Hendrik-Oil Exploration

ETHANOL

2006-08-18T21:10:00.000-07:00

I will be starting a few posts throughout the following weeks on Ethanol production, repercussions and all the information I can find. I really think with a blend of different fuel sources we could eventually lessen our dependency on oil. Ultimately we would loose that dependency and depend on electric powered cars and other alternative energy!

EARTHQUAKE READY

2006-07-30T06:15:00.001-07:00

INTRODUCTION

The pipe crosses three fault lines, the Denali, McGinnis Glacier and Donnelly Dome. The Denali fault is the biggest of the three and recorded the largest earthquake in the U.S. in 2002. The earthquake was 7.9 on the Richter scale, which as your may recall has a maximum scale rating of 8.5. This major earthquake did very little damage to the pipeline. In great part due to great engineering and also great geological research in the area. It is amazing what can happen when engineers and geologists put their heads together. Special supports, that allow lateral movement, are in place where it is known that the pipe crosses a fault line. The supports allow for either right lateral movement or left lateral movement depending on the fault type. There is also room left for vertical displacement, as faults often created vertical displacement as well as horizontal displacement. The following is the design criteria setforth:
· Denali fault — 20 ft. lateral and 5 ft. vertical displacement
· McGinnis Glacier fault — 8 ft. lateral and 6 ft. vertical displacement
· Donnelly Dome fault — 3 ft. lateral and 10 ft. vertical displacement
· Minor potential fault locations — 2 ft. lateral and 2 ft. vertical

The 2002 earthquake on the Denali fault caused the ground along the fault to move and estimated 7 feet horizontally and nearly 2.5 feet vertically.

SPILLS

As one can imagine, a leak on this pipeline would be devastating to the local environment. There 4 leak detection systems that can pinpoint location of oil spills. The four systems each monitor for oil leaks in a separate manner. The four manners are: pressure deviation, flow rate deviation, flow rate balance and line volume balance. In case a leak does occur there are 221 containment sites set up along the pipe. Historically there have been leaks along the pipeline. The highest losses from the pipeline was in February 1978, when a deliberate explosion led to more than 16,000 barrels spilling from the pipe. From 1977 to 1994 there were 30 to 40 spills a year on average, the worst years in terms of number of incidents were 1991 to 1994 when there were 164 spills. Since 1995 the spills have been radically reduced to under 6 barrels total. The pipeline is resistant to gunshots but in 2001 the pipe was damaged when someone shot into a weld joining two pipe sections and 6,000 barrels (250,000 gallons) of oil spilled.

CONCLUSION

This pipeline is another example of the engineering achievements we are capable off. The pipeline was designed and built in such a manner that all parties would be kept in mind, including the environment and the animals. Although there have been several spills, we have contained and repaired most of the damage that was done, and have reduced the spills to near nothing. There is always the hazard of intentional damage, as was shown with the shooting incident and explosion, but it is impossible to predict when such events may occur.

PIPELINE DESIGN

2006-07-30T06:15:00.000-07:00

INTRODUCTION

The design of the pipeline had to overcome many obstacles, human and environmental, of which the greatest was the environmental concerns. The pipeline had to face the following main concerns from opposition: disturbance of animal migration patterns, environmental damage from spills, geological concerns and the Alaskan permafrost. The design team handled each manner if very interesting ways.

COST AND TIME

Approximately $8 billion for construction of entire system, including Terminal and pump stations, at conclusion of initial construction period in 1977. Time required to complete the pipe, terminal and pumping stations was 3 years and 2 months. The project started Apr. 29, 1974 and construction was completed June 20, 1977.

ANIMAL MIGRATION

Since the pipeline basically runs from northern Alaska all the way to southern Alaska the engineers had an obvious problem on their hands concerning animal migration. The animals either had to go over the pipe or under the pipe. It would be ideal for the entire pipe to be underground and unnoticed but for reasons I will talk about later, that could not be done. They decided to elevate the pipe to 10 feet in areas known to be migration routes for the caribou. There are 554 such elevated areas through the span of the pipeline. There are also 23 buried sections to allow animal crossing.

PERMAFROST

This is the major reason the pipe could not be underground for most of its 800-mile span south. Permafrost is a condition in which the ground is basically frozen during the entire year, summer and winter. Melting soil in a permafrost condition creates settling and mud. Although permafrost can be very stable, it can also become very unstable when melted. The oil flowing through the pipe can reach temperatures up to 145° F it is not efficient to avoid all heat convection. What this means is the warm pipe will warm the supports, which are drilled into permafrost soil, which will in turn warm the permafrost and settle the foundation of the pipe. To overcome this situation the engineers designed the support pipes to contain ammonia. Ammonia has a much lower boiling temperature than most elements and therefore will evaporate at the slightest increase of temperature in the support. This evaporation does two things, it absorbs the heat given off by the pipe but it also rises to the cooling towers located on top of the support leg. Once the ammonia reaches the cooling towers the special design allows the ammonia to cool and condense back to the bottom of the support leg. So the cycle of cooling the support legs as the pipe warms is continuous and keeps the support legs firmly planted in nice solid permafrost.

TRANS-ALASKA PIPELINE

2006-07-29T05:37:00.000-07:00

SUMMARY

The Trans-Alaska pipeline is 800 miles long and was constructed in 1977. The pipeline is designed to withstand many environmental and geological occurrences, such as frost and earthquakes. The Trans-Alaska Pipeline System was designed and constructed to move oil from the North Slope of Alaska to the northern most ice- free port- Valdez, Alaska. During the oil’s journey south it crosses numerous geological faults, which expose the pipe to dangers of shifting foundations or even rupturing. I will take a look at the importance of the role the pipe serves in our current energy needs and for fun I will then discuss some of the interesting design aspects involved to overcome the environmental challenges.

THE PIPELINE’S IMPORTANT ROLE IN OUR ENERGY DEMAND

Pipeline elsewhere, is a major U.S. oil pipeline connecting oil fields in northern Alaska to a sea port where the oil can be shipped to the Lower 48 states for refining. Since its completion in 1977, the pipeline has transported over 15 billion barrels of oil, that is an average of about 1.93 billion barrels a year. Given that the U.S. consumes approximately 20 billion barrels of oil a year the Alaskan oil is but a small fraction to quench our demand. The oil from the northern oil fields is stored in sstorage tanks in Valdez until tanker ships transport the oil to refineries. There are 18 storage tanks with total storage capacity of 9.1 million barrels total. The Alaska North Slope (ANS) oil field functions on the principle that U.S. oil be used domestically, and remain available for consumption in the U.S. as a matter of energy security, but about 7% of crude oil production from the ANS is currently exported to South Korea, Japan, and China. When the pipeline was constructed congress put a ban on the export of the oil that was to flow through it. That ban has recently been overturned as we now export 7% of the oil. A June 1994 Department of Energy (DOE) study, Exporting Alaskan North Slope Crude Oil-Benefits and Costs, found that exporting Alaska crude would increase producer receipts for both California and Alaska oil. The increased producer receipts would be the result of transportation savings realized by avoiding a trip through the Panama Canal.

CONCLUSION

It can then be concluded that the pipeline plays a vital role in our energy demand and also in the energy demands of a few other countries. The pipeline is just a small part of the puzzle when it comes to the U.S. oil imports but it plays a vital role in energy security. During the Arab oil embargo of 1973 there was a great sense of need for such energy security.

SHALE MINING IN CANADA

2006-07-23T06:44:00.000-07:00

BACKGROUND

This blog is where I would like to focus on the natural resources that will be drained in order to get to the precious oil. Mining has always been known to take dramatic tolls on surrounding areas. The mines not only demand great resources, such as gas, water and fossil fuels, to operate but they also discard many pollutants, such as tailings and CO2. Luckily CO2 is no longer labeled as a pollutant by our government, since it is a naturally occurring product, despite its environmental impacts. That should send chills down your spine.

WHAT ARE THE RAMIFICATIONS?

Some has viewed extracting oil from offshore locations both cool and awesome engineering. It is quite a credit to our capabilities that such remote locations can be reached and used to obtain petroleum. What will happen in the Rockies will be another credit to our capabilities, in a more negative aspect though. As the offshore oil becomes less and harder to reach it is only natural that oil companies will seek for other resources. Why wouldn’t they, demand is bigger than ever. The attitude is that the oil companies will be the ones to bring our environment to its knees, but a quick reminder, consumers create demand. Do the logic.

THE RAMIFICATIONS

The ramifications of oil shale extraction can already be seen in Canada. According to the Washington Post Foreign Service, Wednesday, May 31, 2006; Page A01, Canada blames the oil thirsty U.S. for the increasing environmental aspect. Some of the environment aspects include: hydrological impacts (sucking the rivers dry), tarry sand discharge, and massive discharge of CO2 (remember we need heat to get oil from rocks, heat needs fire, fire creates CO2). Is Canada right? The U.S. is not only the highest oil consumer but not surprisingly we are the highest per capita users of oil. Everyone knows China is close behind us in the consumer line, but way in the back in the per capita use. Simply put, every person in the U.S. uses way too much oil, but don’t put Canada too far behind us, they are also a major consumer of petroleum. Currently the average U.S. resident uses about 25 barrels per person per year.

The Canadian region that is affected by shale mining now has a river, including the Athabasca, with undrinkable water and fish that can’t be eaten, that is if you are able to catch one. The Washington Post quotes, “Each barrel of oil requires two to five barrels of water, carves up four tons of earth, uses enough natural gas to heat a home for one to five days, and adds to the greenhouse gases slowly cooking the planet, according to the industry's own calculations”(1).

CONCLUSION

Take note, first Canada and the western Colorado. If there is anything that American’s can usually come to agreement on is that we hold our country very close to our hearts, including our natural landmarks. The Rocky Mountains is certainly such a landmark. This principle is the same reason we don’t have a giant geothermal electric plant sitting on Yellowstone, a hot spot volcano region with excellent geothermal capabilities seconded only to Iceland, which would supply a major portion of the U.S. with clean electricity. Yellowstone is a landmark and we respect it, the Rockies is a powerful representation of the U.S. and we shouldn’t touch it!

What do you think? Should we flatten the Rockies to mine shale?

SOURCES

Doug Struck, Washington Post Foreign Service,Wednesday, May 31, 2006; Page A01, July 21, 2006.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-/content/article/2006/05/30/AR2006053001429.html

THE SHALE, THE ROCKIES, THE REST OF THE STORY....

