Top 10 oil fields (Cantarell kaput)

[ggirod]

Re: Top 10 oil fields (Cantarell kaput)

There is something very interesting going on with the ZIRP, i.e, incomes fall and prices de-flate. Workers like me are on their knees.

This is something I don't understand, but it is very interesting: How can govn'ts print forever, and prices fall?

I think it is rather simple. In the '70s they learned a very important lesson. If you spend more than you tax and if you give it to people who need it for necessities and maybe an occasional fling, like buying the expensive toilet paper, then prices will rise, wages will rise as people buy more stuff, and inflation ruins the oligarch's day. Even though Oligarchs can pretty much increase their income as much as they feel like, they are not wasteful. Why divert billions of inflated dollars when hundreds of millions will do just as well sans inflation? So, instead, Uncle Sam bypass that troublesome Main Street funding and gives it directly to the Oligarchs who then pay themselves 100 million dollar bonuses as soon as he turns his back.

And, unlike the people who would squander the money on food, medical care, prescriptions, and a case or two of beer a month, (THAT IS EVIL NASTY SOCIALISM) the Oligarch's money gets reinvested in gold, treasuries, oil, and other fairly safe investments (THAT IS GOD-GIVEN FREE MARKET CAPITALISM) so that after the whole mess crashes the oligarchs can move into their gated communities, surround themselves with servants and the best in medical care, and live a life of peaceful joyous contemplation and enrich their souls in the finer points of Ayn Rand's conservative philosophy.

[Starving Steve]

Re: Top 10 oil fields (Cantarell kaput)

I rather agree with you. I think the rich have become so arrogant and isolated that they refuse to even throw the peons a peanut. The starvation of the workers is how they combat inflation.

I know this sounds like the old socialist dribble at Berkeley, but it is really true. This class warfare is really playing itself out now in Canada and America, if not in Europe too.

My earliest days as a boy were in Duluth-Superior, at the head of Lake Superior. My grandparents helped to raise me, and they were socialists. Duluth was a stronghold of the Democratic-Farmer-Labour Party in Minnesota. I think Upper Michigan was another social-democratic stronghold, and maybe it still is to this day.

People in the Upper Midwest and people in the Prairie Provinces of Canada starved during the Depression. They told me plenty about what went on and why they were socialists.

[HisHighnessDog]

Re: Top 10 oil fields (Cantarell kaput)

Steve,

Something about your response causes me to call "BS!":
Almost all of the examples you cite for promising locations for exploration/exploitation reserves are located right here in North America. This fits neatly with your narrative that 'It's those pesky environmentalists that are preventing us from moving forward'.

The problem I see with your argument is that nations unencumbered with the constraints you cite are having the same problems we are. The Chinese for example have very few limits on where they go to explore/exploit reserves, how they do it or how much it costs. Oil is a strategic resource for them too. They have little internal opposition from environmentalists. They also have so much money that they are not constrained from going abroad (or paying someone else) to find reserves.

Your "It's about the environmentalists and too much regulation, stupid"argument doesn't explain why China -like all nations- is having the exact same problems, in the exact same degree, they we are in securing reserves.

Add to the ten mega-oil fields listed in Forbes Magazine, there is also oil in the Santa Catalina Channel off of Los Angeles. There is also oil in the Gulf of Mexico, recently discovered. There is also the oil sands of Alberta with about an 800 year life to them. There is also the un-developed Hibernia Oil Field off of Newfoundland. There is also exploration to be done off the East Coast of the U.S. There is also the entire frontier of synthetic oil from coal, also realistically and affordably priced bio-fuels and alcohol fuels, still to be developed in the world market. There is also rejuvenated life in old oil fields through side-a-ways drilling and fracking of shale. There is also new oil to be taken from southern Saskatchewan and in North Dakota, possibly new oil from Pennsylvania, as well. Tallisman is rejuvenating life into the North Sea Oil Field.

Environmentalism and defeatism are mental illnesses and should be treated as such. These illnesses first appeared in the 1960s on college campuses. Pot-smoking was a symptom of these mental illnesses.

Compare the achievements ( or lack of achievements ) of environmentalists to-day to the achievements of Americans in our parents' generation. Witness the achievement of William Mulhulland, for example, who achieved the solution to Southern California's water shortage:

"There's your water; now go take it." (William Mulhulland, City of Los Angeles)

[Starving Steve]

Re: Top 10 oil fields (Cantarell kaput)

I think the Central Committee of China is smart: They do NOT let environmentalists get the upper-hand in planning for resource development. Developments are not blocked.

