Posted on 04/23/2002 4:48:26 PM PDT by visagoth
Edited on 09/03/2002 4:50:21 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
DEEP UNDERWATER, and deeper underground, scientists see surprising hints that gas and oil deposits can be replenished, filling up again, sometimes rapidly.
Although it sounds too good to be true, increasing evidence from the Gulf of Mexico suggests that some old oil fields are being refilled by petroleum surging up from deep below, scientists report. That may mean that current estimates of oil and gas abundance are far too low.
(Excerpt) Read more at newsday.com ...
A lot of us have been saying that there is no shortage of oil. If there was a genuine shortage of oil, OPEC would not be a necessity of the Opecker Princes.
The day that we become independent of Opecker Oil is the day that Islamic Terrorism will start to shrivle up and die without the financing the terrorists get from the Opecker Princes thanks to our petro $'s.
Maybe there will be enough extra oil for the Axis of Whining Weasels , the Euro Trash countries. Then, they can lick our boots instead of the Opecker Princes's slippers.
Abort the Opecker Princes by aborting Opec!
What's that? Oh. Never mind.
See http://www.people.cornell.edu/pages/tg21/ and then decide how many SUVs you should buy.
This is a key, and very false statement, but it's critical for those making this argument.
In almost every case, geologists and petrophysicists believe that oil is formed in shales or other source rock, and has migrated upward until it reaches a trap or seal which it cannot penetrate. That is almost NEVER where the oil itself was formed.
It leaks upward, just like an air bubble trying surface from underwater. Subtle things, like deep earthquakes, far too mild to be felt at the surface, can fracture rock and permit oil or gas to migrate upward from where it is currently trapped.
I wish I had a dollar for every well I've been involved with that tested rock where it's obvious oil used to be.
Some fields will refill, simply because a new migration path for oil has been opened. It does not imply in any way that the supply of oil is limitless.
In a related story the EPA demanded that Mother Nature rip up and repave the ocean floor citing the oil as a threat to local water supplies.
In some of the heaviest naval battles in the history of man during WWII in the Pacific, massive ship loss and of course the loss of fuel oil did not harm the ocean critters at those battle sites. The critters have done quite well. People who dive like to dive around these old relics on the ocean floor. Many of whom are still leaking oil.
Mother Nature had better watchout for the Opecker Princes. They will try to mug and rape her if she is replenishing those oil pools of ours in the Gulf of Mexico. They have to have Opec to fund terrorism in the middle east and around the world.
Excellent. LOL
We know that there is quite a bit of complex organic material in outer space. That may be another clue that oil doesn't just come from the decay of ancient plants on earth, but could have been among the available components when the planet originally coalesced at the origin of the solar system.
As you say, probably everything runs out sooner or later. But in the case of oil, it may be later. The jury is still out.
Could somebody kindly explain to me why natural oil spills that make the Exxon Valdez seem like chump change are apparently no big deal to the environment when done in the fish-rich, heavily populated Gulf of Mexico; yet, our nations' huge energy reserves in places like a few thousand acres in remotest-corner-of-the-earth ANWR can't be expoited because of "pollution" and environmental concerns?
Am I missing something here?
You don't mean the dreaded report: GOOD SHOWS, BUT NO COMMERCIAL HYDROCARBONS?
The world has more oil not less
The Origin of Methane (and Oil) in the Crust of the Earth
Thomas Gold
U.S.G.S. Professional Paper 1570, The Future of Energy Gases, 1993
Remember when, two years after the dreaded Exxon Valdez, SPILL of the CENTURY occurred, the greatest salmon harvest in twenty years was reaped in those same waters?
Yeah, you're right, it takes a whole helluva lot to make a real difference ecologically. Sheesh, Al Gore begone.
. . . which seems to indicate that oil/gas might be seeping up geologically--i.e. sloooly--all over the place. And we just don't notice that upmigration anywhere except where it gets stopped and a little of it gets trapped?. . . does not imply in any way that the supply of oil is limitless.Not sure just why that
It just seems to indicate that a "limitless" supply of (very hot, very high-pressure) hydrocarbons is very deep in the earth, probably mostly if not entirely inaccessible.
Generally, the deeper you go, the more likely the hydrocarbons are to be natural gas, not oil. As it gets hotter and deeper, even that is cooked off and what is found is mostly carbon dioxide or hydrogen sulfide.
That's my main objection to the theory that oil or gas is oozing up from deep inside the earth. It's too hot for it to exist there in the first place.
I could accept a theory that at least some of the natural gas is methane which is being spun off of the hotter earth material, but I think oil is a much harder sell.
There are a lot of variables, depending on the quality of the rock, pressure, etc., but that's probably about right. There are enhanced recovery methods that can be used if the reservoir is big enough, like flushing it with water, and even setting it on fire, to drive out more oil. Even then, we're leaving at least 40% of it still down there.
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.