2006-07-22T06:41:00.000-07:00

BACKGROUND

So we have oil in our Rockies, which is very exciting. The oil crisis is over! Not so quick. There is a small problem. To get the oil means pretty much means getting rid of the Rockies. Now don’t think for a minute that Shell and Exxon will announce their plans in great detail. The picture painted is that surface The Rockies

rock will be “collected” and the oil extracted. As geologists will tell you, the rock is about 500 feet underground. They are correct; surface rocks exist, but only about 1/3 of the oil shale is on the ground surface. As you have read my blog you have probably noticed that I am a bit of an enthusiast for engineering advances and have always had positive views on offshore oil exploration. I think we can all agree that there is a line to be drawn where we are no longer seeking engineering advances but simply trying to literally squeeze every bit of oil and money from the land. I use the word squeeze because that is exactly how oil is extracted from shale. Extracting oil shale from the Rockies will have many natural ramifications, and if we are not careful a landscape that has taken millions of years to build will be flattened within a century.

WHY SHALE?

As mentioned previously, oil shale is a metamorphic rock of low grade that is in its first metamorphic stage. Shale comes from mud rock. Mud rock usually comes from a marine or swamp like environment, millions of years ago, which was exactly what the western Colorado area was. The cool thing about this shale is that the oil is trapped in porous, sponge like, texture of the shale. The shale will eventually turn to slate and then gneiss, which are then considered to be the higher-grade metamorphic rocks. Once the higher grades have been reached, under high temperature and high pressure, the oil in the shale is essentially cooked away. The formation of the Rockies, from colliding tectonic plates, has brought the shale to the ground surface.

The shale has to be collected and essentially cooked under pressure in essentially the same method that oil would naturally have been extracted had the shale been allowed to develop into slate.

THE OIL SQUEEZE

2006-07-21T16:30:00.000-07:00

BACKGROUND

The focus of this blog is alternative methods to extract oil from nature. In a not so far past blog I discussed alternate methods to extract oil, one of which was to heat shale and collect the oil. As most of us know shale, a metamorphic rock brought to the surface by mountain building, litters the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, both in the U.S. and in Canada. The oil contained in these rocks is somewhere between one half and two trillion barrels of oil. Yes, that number is comparable to the oil locked under the Middle East. Get out the dynamite!

SHALE RUSH!

In the early 1980’s, 1982-1985, there was so much talk of getting oil from the shale in the Rockies that Exxon oil invested $5billion dollars in claiming their “stake” to the land. Ranchers, who usually sold their land for $200, were now cashing in at $2000 an acre. Times were really good in Battlement Mesa, west Colorado, the town was booming in what appeared to be a gold rush.

After oil prices dropped in the mid eighties, to below $40 a barrel, interest was lost in the project and it was abandoned. The land, still worth $200 for the average rancher, remained unused. As we know oil is now at or above $70 a barrel, depending on the Mid East chaos of the day, any day. Bottom line: the “black gold” rush is back on for the rocks that burn.

CONCLUSION

During the next few blogs I would like to discuss this insane topic from a few different perspectives. Many interest advances in the oil discovery field is happening in our time, some good and some not so good.

Oil and Gas exploration links

2006-07-18T06:54:00.000-07:00

www.ogjresearch.com

www.geology.com

MAGLEV TRAINS AS ALTERNATIVE TRANSPORTATION

2006-07-16T08:08:00.000-07:00

Alternative fuel is a principle that relies on using any type of fuel, other than petroleum, to power equipment. Although there are currently many alternative fuels available, I would like to discuss the MagLev (magnetic levitation) train as a source of alternative fuel. This is a transit system that could drastically reduce our energy needs but it also a system that would require drastic changes and measures to become a reality in the United States.

Magnetic levitation operates on a Physics principle that two objects can be suspended from one another by magnetic fields. This principle applies so perfectly to trains because the main constraint for the speed at which trains can travel is the friction and vibration caused by the train wheels on the train tracks. With the MagLev train the wheels, friction, and vibrations are all taken out of the equation, leaving essentially only air resistance as a constraint to the train’s speed of operation.

MagLev trains can travel at about 300 miles per hour. The MagLev is a system that many European countries don’t see as a viable method of transportation to replace the extensive rail networks currently in place. Their use of conventional trains is currently so strong that replacing all conventional lines with MagLev tracks is not appealing at all. In the U.S. on the other hand we don’t have such an extensive rail network, I am talking railways like you see highways, as Europe does. It would almost make sense for us to be the country leading the way in commercial MagLev operation. Japan and Germany seems to be leading the way in not only the research of these trains but also the push for commercial use. There is about 25 percent of railway in Germany that uses the MagLev trains and there are two MagLev lines in Japan.

It should be understood that a MagLev transportation system is not a replacement transportation method, but instead an additional option to existing transit. If a MagLev system were to be considered in the U.S. to replace transit between say the two Coasts what would the ramifications be? How much fuel consumption would be reduced by reducing airline take offs and cross-country flights. I mention this because most fuel consumed during a average flight is consumed at take off and since cross country flights needs so much fuel to complete the trip the plane is much heavier and uses much more fuel on take off. Would it be better to have more short distance flights instead of long cross country flights that burn large quantities of petroleum? The answer is no, they are instead operated by a combination of electricity and rotation of the superconducting devices levitating the train. What if a MagLev system is used to alleviate the congestion of cross country flights? For the already crippled airline companies this idea probably does not sound good at all but how does it sound for long-term environmental ramifications?

Such talks are already taking place in the United States, which is very exiting because so many doors are being opened for scientific advancements. Scientist and engineers usually just needs a challenge to get to work, and we have our challenge! Headlines such as: “Train would link Ohio cities, Planners project $3.2 billion high-speed line”, should be expected more often within our lifetimes. It is truly exiting times for innovation and new ideas spurred by our challenge to meet energy needs and conserve our resources for future generations.