China develops. China builds for the future. Cities in China have housing development and infrastructure (roads, rail-lines, water supplies, energy supplies) for the future precisely because China does NOT let environmentalists block development.

What China is doing, we should be doing. The eco-frauds should be in labour camps or mental hospitals, and not setting the policy agenda as they do here.

[leegs]

Re: Top 10 oil fields (Cantarell kaput)

Everyone just remember - it's performance art (hat tip to Chomsky).

[HisHighnessDog]

Re: Top 10 oil fields (Cantarell kaput)

Steve, You've missed my point, which is: no matter how "smart" (your term) or 'unconstrained' (my broader concept) the Chinese government is, they are having NO easier time than the U.S. is in finding and exploiting oil reserves. Additionally, there's a makable case that the Chinese government feels an even greater need to solve this problem for themselves, namely: they must maintain a high rate of economic growth just to meet their end of the social contract... lest they provoke 1989-style civil unrest.

This suggests that 'being smarter (or more ruthless) in dealing with environmentalists' as well as 'having unlimited amounts of money to throw at the problem' won't make a difference... because it hasn't so far.

The real constraint on increasing oil production must lie elsewhere; it is not willpower or money.

I think the Central Committee of China is smart: They do NOT let environmentalists get the upper-hand in planning for resource development. Developments are not blocked.

China develops. China builds for the future. Cities in China have housing development and infrastructure (roads, rail-lines, water supplies, energy supplies) for the future precisely because China does NOT let environmentalists block development.

What China is doing, we should be doing. The eco-frauds should be in labour camps or mental hospitals, and not setting the policy agenda as they do here.

[mooncliff]

Re: Top 10 oil fields (Cantarell kaput)

Steve,
The Chinese for example have very few limits on where they go to explore/exploit reserves, how they do it or how much it costs. Oil is a strategic resource for them too. They have little internal opposition from environmentalists. They also have so much money that they are not constrained from going abroad (or paying someone else) to find reserves.

Or are the Chinese thinking that what the energy future holds, insofar as they can foresee it over the next several decades, means that the more diversified the better and the more renewable energy the better?

China doubles wind power in one year.
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/finan.../D9DKPELO0.htm

China Smart Grid
http://green.venturebeat.com/2010/01...ing-with-7-3b/

Saudi Arabian Oil Co., the world’s biggest crude producer, is exporting about 1 million barrels a day to China, more than to the U.S.
http://www.businessweek.com/news/201...-customer.html

Russia, the world's top oil producer, is set to make deep inroads into Asian energy markets at the expense of Mideast rivals thanks to a new pipeline that pumps crude from the oilfields of Siberia to a new terminal on the Pacific Ocean. The pipeline, a pet project of prime minister Vladimir Putin, is key to Russia's efforts to diversify its export routes away from Europe and tap growing energy demand in Asia. It is also important to countries such as China that want to reduce their dependence on Middle East oil.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...on_Commodities

[Starving Steve]

Re: Top 10 oil fields (Cantarell kaput)

From what China's Academy of Social Sciences proclaimed in 2006, China's oil reserves will be depleted by 2020. We are at, or just past, peak oil production. This bleak forecast assumes no break-throughs in recovery techniques such as side-a-ways drilling and fracturing of rock formations in existing oil fields in China. This bleak forecast assumes no new discoveries that would amount to anything in Western China and also nothing in the South China Sea.

China is importing most of its oil. It claims to be energy rich only in coal.

The future of China will be very dependent upon nuclear power, hydro-electric power, and coal. Solar and wind power and geo-thermal have proven to be a sad joke; especially solar is a sad joke.

I think China's interest in solar power is to export solar panels to the idiots in Europe and North America. China has plenty of wind, but wind power has proven to be rather an inefficient source of power, especially after accounting for the loss of energy in transmision to distant cities. I think China's interest in wind power is to manufacture turbines and sell them to the idiots in Europe and North America.

Geo-thermal is a great source of power where geo-thermal exists at the surface of the Earth. China has such locations.

Geo-thermal reserves over 6000 feet underground are a joke, but we have idiots in North America and Europe who beg to differ with me on that.

China is importing oil from Saudi-Arabia, Russia, and also Iran. China will be importing up-graded oil from Alberta's tar sands projects in the near future.

Once again, the future of China's energy will be domestic coal, domestic nuclear power, and its domestic hydro-electric power.

The talk about "smart grid technology" is just talk which has to do more with exporting technological devices to the idiots in Europe and North America. So-called, "smart grid technology" will not solve China's energy problems any more than it will solve Europe and North America's energy problems, but such technology sells exports, and that is what counts.

