers to stop gushers. In addition, not all crude oils behave in the Hollywood manner. Some flow about as well as cold peanut butter.

Until the late 19th century, an oil find often was met with disinterest or dismay. Pioneers who settled the American West dug wells to find water or brine, a source of salt; they were disappointed when they struck oil.

Several historical factors changed that. The kerosene lamp, invented in 1854, ultimately created the first large-scale demand for petroleum. (Kerosene first was made from coal, but by the late 1880s most was derived from crude oil.) In 1859, at Titusville, Penn., Col. Edwin Drake drilled the first successful well through rock and produced crude oil. What some called "Drake's Folly" was the birth of the modern petroleum industry. He sold his "black gold" for $20 a barrel.

Petroleum was prized mostly for its yield of kerosene until the turn of the century. Gasoline was burned off, and bitumen and asphalt (the heavier parts of crude oil) were discarded. But gradually rising in importance were the incandescent light and the internal combustion engine. The former relied on oil-fired generating plants; the latter, on gasoline.

By the 1920s, crude oil as an energy source - not just as a curiosity - came into its own. But to many, it's still as mysterious as it was to ancient man. Even in the petroleum industry, most people never see crude oil.

Geologists generally agree that crude oil was formed over millions of years from the remains of tiny aquatic plants and animals that lived in ancient seas. There may be bits of brontosaurus thrown in for good measure, but petroleum owes its existence largely to one-celled marine organisms. As these organisms died, they sank to the sea bed. Usually buried with sand and mud, they formed an organic-rich layer that eventually turned to sedimentary rock. The process repeated itself, one layer covering another.

Then, over millions of years, the seas withdrew. In lakes and inland seas, a similar process took place with deposits formed of non-marine vegetation.

In some cases, the deposits that formed sedimentary rock didn't contain enough oxygen to completely decompose the organic material. Bacteria broke down the trapped and preserved residue, molecule by molecule, into substances rich in hydrogen and carbon. Increased pressure and heat from the weight of the layers above then caused a partial distillation of the organic remnants, transforming them, ever so slowly, into crude oil and natural gas.

Although various types of hydrocarbons - molecules made of hydrogen and carbon atoms - form the basis of all petroleum, they differ in their configurations. The carbon atoms may be linked in a ring or a chain, each with a full or partial complement of hydrogen atoms. Some hydrocarbons combine easily with other materials, and some resist such bonding.

The number of carbon atoms determines the oil's relative "weight" or density. Gases generally have one to four carbon atoms, while heavy oils and waxes may have 50, and asphalts, hundreds.

Hydrocarbons also differ in their boiling temperatures - a key fact for refiners who separate the different components of crude oil by weight and boiling point. Gases, the lightest hydrocarbons, boil below atmospheric temperature. Crude oil components used to make gasoline boil in the range of 55 to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Those used for jet fuel boil in the range of 300 to 550 degrees, and those for diesel, at about 700 degrees.

There are three essentials in the creation of a crude oil field:

First, a "source rock" whose geologic history allowed the formation of crude oil. This usually is a fine-grained shale rich in organic matter.

Second, migration of the oil from the source rock to a "reservoir rock," usually a sandstone or limestone that's thick and porous enough to hold a sizable accumulation of oil. A reservoir rock that's only a few feet thick may be commercially producible if it's at a relatively shallow depth and near other fields. However, to warrant the cost of producing in more challenging regions (the Arctic North Slope, for example) the reservoir may have to be several hundred feet thick.

Third, entrapment. The earth is constantly creating irregular geologic structures through both sudden and gradual movements - earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and erosion caused by wind and water. Uplifted rock, for example, can result in domelike structures or arched folds called anticlines. These often serve as receptacles for hydrocarbons. The probability of discovering oil is greatest when such structures are formed near a source rock. In addition, an overlying, impermeable rock must be present to seal the migrating oil in the structure. The oldest oil-bearing rocks date back more than 600 million years; the youngest, about 1 million. However, most oil fields have been found in rocks between 10 million and 270 million years old.

Subsurface temperature, which increases with depth, is a critical factor in the creation of oil. Petroleum hydrocarbons rarely are formed at temperatures less than 150 degrees Fahrenheit and generally are carbonized and destroyed at temperatures greater than 500 degrees. Most hydrocarbons are found at "moderate" temperatures ranging from 225 to 350 degrees.

It is the particular crude oil's geologic history that is most important in determining its characteristics. Some crudes from Louisiana and Nigeria are similar because both were formed in similar marine deposits. In parts of the Far East, crude oil generally is waxy, black or brown, and low in sulfur. It is similar to crudes found in central Africa because both were formed from nonmarine sources. In the Middle East, crude oil is black but less waxy and higher in sulfur. Crude oil from Western Australia can be a light, honey-colored liquid, while that from the North Sea typically is a waxy, greenish-black liquid. Many kinds of crudes are found in the United States because there is great variety in the geologic history of its different regions.

78 posted on 05/30/2002 10:06:08 AM PDT by WilliamWallace1999
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: WilliamWallace1999
...I thougth the Nazis had successfully converted coal to oil and refined it to fuel.

That's what I've heard in some WWII documentaries.
I'm not in "the oil bidness", but my Dad spent 44 years with Conoco; grandparents
had a very modest parcel of the "Three Sands" oilfield in North Central Oklahoma...
and blew their money away as soon as it came in!
79 posted on 05/30/2002 10:12:37 AM PDT by VOA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 77 | View Replies]

To: WilliamWallace1999
Interesting. Good post. My question was actually an honest one... not just trying to prod people. Just trying to find out how this stuff works.

Has anybody calculated the biomass that is required, then, to create a barrel of oil? Seems to me that it would be quite a high ratio. Then if total oil reserves (or at least known reserves) can be estimated, is the size of the necessary biomass a reasonable figure?

80 posted on 05/30/2002 10:21:25 AM PDT by Ramius
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 78 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081-94 next last

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.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson