Oil heads for record monthly drop on US downturn
NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices kept falling Friday, heading for their biggest monthly drop since futures trading began 25 years ago on signs that a contracting U.S. economy will suppress energy demand well into 2009.
Oil's monumental collapse -- prices are down 36 percent for the month and 56 percent from their July record -- has stunned oil-producing countries while giving cash-strapped U.S. consumers a rare dose of relief. Pump prices have fallen by half since their summer peak above $4 a gallon -- a huge drop that's expected to result in over $100 billion in annual savings for American households.
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11 comments:
THE FUTURE: OFFSHORE OIL EXPLORATION & PRODUCTION
OiIsMastery:
The picture accompanying your post is perfect. The picture represents the future of oil exploration, and is also why Abiotic Oil will eventually be recognized as reality.
As long as the price of oil covers exporation & production costs, plus a reasonable rate of return, offshore exploration should go full speed ahead.
A sampling of offshore production costs: Petrobras sees Tupi lifting costs below $8.20/bl (Reuters) June 10, 2008
The below comment is part of the detective story that helps explain how and eventually why oil's true origins will become widely known.
A DETECTIVE STORY, THE MISSING LINK EXPOSED: RUSSIAN TECHNOLOGY, PRESSURE, ULTRA-DEEPWATER, ULTRA-DEEP DRILLING
This is a detective story that leads from Coal Man's omissions and false statements, to oil geology, and to Russian technology married with Western offshore technology and seismic imaging.
It's a synthesis.
The trail of abiotic oil in the 'oil patch' is really about putting different pieces of evidence together in a narrative whole, following the clues.
It's a detective story.
The issue that "fossil" fuel advocates, whether geologists, peekers, or oil industry flacks never touch is pressure.
Pressure is critical for maintaining hydrocarbon stability at high temperatures.
But pressure ia also something much more important as far as the oil industry is concerned: A barrier to exploration & production of oil & gas.
Pressure can destroy an oil well, as it did in the Santa Barbara oil spill in 1969 off the California coast, where an inadequate casing sleeve was used and the natural pressure of the oil deposit blew out the well.
This accident led to the ban on offshore drilling in American waters.
So pressure containment and control, along with equipment performance under pressure are critical to deep oil & gas exploration.
A petroleum engineer can't consider the egineering of a well site without factoring in the pressure dynamics of the geological formation.
This is known throughout the industry, from day labor 'roughneck' all the way to the corporate boardroom.
But in American and British petroleum circles, that is to say, the Western oil companies, "fossil" theory has prevailed and easy accesss (shallow oil deposits) was the rule, both on "fossil" theory grounds (the 'oil window') and economic grounds (shallow oil is cheaper to produce).
As a result, up until recently the average TVD was less than 8,000 feet. Concerns about pressure over-taxing the equipment were reduced, although, not eliminated.
But technology tends to follow necessity, as a result Western oil drilling equipment had limited capacity to perform under pressure, which as stated before was felt not to be a major concern.
Now to the detective story:
The Coal Man has made several comments, here, on this website. He claims to be an oil geologist in the oil industry. It's hard to know if that claim is true. On the one hand he has demonstrated knowledge on the subject, but also he has made statements that are demonstratably false.
One area that Coal Man conspicuously omitted or ignored is the pressure factor, both in terms of hydrocarbon stability in environments of high temperature and equipment performance.
Not to mention completely bullshitting about the temperature and pressure conditions reported off the Brazil coast.
Is the reason for this omission because he is an internet fraud determined to attack Abiotic Oil theory, but unaware of the centrality of pressure to the issue or is he an oil geologist who knows that pressure is central to the issue, and so for that very reason avoids it, hoping to distract from the trail leading to inescapable conclusion of Abiotic Oil?
Who knows?
Either way it's a telling omission.
In the course of reviewing the documents at the side-bar, I re-read Col. Prouty's letter. This letter's primary point is that water always goes deeper than oil (because it's denser) and that oil is now found deeper than fossils. The point being that if oil was "fossil" derived from shallow deposits it would not end up deeper than fossils or water.