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: Top 10 oil fields (Cantarell kaput)

It's just that it will be a algae based bio diesel powered car that we literally will "grow" the fuel for.

Well, the cat's out of the bag now (a front paw, anyway):

From the Guardian in the UK: Algae to solve the Pentagon's jet fuel problem:

Algae to solve the Pentagon's jet fuel problem

US scientists believe they will soon be able to use algae to produce biofuel for the same cost as fossil fuels


Algae on China’s Yangtze river. Beijing, as well as the US military,
is looking at ways to turn it into aviation fuel.
Photograph: STRINGER SHANGHAI/REUTERS

The brains trust of the Pentagon says it is just months away from producing a jet fuel from algae for the same cost as its fossil-fuel equivalent.

The claim, which comes from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) that helped to develop the internet and satellite navigation systems, has taken industry insiders by surprise. A cheap, low-carbon fuel would not only help the US military, the nation's single largest consumer of energy, to wean itself off its oil addiction, but would also hold the promise of low-carbon driving and flying for all.

Darpa's research projects have already extracted oil from algal ponds at a cost of $2 per gallon. It is now on track to begin large-scale refining of that oil into jet fuel, at a cost of less than $3 a gallon, according to Barbara McQuiston, special assistant for energy at Darpa. That could turn a promising technology into a *market-ready one. Researchers have cracked the problem of turning pond scum and seaweed into fuel, but finding a cost-effective method of mass production could be a game-changer. "Everyone is well aware that a lot of things were started in the military," McQuiston said.

The work is part of a broader Pentagon effort to reduce the military's thirst for oil, which runs at between 60 and 75 million barrels of oil a year. Much of that is used to keep the US Air Force in flight. Commercial airlines – such as Continental and Virgin Atlantic – have also been looking at the viability of an algae-based jet fuel, as has the Chinese government.

"Darpa has achieved the base goal to date," she said. "Oil from algae is projected at $2 per gallon, headed towards $1 per gallon."

McQuiston said a larger-scale refining operation, producing 50 million gallons a year, would come on line in 2011 and she was hopeful the costs would drop still further – ensuring that the algae-based fuel would be competitive with fossil fuels. She said the projects, run by private firms SAIC and General Atomics, expected to yield 1,000 gallons of oil per acre from the algal farm.

McQuiston's projections took several industry insiders by surprise. "It's a little farther out in time," said Mary Rosenthal, director of the Algal Biomass Association. "I am not saying it is going to happen in the next three months, but it could happen in the next two years."

But the possibilities have set off a scramble to discover the cheapest way of mass-producing an algae-based fuel. Even Exxon – which once notoriously dismissed biofuels as moonshine – invested $600m in research last July.
Unlike corn-based ethanol, algal farms do not threaten food supplies. Some strains are being grown on household waste and in brackish water. Algae draw carbon dioxide from the atmosphere when growing; when the derived fuel is burned, the same CO₂ is released, making the fuel theoretically zero-carbon, although processing and transporting the fuel requires some energy.

The industry received a further boost earlier this month, when the Environmental Protection Agency declared that algae-based diesel reduced greenhouse gas emissions by more than 50% compared with conventional diesel. The Obama administration had earlier awarded $80m in research grants to a new generation of algae and biomass fuels.

For Darpa, the support for algae is part of a broader mission for the US
military to obtain half of its fuel from renewable energy sources by 2016. That time line meant that the Pentagon needed to develop technologies to make its hardware "fuel agnostic", capable that is of running on any energy source including methane and propane.

The US Air Force wants its entire fleet of jet fighters and transport aircraft to test-fly a 50-50 blend of petroleum-based fuel and other sources – including algae – by next year.

The switch is partly driven by cost, but military commanders in Afghanistan and Iraq are also anxious to create a lighter, more fuel-efficient force that is less dependent on supply convoys, which are vulnerable to attack from insurgents. Give the military the capability of creating jet fuel in the field, and you would eliminate that danger, McQuiston said. "In Afghanistan, if you could be able to create jet fuel from indigenous sources and rely on that, you'd not only be able to source energy for the military, but you'd also be able to leave an infrastructure that would be more sustainable."

McQuiston said the agency was also looking at how to make dramatic improvements in the photo-voltaic cells that collect solar energy. She said making PV 50% more efficient would create a future when even the smallest devices, such as mobile phones, would be *powered by their own solar cells.