These ideas are much closer than most may think. Skyrocketing gasoline prices and shifting public attitudes about mass transit are giving the MagLev “revolution” a whole new foundation to stand on. Science and engineering is not what is currently holding MagLev systems away in our country, we are standing ready. The many aspects of finances and politics, public interest and approval and special interest groups play a huge roll in the decisions being made. You think a MagLev runs on petroleum? You think the airlines would be hurt by such a system of transportation? Do you think the voters want to invest in such a “pie in the sky” idea? It was said by the first airplanes that they would have minor impact on our future and society. It was thought that airplanes would be used for recreational purposes only. With the push of a few brave souls the world was transformed! MagLev trains are a reality and can be that transformation of our time, the one that will impact our future and economy in the very same way that airplanes did from the 1950’s on.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RENEWABLE ENERGY

2006-07-16T07:05:00.001-07:00

Renewable energy is an energy source that derives its power from an existing energy source. The existing energy source used is commonly the sun, wind, water and biological process, a process where bacteria breaks down organic material and produce byproducts, such as methane, that is then used as fuel. The terms renewable energy and alternative fuel overlap in definition when discussing biological processes as it applied to energy. The important idea that separates the two is that alternative fuels are considered, and also called, the “mobile” energy sources, such as one might use in a car, while renewable energy is regarded as energy used in the home or industrial type settings. The confusion comes to play in the biological processes classification because it falls under renewable energy but is also the process used to produce alternative fuels. A process, such as producing ethanol, uses biological processes, considered renewable energy since the power will be obtained from the byproducts of the bacteria, to produce an alternative fuel used in internal combustion engines.

Alternative fuels are strictly materials consumed to produce energy. There seems to be several methods to produce an alternative fuel that can be used to replace petroleum but every option need proper evaluation to consider the positive and negative aspects. Decision makers have to consider the environmental impacts of the potential energy source, the feasibility of large-scale production and even public support. Renewable energy is certainly not a new idea. People have been using renewable energy for thousands of years! The Dutch used wind to power their windmills, the Romans used extensive aqueducts transport water that was not only consumed but also used to power equipment. Water cannot be considered an energy source unless it is moving, called kinetic energy, or dammed, called potential energy. If you take a look at more recent history you may see subtle examples of evolving renewable energy sources. When it was discovered that coal burns longer and hotter than wood it started being used to power steam driven engines for ships, trains, tractors, or even industrial equipment. In the very same manner we discover methods today to reduce emissions and use the available energy sources to the most. We have been using renewable energy for many years now as well to fuel energy production plants in the United States, mostly by hydroelectric plants. Renewable energy in the form of windmills is becoming increasingly popular in the U.S. as we see the result achieved by other countries, such as England and the Netherlands. It is important to note as well that what works for one country, or region of the world, may not work for another. For instance, we can produce geothermal energy; due to the abundance of geothermal activity under the U.S., where countries like England cannot, due to the lack of geothermal activity under their continental crust. Places like Alaska cannot rely on solar power where countries in Africa may, and do, rely heavily on solar power to operate water purification processes and electricity.

As you can see renewable energy and alternative fuels are indeed two separate entities and neither subject is as simple as sometimes reported. Headlines may sometimes lead one to believe that renewable energy and alternative fuels are easy to achieve but for one reason or another decision makers decline to make the correct decisions. I assure you, due to pressure from the scientific community, decisions are being made and they are in a positive direction. In the next blog I will look at some alternative fuels and their ramifications.

OIL CONSUMPTION RATES

2006-07-09T07:30:00.001-07:00

BACKGROUND

During a recent presentation at the University of Missouri Dr. Hans Mark, former Secretary of the Air Force, outlined our current energy situation around the world. The worldwide consumption of oil is 15,500 QUADS ,one QUAD is 1015 British Thermal Units. The majority of this oil is in the Middle East, a particularly unstable political arena. Of this worldwide consumption 26 % comes from Saudi Arabia, 11% comes from Iraq and 10% comes from each Iran and Kuwait. The problem being discussed is not the fact that the major suppliers of oil are unstable political arenas but the fact that oil and natural gas are not renewable sources of energy and will eventually be depleted. One of the facts we have to keep in mind when discussing consumption rates and supply quantities is that the world’s oil production rate has not peaked! When that does occur it is very likely that demand will overtake supply and production will not be able to provide the oil needed.

CURRENT CONSUMPTION

We have all heard figures disputing figures on reserves and oil consumption so I would like to give the latest updates. It is estimated by some that the world’s oil production will peak around 2016. Not all nations will feel the effects of production peak at once. The United States' oil production, for example, peaked in the 1970’s and has been importing oil since to make up the deficit.

Many graphs and studies now show that the world oil production, outside the Middle East, have already started to peak as previously predicted. There are many alternate methods of extracting oil from the earth, but some require expensive methods that will be very harmful the environment. One of those methods is extracting oil from shale rocks found at the foothills of the Rockies, USA and Canada. There are methods to drill in Alaska and arctic regions for more oil. We have to do a cost-benefit analysis on each of these situations and make decisions that are in the best interest of the whole.

CONCLUSION

Don't panic! As our consumption continues to rise and production slows it is obvious we are heading to disaster, but not overnight. It is this problem that spurred the great search for renewable energy as previously discussed. Although our hydrocarbon reserves may eventually be depleted, it won't be next week.We have incredible alternative solutions on the horizon. As many other countries catch up with the oil age it will widen the gap between supply and demand and increase the approval for renewable energy. A push for alternative energy and limited energy usage is wisest plan at this time. With continued exploration, discovery and renewable energy use it may be safe to say that the energy crisis may come to a positive end in the future.

