An American Oil Find That Holds More Than All of OPEC

[Raz]

Re: An American Oil Find That Holds More Than All of OPEC

So this is something different from the shale already being exploited these days? Is there a subtle distinction I'm missing? Or is it the same principle, but exploitable only at a higher oil price..?

A lot has changed since the 70s and 80s.

This is nothing like fracking/horizontal drilling to release crude oil that's spread out in shale formations.
This is a cousin to the oil sands of Alberta. Kerogen is a sedimentary rock that contains hydrocarbons which can be processed into liquid form.

It's expensive; it requires lots of water; and the environmental impact I know little about.
It's clearly not a "game changer", unless someone comes up with a technological leap. Even then it will be very expensive to process.

We need GRG55 to give us the entire spill on this subject.

[lektrode]

Re: An American Oil Find That Holds More Than All of OPEC

....was far closer to "cranky" than they ever were.

As far as the bad gas line behaviour, shewt, that is NYer's in general all the time (I'm a former lifer myself, born and raised on LI), we're always a heartbeat from that sort of behaviour, anyway. And the flip side is the tremendous volunteerism that has also emerged locally. I wouldn't take the example of a few bad apples and apply to all. People can adapt to change fast.

'mercans are nothing if not resilient.
and when the goin gets tough, the tough get goin, an all that too!

glad to hear y'all are keepin it together over there!

[Chris Coles]

Re: An American Oil Find That Holds More Than All of OPEC

This is nothing like fracking/horizontal drilling to release crude oil that's spread out in shale formations.
This is a cousin to the oil sands of Alberta. Kerogen is a sedimentary rock that contains hydrocarbons which can be processed into liquid form.

It's expensive; it requires lots of water; and the environmental impact I know little about.
It's clearly not a "game changer", unless someone comes up with a technological leap. Even then it will be very expensive to process.

We need GRG55 to give us the entire spill on this subject.

Out of curiosity; has anyone tried another form of solvent such as LNG injection? Particularly as the US seems to have some to spare for the time being....

[bill]

Re: An American Oil Find That Holds More Than All of OPEC

Out of curiosity; has anyone tried another form of solvent such as LNG injection? Particularly as the US seems to have some to spare for the time being....

http://www.gasfrac.com/

[Chris Coles]

Re: An American Oil Find That Holds More Than All of OPEC

Thanks for that Bill, nice to know my brain still works

[flintlock]

Re: An American Oil Find That Holds More Than All of OPEC

'mercans are nothing if not resilient.
and when the goin gets tough, the tough get goin, an all that too!

glad to hear y'all are keepin it together over there!

I was going to use the same word, resilient. Especially the younger they are.

[don]

Re: An American Oil Find That Holds More Than All of OPEC

'mercans are nothing if not resilient.
and when the goin gets tough, the tough get goin, an all that too!

glad to hear y'all are keepin it together over there!

Since the late 40s Americans have been in a global dominance bubble. Hyperbolic backslapping is hardly a test for real world tough times. Would Americans be up to the challenge, in some far distance future, of a vastly superior power running over us at will - drones, special forces, economic sanctions, destruction of basic necessities (water, sewage, etc), 'surgical airstrikes', outright invasion. Perhaps we would - I don't see why not - but that ain't happened in some time. Most Americans, at least on the surface, don't appear to give a shit that we mete out the above on an ongoing basis to others. My guess is it does register somewhere below the surface. That's where Cognitive Dissonance makes itself felt - in our culture, the mass killings, massive drug use, etc. That disconnect is apt to sharpen when things get dicier - before Americans man up to challenges outside the bubble.

[Raz]

Re: An American Oil Find That Holds More Than All of OPEC

http://www.gasfrac.com/

Thanks for the hyperlink. A very interesting innovation for pressurizing reservoirs in horizontal drilling/fracking.
If it's cost effective then it sounds like quite a boon to E&P companies in areas like the Bakken Formation.

