Another thing to take into account when looking at figures on the capacity of an oil field is the fact that the amount stated is not the amount that is extractable. Most oil fields only extract about 50-75% of their oil because after a certain point it becomes more expensive to extract a barrel of oil than it is to sell it.

Therefore the amount of oil that is extractable in this day and age of cost feasibility is MUCH less than the stated numbers. We have reached peak oil, and if something is not done soon, we will be past an energy crisis and into an energy DISASTER

Well the politicans could care less.... they worry too much about gaining oil profits over finding alternative energy.

This is no secret and we've been talking about it coming since the 70's. Expensive energy is not a disaster, it just means things will cost more. Change is never easy and we will have no choice but to make changes. Stop with the doom & gloom talk & dump your money in to places that will prosper when the oil gets more expensive then the alternatives.

People are always saying this.

If oil was (which it isn't) running out in areas we could drill elsewhere or drill deeper.

With in a decade Hydrogen will me the "Norm" so who gives a damn anyway.

I have heard in the past that America has realised the fact that oil will soon become sparse and has huge underground resovoirs full of the stuff and that they have enough stocked away to last their military 15 years. Dont know if there is any truth in it i read it on a rival site about a year ago.

I have a question. There are going to be large pockets of "nothingness" or "voids" once the oil is drilled out, and I have heard that they fill these pockets with something else to prevent collapse, is this right? Also, if they do fill them, how do they know that the stuff they fill them with has the same strength and consistency as the oil and will prevent these viods from collapsing? These issues have bothered me for awhile, and NOT getting into a discussion of politics or environment, is it possible for massive cave-ins to occur world wide?

Anyone know?

Originally posted by thesaint
I have heard in the past that America has realised the fact that oil will soon become sparse and has huge underground resovoirs full of the stuff and that they have enough stocked away to last their military 15 years. Dont know if there is any truth in it i read it on a rival site about a year ago.

I doubt 15 years, but yeah alot is stowed away. and you can look as much on the net as you want, and you will never find the real amount stored here, because its classified.

Originally posted by Jazzerman
I have a question. There are going to be large pockets of "nothingness" or "voids" once the oil is drilled out, and I have heard that they fill these pockets with something else to prevent collapse, is this right?
...
Anyone know?

As far as I know they don't fill them with anything. They just leave large methane pockets, which is bad. I could be wrong though... I know they USED to just leave the pockets and seal them off. Alot of these pockets are so far beneath the ground, and I believe (not sure) that the walls of the chambers have no issues of collapse.

If I remember right, some of the old oil sites are now being pumped for methane (as fuel). I heard this somewhere in conversation, so I'm not sure how viable it is.

Originally posted by MattMarriott
Production in the world's 2 largest oil fields rapidly coming to an end SOON

What makes you say that?

Originally posted by thesaint
America has realised the fact that oil will soon become sparse and has huge underground resovoirs full of the stuff and that they have enough stocked away to last their military 15 years.

You are thinking probably of the strategic oil reserve. From what I understand, its not vast sums of oil stored undground. Its sort of a excess in the amount of oil purchased, or something like that, oil that is bought, but not used (note that this doesn't mean that they buy say, and extra barrel, and lock it in a warehouse. They buy the extrabarrels, and put them into the market at the same rate that they are purchasing new extra barrels. Actually I think that they are buying slightly more 'extra barrels' than they are putting into the market. In this way the 'reserve' is continuously growing. but its not a centralized stockpile or something.).

Now, I had origianly thought that, since its called a 'Strategic' reserve, that it was meant to be used only if, say, there is an embargo, and we are in a war, and we need fuel for the military. Apparently not. Its a resevrve that collected with the intention of releasing it in case of an embargo and the price of gasoline for the consumer gets too high. It was started after that old arab oil embargo from the carter years.

There are going to be large pockets of "nothingness" or "voids" once the oil is drilled out

No. The oil is not sitting in caverns. Its in porespace. Removing oil and draining pore space in rock does affect it, so you are right about that, but its not like a sink hole like they have in florida and elsewhere. Water is also contained underground in pore spaces, not caverns.

Originally posted by Nygdan
No. The oil is not sitting in caverns. Its in porespace. Removing oil and draining pore space in rock does affect it, so you are right about that, but its not like a sink hole like they have in florida and elsewhere. Water is also contained underground in pore spaces, not caverns.

Thanks for the information. One last question to you...would it be possible for a collapse? I would think that even though it is "pore space" there will still be missing elements where the oil used to be, and that would provide grounds for a collapse of some sort. I really hope that you say I am wrong though, as I'm not to familiar with this sort of vocation.

Has anyone else here ever come across the theory that
oil is in fact a self–renewing resource? I was recently
researching Peak Oil when I came across an article
which stated that the chemical composition of crude
oil does not have its source in living things, but is instead
a product of the interactions between the upper level
of the earth's interior and the earth's crust.
(I have forgotten the source, but if I come across
it again, I will post a link)
I have also heard a theory which states that there were
never enough living things on earth to produce the biomass
necessary to produce the amount of oil that humans
have ALREADY used.






[edit on 8/23/2004 by jdster]

Originally posted by Jazzerman
I would think that even though it is "pore space" there will still be missing elements where the oil used to be, and that would provide grounds for a collapse of some sort.

I think for the most part you'd be right, tho it would depend on different things of course. In loose sands having liquid drained out of pore space is more destructive than in lithified rock, but as far as I know there isn't any real danger of oil fields significantly collapseing.

jdster:
the chemical composition of crude oil does not have its source in living things, but is instead a product of the interactions between the upper level of the earth's interior and the earth's crust.

As far as I understand it, oil is only contained in the crust. If it were produced by some process other than the currently understood one, then geologists and paleontologists wouldn't be able to use the methods they have to find it in the first place I should think.

I have also heard a theory which states that there were
never enough living things on earth to produce the biomass
necessary to produce the amount of oil that humans
have ALREADY used.

Don't beleive everything you hear. That entire idea is, interesting. Life has been around for lets pretend only 3 and a half billion years. The vast majority of species that have ever existed have gone extinct. Just imagine the entire biomass of the earth right now, repeated hundred of thousands of times in the deep past. All the plants, and ocean going plankton and forams and nanofossils and others that turn into oil. There is defintiely far more then enough biomass to account for, what, not even a hundred years of high oil consumption right?

Originally posted by Jazzerman
Thanks for the information. One last question to you...would it be possible for a collapse? I would think that even though it is "pore space" there will still be missing elements where the oil used to be, and that would provide grounds for a collapse of some sort. I really hope that you say I am wrong though, as I'm not to familiar with this sort of vocation.

It is true that petroleum is contained in the pore space of rock formations, as is most groundwater. And yes, the land surface does subside when pore fluids are extracted excessively, but first the subsurface formation is damaged, sometimes ruining the porosity of the source rock. Surficial subsidence follows, though the time-frame is variable.

Santa Barbara, CA experienced so much subsidence in the 1960's (directly a result of offshore oil extraction) that a large seawall had to be built to prevent the ocean from flooding huge areas. And subsidence-related surface fracturing is occurring at this time in Arizona over a large area due to excessive groundwater extraction. Additional examples are from all over the world, but I apologize for not posting links (I'm short of time at present). However, I have a high degree of confidence in my assertions as I am a Licensed Professional Geologist with more than a decade of experience beyond college. Certainly though, the proof is literally at your fingertips as you read this. (search: "land subsidence")

[spelling and clarification edit]

[edit on 23-8-2004 by Aeon10101110]