OUR OPTIONS IN ALTERNATIVE FUELS

2006-07-09T07:30:00.000-07:00

BACKGROUND

With an economical need for hydrocarbon materials and a limited supply, for the next 100million years anyway, it is almost essential that there should be a global effort to produce alternative fuels. Well, there is. Never before has so much emphasis been placed on not only oil exploration but also producing alternative fuels. I will mention a few options here, but there are many more options being explored today. The common denominator to all alternative fuels is that they are alternatives to fossil fuels. Whether the systems use the sun, wind, water or combinations of the three, they are all trying to avoid using fossil fuels. It is ironic that all these systems require fossil fuel to come into existence, but the benefit they will provide in the long run clearly outweigh the cost. The windmills used to produce electricity were built using electricity that was probably produced by coal operated electric plants. The nuclear power plants and hydroelectric dams both require tremendous amounts of fossil fuels to operate the equipment that brought these engineering masterpieces into existence. I only mention this to keep perspective that discovery and use of hydrocarbons have brought us where we are today. Despite all the arguments that we all use too much and have depleted the precious reserves, it is essential that we keep in mind the many benefits the oil age have provided. There are also many doors that our past discoveries have opened for future discoveries that will make hydrocarbon discovery look like small potatoes. My point is that you have to crawl before you can walk, and that we are not horrible for using the hydrocarbons. We just have to focus on what will happen when we run out, need is sometimes a great catalyst for invention.

A FEW OPTIONS

Nuclear energy is one of the most promising renewable sources of energy currently being used worldwide. Plutonium-239, given off by nuclear fission of Uranium, can essentially be recycled to create more energy. It is a system called “breeding” and is used by many nuclear energy producing countries, excluding the United States. The United States does not reuse Plutonium-239 in reactors; it is rather stored indefinitely as nuclear waste.

Being in the civil engineering field it is interested for me to see how my community can assist in this global effort. Civil Engineers can continue assisting the energy problem by contributing to the design of wind and solar energy systems, though neither is considered ideal and dependable sources of energy for all situations. Hydroelectric energy is another field where Civil Engineers are vital to the design and construction of infrastructure, in this case dams and hydro systems.

A major opportunity is presented in the concept of applying superconductors in transportation systems. Japan has shown that superconductors can be an excellent and efficient form of transportation, without relying on fossil fuels, through their Maglev train. The infrastructure construction and design for such systems will rely enormously on the expertise of Civil Engineers. The idea of having a transportation system that relies strictly on superconductors and no fossil fuels is definitely something worthy of consideration.
South Africa is one of the only countries currently using the Fischer-Tropsch Conversion method for creating diesel fuel from coal. The system was designed by Germany during WWI and is used today by South African fuel producer SASOL to supply energy for almost every bus, taxi and truck in the country. Although this form of producing diesel from coal is not a renewable source of energy it is certainly alleviation from the dependence on oil as a primary energy source for vehicles. The United States has one of the largest coal reserves in the world and this may very likely be a viable interest to our needs. Civil Engineers can assist anywhere from the mining process of the coal to the design and construction of infrastructure needed to implement the production process.

CONCLUSION

I have mentioned only a few options and there is so much to say about them. It is therefore clear to me that the field of renewable energy sources is very broad and we have many alternatives. It is also a great comfort to me to realize that so many people are working on these ideas and that so much effort is being made to come up with different solutions.

What a great time we live in, a time that will once be known in history as the “oil age”.

KNOWN OIL RESERVES

2006-07-09T06:42:00.000-07:00

BACKGROUND

“Oil reserve” is a term used to describe the amount of oil available in place for a specific oil reservoir. Figures and estimations are needed for economic matters such as funding and financial planning oil companies may be in need of. A figure called STOOIP (Stock Tank Original Oil in Place) is calculated and is used as the reserve value. This equation is calculated by petroleum engineers, who take over after geologists help locate a possible reserve. As discussed in previous posts there are three things needed to create an oil reserve: a source rock, a reservoir rock, and a trap. Once data for each of these elements is collected the equation can be used to calculate the STOOIP for a reservoir.
This is the equation: STOOIP = (7758 * RV * POR * (1 − Sw)) / Boi. Where RV represents reservoir rock volume, POR represents the fluid-filled porosity of the rock in percentage, Sw represents the water portion of porosity, and Boi represents the formation volume factor which is a dimensionless factor for the change in volume of the reservoir rock.
As most people today know, most oil reserves are in countries bordering the Persian Gulf, but I have attached an image that indicates oil reserves by continent. Reserves can thus be calculated for every continent using the STOOIP equation.

NEW DISCOVERIES

New oil reservoirs discoveries peaked in the 1960’s and have since slowed tremendously. Our methods and technology for oil extraction have greatly increased on one hand, but with most reservoirs already being discovered the process has to be taken to sea. Most discoveries today take place on continental shelves around the world. There is no question that our worldwide oil consumption greatly outbalances our discovery rates and will eventually outbalance the oil reserves. It is because of this need for hydrocarbons that oil exploration is such an important field today and so much technology is being developed specifically for oil exploration purposes.

In the following posts I will be discussing our current oil demands and also our current oil supplies.

METHODS OF RETRIEVING THE OIL, OFFSHORE

2006-07-02T07:03:00.001-07:00

Background

The methods involved in retrieving oil on offshore oil "rigs" are without doubt some of the most complicated in the industry. The personnel on these platforms must, by nature of the job, be highly trained and proficient in order to provide a safe and effective environment. These awesome structures are massive and beautiful, true engineering marvels!