Kerogen sediments, however, require heat in order to liquify the hydrocarbons, so I don't see how this would help the exploitation of oil shale.

But I'm no expert. Wish we could get GRG55 to chime in.

[lektrode]

Re: An American Oil Find That Holds More Than All of OPEC

Since the late 40s Americans have been in a global dominance bubble. Hyperbolic backslapping is hardly a test for real world tough times. Would Americans be up to the challenge, in some far distance future, of a vastly superior power running over us at will - drones, special forces, economic sanctions, destruction of basic necessities (water, sewage, etc), 'surgical airstrikes', outright invasion. Perhaps we would - I don't see why not - but that ain't happened in some time. Most Americans, at least on the surface, don't appear to give a shit that we mete out the above on an ongoing basis to others. My guess is it does register somewhere below the surface. That's where Cognitive Dissonance makes itself felt - in our culture, the mass killings, massive drug use, etc. That disconnect is apt to sharpen when things get dicier - before Americans man up to challenges outside the bubble.

while you are quite likely right in this regard, mr don - and no offense intended, but that sounds a bit 'leftwing guilt-trippish' to me, as i still believe that in spite of it all, The USA = still The Good Guys, compared to the rest of the 'empire builders' the world has seen.

would also seem that we saw the reaction to "real world tough times" in the days/weeks/months after 11sep2001.
small-scale, perhaps - but methinks that if an attack was on a wider scale, that the reaction would be proportional.

but since we apparently no longer have the will/stomach to wage all out war anymore - as per the 1940's - whereby its necessary to conduct 'politically correct' actions with rules of engagement that practically guarantee our guys get shot before they can even fire back?

i say slash the military budget, close most of the overseas bases, let the rest of the world defend themselves and fall back to the 'marginot line' (develop EMP capabilities) with a warning to potential troublemakers - "if you mess with us, we wont be sending troops the next time"

[Chris Coles]

Re: An American Oil Find That Holds More Than All of OPEC

Thanks for the hyperlink. A very interesting innovation for pressurizing reservoirs in horizontal drilling/fracking.
If it's cost effective then it sounds like quite a boon to E&P companies in areas like the Bakken Formation.

Kerogen sediments, however, require heat in order to liquify the hydrocarbons, so I don't see how this would help the exploitation of oil shale.

But I'm no expert. Wish we could get GRG55 to chime in.

I do wonder if it would be possible to change the word "Heat" for "Energy"?

[Raz]

Re: An American Oil Find That Holds More Than All of OPEC

I do wonder if it would be possible to change the word "Heat" for "Energy"?

Perhaps, but I doubt it.

LNG is very, very cold (-162 degrees Centigrade, or -260 F). It takes heat - and water - to separate the hydrocarbons from the rock.

[Chris Coles]

Re: An American Oil Find That Holds More Than All of OPEC

Perhaps, but I doubt it.

LNG is very, very cold (-162 degrees Centigrade, or -260 F). It takes heat - and water - to separate the hydrocarbons from the rock.

Raz, let me guess, you have never worked with an untrasonic cleaning bath? My take is to introduce very high levels of ultrasound; easily attainable with off the shelf technology available today.

[bill]

Re: An American Oil Find That Holds More Than All of OPEC

Raz, let me guess, you have never worked with an untrasonic cleaning bath? My take is to introduce very high levels of ultrasound; easily attainable with off the shelf technology available today.

http://www.onthewavefront.com/htm/te...n-Brochure.pdf
http://www.onthewavefront.com/

[Chris Coles]

Re: An American Oil Find That Holds More Than All of OPEC

http://www.onthewavefront.com/htm/te...n-Brochure.pdf
http://www.onthewavefront.com/

As I read it, Powerwave is not an ultrasonic system, but a broadly based high pressure pulse jet system. What I was thinking of was very high frequency sound waves, not involving any additional introduction of liquid; instead, vigorous stimulation of the atomic structure of the surrounding rock and the separately introduced additional solvent such as LNG.