Hence oil is abiotic.
But I also saw a scientific paper citation that interested me:
Kropotkin, P. N. (1985) Degassing of the Earth and the Origin of Hydrocarbons, published in the International Geology Review, 27, 1261-1275
I Googled it, but with no luck, although I did find some articles that referred to the cite.
One of them is called Origins of oil.
It had the following passages of interest:
"GAS IS UNLIMITED
The reserves are so huge and so pressurised they are considered un-tappable. There is no secret where the huge reserves are and there is no need to search for oil. With modern technology the sub-stratas are known, mapped, and vetted. There are no unknown reserves."
The above is debatable, but the interesting phrase is, "...so pressurised they are considered un-tappable."
The issue of pressure raises its head again.
Further: "Nearly all fields are being topped up from below. The top-up process is known as "Abiotic Oil" from geo-pressurised gas."
Many fields considered "exhausted" have come to life again. The Yates field in Texas is a prime example. Such fields stop flowing when the source of inflowing oil from below becomes blocked as a paper filter becomes clogged and impregnable. Nature finds another path and the oil field can be tapped again."
This website and I have documented the many oil fields that are like the Energizer Bunny, they keep going and going...both in the United States and around the world.
"Russia is a now a big oil producer because they understand the process and drill at depths better than 30,000 feet (9,000 metres)."
"WORLD GAS
At the Brae B, in the North Sea, they went too deep on one of the first production wells and hit a reservoir of geo-pressured gas. The pressure was so great it started lifting fifteen thousand feet of drill pipe, drill mud, and a drill stem nearly three miles long. There is so much methane in the earth that they wanted to AVOID hitting this deep reservoir. At that time it was considered just too dangerous to exploit. That has now changed thanks to the Russian technology."
And finally:
"In Australia the North Rankin "A" platform was developed to exploit the Carnarvon basin which is just off the northwest coast of Australia near Karratha. When North Rankin was built it was the biggest gas platform in the world. For twenty years now it has been producing at the rate of 180 million c.f. of gas p/day., and 47,000 tons of condensate per day. It shows absolutely no sign of slowing down."
Russian Technology.
That is the key.
The Russians have been working to produce deep oil for a long time because of their belief in Abiotic Oil theory. As a result Russia developed drilling equipment that could withstand the huge pressure and temperatures that comes with deep drilling.
Russia was the world leader in deep drilling technology. Western oil companies were and are the leader in offshore drilling technolgy and seismic imgaging technology.
Prior to the Fall of the Soviet Union, this high pressure technology was considered a state secret, but in the 1990's after the Fall of the Soviet Union, Russian technology was for hire.
And Western oil companies were eager to gain the technology because at the same time it was becoming clear that ultra-deepwater, ultra-deep drilling was promising, regardless of the "oil window" preached by Western oil geologists. Too many rumors were coming out of Russia of deep oil & gas finds.
And offshore oil exploration was smartly walking out further and further offshore -- number one rule: keep going until you don't find any oil -- that has never happened in the offshore sector of the oil industry.
Popular media reports in the latter half of the '90's started the process of informing the American public that oil was in fact abiotic.
Reputable mainstream media outlets were reporting from the 'oil patch' whether on the land or sea that oil was abiotic -- and the oil industry wasn't complaining too loudly about the reports.
The tide was going towards recognition of Abiotic Oil theory.
But then the oil "crash" of the late 1990's happened where oil dropped to under $10 a barrel.
Talk of Abiotic Oil theory dropped off the media radar screen.
"Fossil" theory was back in vogue.
Then George W. Bush and Dick Cheney got into office and after a series of secret "Energy Policy" meetings, a Cheney associate, Mathew Simmons (who was a participant at the meetings), and others went to work hiping "Peak" oil.
It's a detective story or was a detective story until ultra-deepwater, ultra-deep drilling hit a crescendo of activity off the coast of Brazil.