I will discuss the different platforms that may come to be expected with this topic of discussion.

Different Platforms

There are basically on five different types of platforms when it comes to offshore oil drilling.

Fixed Platforms
Compliant Towers
Semi-submersible Platforms

Fixed Platforms

are basically towers built on steel or concrete legs that are then mounted directly into the seabed. The superstructure, which houses the equipment and personnel, is the then securely mounted on the legs. These legs can sometimes be close to 1000 feet long! The legs can be used, in some cases, to actually store the oil until it is unloaded into a supply ship. As you can see from the image to the right, the legs rest on massive anchors to maintain stability. The anchors can be solid concrete but are sometimes filled with water to maintain stability for the structure above. This type of oil platform is usually designed for very long term use and therefore the bigger oil fields.

Compliant Towers

JRM Engineering seems to have the cat in the bag with this type of platform design. You can take a look at their designs here. This type of platform can be used in deeper depths, up to 3000 feet. It is a good design for areas with low ocean current velocities. It is also much cheaper to build than a fixed platform system. As you can see the actual superstructure floats while being held in place by the webbed truss design underneath. The oil drilling equipment and piping is then neatly housed within the tower itself. This system can be installed and easily moved to another oil field and is therefore not considered a permanent structure, which makes it a more appealing alternative for oil companies to invest in.

Semi-submersible Platforms

This type of platform is by far my favorite! Don't get me wrong, I appreciate and acknowledge the engineering and ingenuity that goes into the other systems but this design is just fascinating. The rig basically acts like a ship, floating on 4 or more semi-submerged legs. The coolest thing about this system is that it is self ballasting. When for some reason, such as bad weather or load shifts, the rig lists to one side onboard computers will automatically correct the situation by pumping water into the opposite side's legs. The systems remains semi-submerged until it is needed at another site and then it is raised and moved like a ship, just a little slower. The system is obviously anchored but is also held in place by a series of thrusters, once again computer and GPS controlled, which will adjust the platforms location.

Other platforms

I have discussed three of the most common platforms, the other two are jack up platforms and drill ships. Drill ships are used in oil exploration to drill tests in order to see if an oil field lives up to the predictions. The jack up platforms are used in shallower water and can be raised as the ocean tides require.

More pictures:

METHODS OF RETRIEVING THE OIL, LAND BASED

2006-07-02T07:03:00.000-07:00

Background

The offshore oil platforms may indeed be more interesting to some due to their exotic locations and work challenges, but it is the land based platforms that truly spurred the oil age. It was obviously on land that oil was discovered and pumped, as discussed tow postings ago, and it is therefore a worthy topic to discuss. As with offshore platforms there are also different types of platforms for land based systems, only they are called "drilling rigs". It should be explained that a rig is only used to drill the hole to get to the oil, the device we most likely will see is the oil pump. The oil pump is installed after the rig has drilled the hole and the oil is ready for pumping.
I will discuss three drilling methods,

Oil well drilling
Percussion rotary air blast drilling
Reverse circulation drilling

This is a picture of a pump commonly used for smaller operations.

Methods

The basic methods for drilling, land based and offshore, includes a drill bit, a rig (large spiderweb above the hole), and lots of patience. Drilling is a process where the crew must drill through solid rock, metamorphic rock, which is at times much denser and harder than what we experience on the surface.

Oil well drilling

There is not much that is hard enough to cut through such rock and ironically it is a mineral that comes out of the ground that is then used to get us back into the ground. You guessed it, diamonds! The drill bit has strategically cut and placed diamond bits to assist in the cutting process. This time consuming method can be performed many kilometers underground. The particles displaced by the drill bit is then brought to the surface by adding water to the drilling area, the motion of the drill bit and equipment will circulate the water and the particles, mud, back to the surface where it is retained.

A drill bit. Some risk associated with this system is that trapped gas and oil may ignite while the hole is being drilled. The mud coming out the top of the hole is constantly tested and monitored to determine the oil and gas content in the hole. There is also electronic equipment used now to determine such.

Percussion rotary air blast drilling

This type of drilling is used mostly for mineral exploration, such as mining for diamonds or gold, and not that common for oil exploration. This method can be used for oil exploration for oil fields that may lay within 150 meters of the surface. This procedure involves using a device that is a hollow pipe with steel rods at the end. The rods are allowed to move in and out of the pipe. Inside the pipe is a piston, operated by air, that will ram into the rods and force them into the surrounding rock. The particles are then brought to the surface by foam and air as the piston proceeds to crush the next section of rock. This process works well until the rods get stuck in very moist conditions, usually when oil is struck or underground water interferes, which is usally at around 150 meters.

Reverse circulation drilling

This method works similar to the percussion rotary air blast drilling method in that air is used to operate the equipment. Instead of rods at the end of a pipe, this machines operates as a gian hammer that drives a solid rod, or series of rods, into the ground. The solid steel rod will penetrate through solid rock and can be used routinely for depths of up to 500 meters ( about 1500 feet). This is the method most commonly used since it is cheaper than using diamonds and it can achieve greater depths. It is also the method anyone can recognize who have been close to oil drilling, it is a consistent hammering sound that could last for days until the hole is complete.

A picture of a reverse circulation drilling rig:

METHODS OF LOCATING THE OIL

2006-06-26T12:28:00.000-07:00

Background

How to find the oil is certainly a topic worth discussing. I mentioned previously that the oil will continue to rise to the surface of the Earth’s crust if there is no seal rock, and that is exactly how oil was previously discovered.