[Starving Steve]

Re: Top 10 oil fields (Cantarell kaput)

Well, the cat's out of the bag now (a front paw, anyway):

From the Guardian in the UK: Algae to solve the Pentagon's jet fuel problem:

I own a solar-powered calculator--- another joke from the pot-head era of the 1970s. Doubling solar-power output is a joke because there is next-to-nothing there to start with.

As for algae, good luck. I learned about ethanol as a fuel, and I am quite skeptical about algae as an economical fuel. Ethanol alcohol as a fuel was a joke because it was uneconomic: the car guzzled the ethanol because the energy content of the ethanol was lower than that of gasoline.

Yes, the military needs fuel alternatives, so the military will develop algae into a substitute fuel for oil in case that oil is cut-off in a war. China's military will do the same.... But algae replacing oil in the fuel market? My guess is: never.

Coal can be made into oil too. The Hitlerite-filth did that during WWII. But synthetic oil made from coal is not economical, so probably synthetic oil will never be made from coal again.

Heavy oil and tar can be made into light oil. That is viable, and that is being done now, and on a massive scale in northern Alberta. Up-graded oil from Alberta's tar sands needs rock-solid and steady oil prices in the current price range ($70-$80 U.S. per barrel) to really be viable.

I just am getting tired of listening to the idiots in the U.S. Department of Energy under Dr. Chow. America is deeper into the energy swamp than ever because of dreamland (pot-head) projections about solar power, wind power, geo-thermal power, and bio-fuels.

America has its choices in front of it now: atomic power, hydro-electric power, up-graded oil from Alberta's tar sands, natural gas, clean coal, and side-a-ways oil drilling with fracking (fracturing rock formations). The solution to America's and Europe's energy dilemna is all of these sources being developed, and as quickly as possible.... Otherwise, our standard of living goes down the toilet, and fast.

[Starving Steve]

Re: Top 10 oil fields (Cantarell kaput)

Oh, I mentioned that solar-powered calculator that I own, from the pot-head era of the 1970s (Jimmy Carter and that whole era), well in order to make the calculator work on a cloudy day or at night, you have to turn a light on inside the house.... Some savings? A 60watt light turned-on in order to have power for the calculator to turn-on, something that a 1.5 volt AA battery could have accomplished, and with a bit less effort on my part.

Like my solar lights, my solar-powered calculator was a sad joke. And the ethanol-fuel from corn was another sad joke; the secret that the public was never told was the lower energy-content of ethanol fuel.

[Rajiv]

Re: Top 10 oil fields (Cantarell kaput)

This seems to be contrary to what is suggested by a McMaster University article - The Challenge of Algal Fuel: Economic Processing of the Entire Algal Biomass

Micro-algae have considerable potential for the production biofuel and in particular biodiesel (1). At present the process of producing fuel from algae would appear to be uneconomic with over 50 algal biofuel companies and none as yet producing commercial-scale quantities at competitive prices (2) (3) It has been suggested that the cost of production needs to be reduced by up to two orders of magnitude to become economic (4). Others estimate biodiesel from algae costs at least 10 to 30 times more than making traditional biofuels (5).
.
.
.
.
.
.

Of course Milledge's information could be based on outdated data. But the article was just published about a month ago. But I do know that at least two well funded algae reactor based companies had tremendous problems scaling, and were unable to raise more funding.

[GRG55]

Re: Top 10 oil fields (Cantarell kaput)

Well, the cat's out of the bag now (a front paw, anyway):

From the Guardian in the UK: Algae to solve the Pentagon's jet fuel problem:

Interesting situation...

At the same time as the Pentagon perfects a way to eliminate its dependence on oil [and OPEC], it simultaneously undermines the single most important reason for the USA to have a big and far reaching military machine in the first place...:eek:

Talk about cutting one's own throat...:rolleyes:

[ThePythonicCow]

Re: Top 10 oil fields (Cantarell kaput)

This seems to be contrary to what is suggested by a McMaster University article - The Challenge of Algal Fuel: Economic Processing of the Entire Algal Biomass

Yes, this is contrary. This article and jtabeb's comments (both connected with the U.S. Air Force ?) are far more optimistic as to the economic value of algae power than anything else I've seen.

[GRG55]

Re: Top 10 oil fields (Cantarell kaput)

Yes, this is contrary. This article and jtabeb's comments (both connected with the U.S. Air Force ?) are far more optimistic as to the economic value of algae power than anything else I've seen.

Economic value?

Not to offend jtabeb or anyone else, but what's the economic value of the war machines in which this new fuel is going to be used?

Now, I will grant that like so many other useful things that originated from military research [e.g. GPS], an alternative to liquid hydrocarbon fuels for transportation could ultimately have tremendous economic value for the USA and the world.