The oil finds have been too spectacular to hide. The conditions of high pressure and high temperature too far outside the "fossil" theory 'oil window' to explain away.
The Coal Man whether a fraud or not, can't lie the Brazil story away.
Russian Abiotic Oil theory, Russian high pressure, high temperature drilling equipment technology, Western offshore drilling technology and seismic imaging all have been married to allow the deepest abiotic oil fields to be exploited.
That reality can't be ignored any longer.
Sam Spade is smiling.
DEEPWATER DRILLING NEWS & OPINION
Take a look at this broadsheet.
Deepwater Drilling News & Opinion
There are a number of stories on deep drilling.
Here is a video entitled: Shell Digs Deep to Find New Oil
THE PERDIDO SPAR, THE "BIG SPAR"
The Perdido spar is a production platform without legs. It's a floatation system, a kin to a huge bottle with water in the bottom so that it's buoyant and floats upright.
It was anchored in nearly 8,000 feet of water in the Gulf of Mexico. This floatation system for oil production platforms can erected in almost and depth of water, critical for ultra-deepwater oil production.
The Perdido Spar technology (video presentation) likely will be employed off the coast of Brazil for its ultra-deep water oil fields.
It needs to be noted, again, the "big spar" is being anchored in nearly 8,000 feet of water.
Can anybody argue with a straight face that ocean levels were over 7,000 feet lower, so that "shallow stagnant seas" could deposit dead detritus on the sea-floor?
The evidence actually suggests that sea levels were much higher(fossils found in Utah and other elevated locations on the continents).
The idea that the vast salt deposits in the Gulf of Mexico or off the coast of Brazil are 'evaporites' is ludicrous.
There simply isn't supporting evidence to suggest that morphology.
Only the necessity of "creating" shallow stagnant seas for dead detritus to fall into leads to this kind of hypothesis.
In other words, "making the facts fit the theory."
Rather, The evidence is that 'supercritical water' and other hydrothermal events are responsible for the great masses of salt under the deep ocean floor.
Please review the locations of the offshore Brazil oil fields.
Many are over 150 miles offshore. Can anybody seriously make an argument that this was once the location of "stagnant shallow seas"?
Bad question.
Oil geologists can make that argument even if it IS ridiculous.
BRAZIL'S PRE-SALT ECHOES SALT FORMATIONS AROUND THE WORLD
Brazil is now the hottest prospect for ultra-deepwater pre-salt oil finds, but it's salt formations echo salt formations around the world.
The following link is to a "Salt Tectonics" course presented by the Universidade Fernando Pessoa, Porto, Portugal.
There are several chapters, the above link is on oil traps associated with salt. This course uses the offshore Angola and Gulf of Mexico salt tectonics as a model, but this can also be applied in general terms to Brazil's offshore basin.
One theme that is repeated over and over is the association between oil deposits and faults in the underlying basement. These faults also have a strong tendency to extend up through the stratigraphic layers.
This writer has referred many times to the concept of "Source Faults". The linked chapter on oil traps confirms this observation.
These "Source Faults" are the physical conduits for Abiotic Oil to rise from deep in the crust and beyond in the mantle.
The pressure and lack of "free" oxygen allow the hydrocarbon to rise and stay stable in the face of tremendous heat.
Of course, the regular homage is paid to "source rocks", but the proliferation of oil traps suggests there is more oil than would ever be generated by organic detritus embedded in sediment.
There are many oil deposits, but the expense of recovery is so high that only large deposits make economic sense to prospect for as stated in the course:
"Indeed, in deep water, an accumulation, in stand alone, must satisfy two major conditions:
(i) The recoverable reserves must be near 400 Mb.
(ii) The productivity per well should not lower than 10 kb/d."
It notes the contrast with the Gulf of Mexico, where recovery can be economically feasible with much smaller oil deposits:
"The profitability is completely different from the GOM, where accumulation of 50-100 Mb recoverable can readily be developed."
Another note of interest, there seems to be several types of bedrock, crystalline, volcanics, and unknown (due to inability of seismic imaging to penitrate).