In the United States it was Colonel Drake who first discovered how to drill for oil. He was hired by investors to drill a hole and search for oil in Pennsylvania. After months of no success the investors became impatient and told Drake to stop drilling. Ironically, the same day the stop order arrived was the day that Drake’s crew discovered that their 21 m deep hole was filled with oil!

They set up a pump and on August 27, 1859, for the first time in history, oil was pumped out of the ground. Initially most oil went to produce kerosene for lamps, and then off course just as electricity replaced the lamps the automobile was invented. Today there are various methods used in oil exploration to not only locate the oil but also to calculate how much oil is in one location. We no longer have to look for seepage on the surface or oil in spring water. We can find out what type of trap the oil is in and how deep under the surface it is.

The basic methods of exploration I will discuss will be:

· Gravity survey/magnetic
· Seismic survey
· Test well (exploration well)

All four methods are essential to locating petroleum deposits and each method will be described in summary.

Gravity Survey

Gravity surveys are performed to examine bedrock topography under the Earth’s surface, map large metallic mineral deposits, and locate subsurface caverns and also contacts between geologic units of differing mass and density. It is a fairly complicated system but it is based on the premise that a target, oil reserve in this case, has a different density from the surrounding geology. Computer models are once again generated to depict the general area where such gravity changes occur. Once the gravity survey indicates an area where there is density differences it is time to perform a seismic survey.

Seismic Survey

A seismic survey is conducted utilizing a special truck, called a seismic source truck, which creates seismic waves by essentially vibrating. The waves then travel through the Earth’s crust and the wave returns are measured by sophisticated computers traveling in front of the seismic truck. These tests can also be performed by using dynamite instead of a seismic truck. The computer will calculate the timing of the returns and will then be able to draw graphs called, seismographs, of the topography and layers of the crust.

By examining these charts a trained geologist would be able to identify the traps we discussed one posting ago. By identifying the traps one would be likely to identify an oil reservoir. Many seismographs can be manipulated by the computer to produce 3-D images of the rock formations. Extensive modeling can also be built, all by computer, based on the data that is returned from the seismic waves. The seismic survey would be performed a little different offshore, mainly involving sonar equipment

Test Well

Once a geologist clears the project for drilling a test well is drilled to see if oil is indeed reached in the reservoir. The test drill will be the final preliminary phase prior to permanent drilling of an oil field. As you can imagine, this entire process takes a tremendous amount of resources and money. The test sites offshore are even more expensive since oil rigs have to be floated in to do the test drilling or they may even use drill ships. It is estimated that some of the deep see offshore oil rigs can cost can cost as much as $100,000,000 to bring into operation.

WHERE TO FIND OIL

2006-06-25T06:59:00.000-07:00

Background

Oil exploration is a process where much of a geologist's time is spent trying to identify underground oil traps. Oil traps are locations within the Earth's crust where oil is essentially trapped in giant pockets. Finding oil in the days of old meant just looking for locations where oil seeped out of the ground and commence drilling, but today we realize that there is oil to be found underneath the ocean. The pockets geologists search for are classified in four categories:

anticline trap
fault trap
salt dome trap
stratigraphic trap

A good animation of the process can be found here.

Anticline traps

These traps are created by folds in the sedimentary rock. As the previous animation explained, sedimentary rock is formed in layers as sediment in the ocean water settles on the ocean floor. These layers are neat and follow the ocean floor topography to start with, but as each layer begins the journey through the Earth's crust the tremendous pressure of the moving rock deforms the layer's shape. This deformation is called folding. You have seen folding next to most highways in the patterns of the "lines" in the cut rock. As we blast through hills to create flat roads we expose a wonderful world of sedimentary rock for all to see! The sedimentary layers appear wavy, those waves are called the folds. It is not hard to imagine that the

Reproduced with permission
from ThePaleontological Research Institution

Earth's crust underneath us contain those same layers and folds. Now that we know what folds are, let's move on to how oil gets trapped in them. As oil escapes a source rock, usually shale, it flows through the reservoir rock and gets trapped above by the seal rock. The oil rises because it is less dense than the surrounding rock, and as we know from Archimedes, buoyancy is determined by the density of an object. So bottom line we just need to drill through the sedimentary rock, and then the seal rock to find the oil. Simple, but we have to know where the oil is before commencing the drilling! We will get to that later, under seismic waves, it will be cool, I promise.

Fault traps

This type of trap is created by the movement of two tectonic plates on a region called a fault. Earthquakes are usually associated with this movement, but as we will see now, some good can come out of these faults. As one plate tries to slide over another it gets stuck and leaves a v shape pocket. Picture two books, one only halfway on the other and the rest of it on a table, the space between the two books represent the pocket created by the fault.

This area is a perfect location for the oil to collect and be trapped by the two plates since the movement has created a seal rock on top and to the side of oil pocket.

Reproduced with permission from
The Paleontological Research Institution

Salt-dome trap

This trap type is created when salt trapped in the sedimentary crust, formed when the sedimentary layer was in shallow and salty ocean water. As the image shows, salt is impermeable and traps the oil on the side while the seal rock, shale, traps the oil from the top. The oil will remain in place until it is collected from the surface. The salt dome rises due to the fact that it is less dense than the surrounding sedimentary rock and just like oil, the less dense material is more buoyant and will rise to the surface.

