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Tens Of Billions Of Additional Barrels Of Oil Remain To Be Tapped Miles Below Gulf Of Mexico
Science Daily ^ | 3-31-2003 | Cornell University

Posted on 03/31/2003 4:10:37 PM PST by blam

Source: Cornell University News Service
Date: 2003-03-31

Tens Of Billions Of Additional Barrels Of Oil Remain To Be Tapped Miles Below Gulf Of Mexico, Cornell Geologist Says

NEW ORLEANS -- U.S. reliance on foreign oil production could be reduced by chemically mapping the subsurface streams of hydrocarbons, amounting to tens of billions of barrels, hidden well below the Gulf of Mexico, says a Cornell University geologist.

These untapped oil and gas reserves can be found by matching hydrocarbon chemical signatures with geologic models for stratigraphic layers under the sea floor, says Lawrence M. Cathles, a professor of chemical geology at Cornell in Ithaca, N.Y.

"The undiscovered gas and oil potential of the Gulf of Mexico is very large," says Cathles. "We have produced only a small fraction, and the deep-water potential for finding more there is big. In terms of potential, it is bigger than the North Sea. It's about a big a deal as there is."

Cathles will present his findings in a talk, "Massive Hydrocarbon Venting with Minor, Constantly Replenished (Flow-Through) Retention in a 100 x 200 km Area Offshore Louisiana Gulf of Mexico," at the 225th national meeting of the American Chemical Society in New Orleans at 1:30 p.m. CST on March 27.

The northern Gulf of Mexico basin is one of the world's most active areas of hydrocarbon exploration. A study of an area of about 9,500 square miles, found that hydrocarbons currently are being naturally generated from strata deposited during the Tertiary and Jurassic periods, miles below the sea floor. Hydrocarbons are leaking through natural vents at hundreds of locations, and these vent sites have been visited and studied by Cathles and other researchers using small submarines. What makes this area offshore of Louisiana important is the presence of two types of hydrocarbon deep below the gulf floor: the deeper, early-maturing Jurassic and the later-maturing Tertiary. Each has a distinctive chemistry. As these sources mature, the hydrocarbons migrate upward toward the surface through what can be thought of as a myriad of small streams and ponds, much like a natural water system. Just how much liquid hydrocarbon is retained within this subsurface network is a matter of crucial interest, Cathles says.

More than 70 percent of the hydrocarbons that have been naturally generated have made their way upward through the vast network of streams and ponds and vented into the ocean. The hydrocarbons are digested by bacteria, which then become food for the gulf's marine life. The earlier-generated, sulfur-rich, carbonate-sourced Jurassic hydrocarbons are replaced by the shallower, later-generated, shale-sourced Tertiary hydrocarbons which fill the producing reservoirs in the northern part of the study area. This displacement of Jurassic by Tertiary oil provides geologists with a measure of the remaining untapped oil and gas below the gulf's floor.

The hydrocarbons hidden within the subsurface ponds and streams are about 8 to 10 percent of the Gulf of Mexico's total hydrocarbons. In the study area this represents about 60 billion barrels of oil and 370 trillion cubic feet of gas and is the hydrocarbon that could be extracted, Cathles says. (The remaining hydrocarbons, about 20 percent, stay stored in the source strata.)

Cathles says that the telltale chemistry of the hydrocarbons reflects the streams and ponds through which they migrated, and thus could point to the ponds that remain to be discovered and produced. Ultimately he hopes that looking at the hydrocarbon chemistry in this new way could provide geologists with accurate information on the presence and size of the deeper reservoirs. He says: "By combining chemical data from currently producing reservoirs with seismic images of the subsurface using computer migration models, drilling for new deep reservoirs can be facilitated."

Funding for the research was provided by the Gas Research Institute in a joint project with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: barrels; billions; energylist; gulf; mexico; oil; tens
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To: blam
Some 20 yrs or so ago I heard a VP from Gulf Oil talking about the oil reserves in the Gulf of Mexico.... His question was that if I go drill it for you will your navy protect me when a Mexicali gun boat pulls up to the rig?
61 posted on 03/31/2003 6:42:16 PM PST by deport
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To: aruanan
Actually petroleum does flow in streams and collect under regions of relatively more impermeable overburden. This would make a pond or pool of oil, albeit upsidedown. Water flows because of gravity. Petroleum flows because of pressure gradients. Water collects in places out of which it cannot flow and in which the porosity is overcome by the inflow. Petroleum collects under formations the porosity of which is insufficient to handle the flow. In places where such overburden doesn't exist, the oil and accompanying methane flows right out of the ground. In some places the porosity is such that the petroleum is blocked from reaching the surface but not the methane, resulting in people lawns or fields catching on fire.

Well of course, everyone knows that :) (Hermione Grainger alert)!!

62 posted on 03/31/2003 6:45:04 PM PST by lawnguy
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To: killermosquito
;-) funny.
63 posted on 03/31/2003 7:06:07 PM PST by AM2000
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To: deport
Recovery rate varies by the type of rock that is the oil reservoir. But if you can produce 50% of the original oil in place in the rock, you're doing about average.

Steam isn't the only way to coax out more oil. You can try to flush it with water, carbon dioxide, reinjected natural gas, and even fire.

I'm not sure there's any rule of thumb for deciding whether or not an enhanced recovery method will be economic. It depends so much on the particular circumstances.

64 posted on 03/31/2003 7:31:44 PM PST by Dog Gone
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To: deport
The recover rate depends on too many factors to list here and the explation of each. These factors range from geological to financical. The initial recovery cannot be determined until all the aspects of the reservoir are known.
65 posted on 03/31/2003 8:13:22 PM PST by TaMoDee
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To: swarthyguy
One reason cows should be armed.

And *here,* a good reason cows should be shot. At least the poetasters of the bunch.

-archy-/-

66 posted on 04/01/2003 1:24:54 PM PST by archy (Keep in mind that the milk of human kindness comes from a beast that is both cannibal and a vampire.)
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To: sinkspur
The hell with the oil! It's worth it just for the FISH!

http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2002/4/12/132638.shtml
67 posted on 04/26/2003 12:03:56 PM PDT by slickeroo
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