Salt and faults go hand-in-hand.
And while the general geological consensus is that sedimentary loads are what control salt movement, there is another much more dynamic theory of salt deforamtion which relies on hydrothermal processes.
See here and here.
I realize that I have repeatedly linked the above sites, but hydrothermal action is critical for understanding Abiotic Oil theory.
It explains why the oil deposits are so hot and under such high pressure.
Also, it explains the dynamics at the basement surface and beyond.
Geology is caught in a catch-22: It downplays this type of dynamic action because generally geologists frown on Abiotic Oil theory, but at the same time geologists must maintain the mantle-crust interface is so active and dynamic that crust readily sinks into and is reabsorbed by the mantle.
It would seem to be a contradiction.
You can't have both a crust-mantle interface which allows for subduction, but at the same time doesn't allow for the mantle and serpentization mechanics of Abiotic Oil theory.
Interestingly enough, the reverse doesn't hold true. Subduction is not necessary to admit crust-mantle mechanics that support Abiotic Oil theory.
This catch-22 arises because geology is compartmentalized into narrow disciplines.
Each discipline has 'tunnel vision'.
TWO CONTINENTS, SIMILAR OFFSHORE SALT TECTONICS
Whether one subscribes to Plate Tectonic, Continental Drift or Expanding Earth theory, the previous comment relied on the idea that the salt tectonics off both continents are similar.
The following link, The Dawning of Two Continents, explains why.
IS THERE ENOUGH CRUDE OIL FOR INDIA AND CHINA?
Whenever oil prices go up, India and China always seem to get mentioned. Rightfully so, as two countries with huge populations and increasing wealth.
Both countires have considerable offshore areas that can be explored.
Offshore magazine has an extensive article on Indian offshore exploration. Twenty one oil discoveries have been made in deepwater.
And just today, an announcement was made about a gas and condensate discovery in China's neighborhood, Oil Voice, Total Announces New Offshore Gas and Condensate Discovery in Brunei, November 3, 2008.
The discovery was made in relatively shallow water, 203 feet, but significantly deep below the sea bottom, 16,941 feet.
Here is a review of South China Sea oil & gas prospects, Global Security. org.
Sadly, upon researching chinese offshore oil & gas exploration, I noted the number of political disputes.
At this time there is more information regarding political disputes instead of geological reports.
In a general note, China has substantial offshore areas. The Oil Is Mastery website has articulated abiotic oil theories that suggest offshore oil is plentiful. There is no reason to believe that would be any different for the offshore areas around China.
Political infighting should be resolved and exploration initiated on a greater scale.
The Chinese are hard driving business men with considerable entrepreneurially savy. Political disputes are counter-productive.
While sovereignty rights are never easy to resolve, it seems that accomodation can be reached.
That politics ends up leaving oil in the sea-bottom, seems to be a disadvantage to all parties concerned.
Low Pressure Diamond Production
Quantum_Flux:
Applied material science is the bright spot in the scientific community. Wonders are truly being accomplished. The work is done in the laboratory -- the results can't be speculated on -- it is what it is. Assumptions can be tested in the laboratory and are either validated or falsified.
Although, in applied material science, the mechanism is not always understood.
Validation or falsification is the life blood of scientific advancement; it's the scientific method at it's best.
Now to your implication, or at least what I think you are implying. Does this process have any counterpart in nature, specifically in the bowels of the Earth?
The question becomes whether there are any analog environments in nature that mimic chemical vapor deposition (CVD)?
I don't have the answer to that question.
As somebody said, you have to acknowledge the things you don't know.
Obviously, it would be a great question to find the answer to.
You're in deep now Anaconda, or at least I think you're mostly interested, here is an interesting article about using magnetic shields to protect spacecraft from solar wind (similar to what Earth does). This one incorporates solar plasma deflection dynamics and comes out of fusion research.
Space Ship Force Field
Garbage Methane into Electricity
How the Magnetron works in your Microwave is very similar to what happens to scotch tape being unrolled inside a vaccuum.
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