Reproduced with permission from

The Paleontological Research Institution

Stratigraphic trap

This type of trap is unique in that it is not formed by the deformation of rocks but instead by the structure and original location of the rock. Essentially this type of trap functions on the fact that the source rock happens to be located between two impermeable rock layers. The surrounding rock layers can be shale, salt, or even limestone. The oil will rise from the source rock and be trapped by the top seal rock. When the rocks are slanted at an angle a v shape point will occur and the oil will accumulate in that pocket and remain there until drilled from the top of the Earth's surface.

Reproduced with permission from

The Paleontological Research Institution

References

Images used with permission from The Paleontological Research Institution

INGREDIENTS OF OIL

2006-06-24T15:58:00.000-07:00

Background

Oil exploration is a term that is used to describe the search for petroleum by geologists and engineers. The complexity of the issue comes to play due to the fact that petroleum is found under the Earth's surface. The most difficult oil exploration takes place on the oceans of the world, not only must the explorers drill through great distances of crust but they have to do so while floating great distances above the crust on the ocean surface.

Continental shelves

Oil can be found on most continental shelves, where the water is shallow and carbon deposits have been collecting for millions of years to form hydrocarbons. The continental shelves are the shallow, but not exactly waist deep though, area of coast that surrounds each continent. After the continental shelves there is the great abyssal plain where ocean floor spreading have created rather new ocean floor with minimal carbon deposits.

There is not much oil in the abyssal plains. To better understand the concept of continental shelves and abyss take a look at the image to the right and then I will move to why there is not much oil in the abyssal plain.

As you can see the abyssal plain is relatively deep compared to the continental shelve.

Ocean sea floor spreading

Sea floor spreading is the method in which the ocean floor basically recycles itself. As you may know, the Earth's crust is made up of plates that fit together like a puzzle. The crust is part of the Earth's lithosphere. The plates are called tectonic plates. The ocean ridges is where, like a giant zipper, the plates are joined. The plates are continuously moving, very slowly, and new magma turns into lava on the ridges that join the plates. Now, imagine new rock being added in the middle, where the plates join, and you almost have to imagine that the plates will spread out and that the edges, where the continents are, will need to disappear. In a bit more complicated manner, that is exactly what happens. The lithosphere, crust and upper mantle combination, disappears at subduction zones. Subduction zones are neat because the oceanic crust slides under the continental crust, creating earthquakes offcourse, and the oceanic lithosphere gets melted into magma in the athenosphere, area in the crust under the lithosphere, just to come back through the ocean ridges to repeat the cycle in about 200 million years. This animation will help clear sea-floor spreading up a bit. Tectonic Plates

Lack of oil in the abyssal plain

All that information comes back to one point, the lack of oil in the abyssal plain. As you may know oil comes from carbon, which is contained in living organisms. The reason there is little oil in the plains is because the oil needs millions of years to form under pressure and warm temperature, such as found under the oceanic
crust. The sediment, carbon rich material, that falls to the ocean floor gets buried over time under new sediment and eventually travels deep enough to become oil. It is a false notion to assume that oil comes from buried trees and dinosaurs, when instead it descends from dead algae and plankton bodies. That would naturally explain why most oil is found in the oceanic crust or areas that used to be oceanic crust.

As explained earlier, the ocean ridges are constantly adding new ocean floor and the old ocean floor is constantly disappearing under the continental lithosphere. What this then tells us is that the oldest seafloor is closest to the continental shelves or where the continental and oceanic lithospheres meet. The oceanic ridges are out in the middle of the ocean and there is not only colder deeper waters, but newer ocean floor with little carbon sediment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, these are the facts that lead to the creation and location of oil:

millions of years worth of carbonic sediments collection of sea-floor
oil comes from algae and plankton, not trees and dinosaurs
pressure and heat inside the Earth's crust "cooks" the material
newer sea-floor near ridges, therefore less sediment and less oil
oldest sea-floor found near continents and edges of oceanic lithosphere

Cool engineering links, Civil-Mechanical, Petroleum

2006-06-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

Petroleum link:

Trans-Alaskan pipeline Pictures

Alternative Fuel Ideas

CO2 Reduction:

Introduction to Oil exploration

2006-06-20T07:31:00.000-07:00

Oil exploration is a fairly complicated and technical topic to discuss. Fortunately there is a good article on Wikipedia.com,Oil exploration, that gives a good summary of the process.

There are many aspects of Oil exploration I would like to discuss. We will go from searching to the oil to how to get it out of the Earth's crust and into our mechanical machines.

I will keep my discussions to the scientific aspect of oil exploration since that is where my interest is. I will leave the economic and political discussions to those who are interested in that, although it does indeed have an impact on oil exploration and is often times the catalyst for further explorations.

From a geolical aspect, searching for oil and then actually "harvesting" the oil take a tremendous amount of skill and effort. The entire process seems fairly simple, when presented as such, but it is actually very technical and demanding. Precision is key in oil exploration.

Welcome!

2006-06-14T09:27:00.000-07:00

Welcome to my blog. During the course of this blog I will mainly be discussing my experiences and challenges as an Engineering student at the University of Missouri, Columbia. If you are not an engineering student you may still find it pretty entertaining to see what we go through to accomplish our goals as engineers.

My main focus on the blog will be a topic I find interesting and valid, oil exploration and discovery. It may not be something everyone is very interested by, but it is something everyone is affected by! I think it will be a good experience to discover how oil is discovered and processed. I will do my best to keep the blog fun and try to use as few technical terms, without explanation, as possible.

As the semester continues hopefully this blog will mutate into a quality piece of writing with the input I hope to get from my colleagues and the instruction from class.

Looking forward to your comments and suggestions.