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Graeme
Fission
Joined: Mar 04, 2005
Posts: 2571
Location: New Zealand
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 Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 2:44 am Post subject: Saudi may boost heavy-oil reserves with steam |
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Saudi may boost heavy-oil reserves with steam
| Quote: | Chevron and Saudi oil officials say initial results from a pilot project to tap heavy crude reserves by injecting steam are promising and could boost the kingdom's estimated reserves by 'tens of billions' of barrels, The Wall Street Journal said.
Earlier this year, Chevron began injecting steam in a neutral zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to loosen sludge-like heavy oil that was previously deemed unrecoverable, the newspaper said.
The trial, which Chevron plans to expand to additional wells, is a critical test of Saudi Arabia's heavy-oil potential, the Journal reported. Oil from the zone, known as Wafra, is shared equally by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. |
tradearabia
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KevO
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| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 2:51 am Post subject: Re: Saudi may boost heavy-oil reserves with steam |
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this desperate measure gets 'tens of billions'. What's that 2 months? 6 months?
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SoothSayer
Light Sweet Crude
Joined: Mar 02, 2006
Posts: 1194
Location: England
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| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:06 am Post subject: Re: Saudi may boost heavy-oil reserves with steam |
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| KevO wrote: | | this desperate measure gets 'tens of billions'. What's that 2 months? 6 months? |
Assuming 50 bn = 588 days of world consumption. Say 1.5 years. Woopee! Let's party!
IMHO this is a key indicator that Saudi is in trouble ... they wouldn't even consider this option if they had the promised centuries of 25mb/day normal production remaining.
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KevO
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| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 4:13 am Post subject: Re: Saudi may boost heavy-oil reserves with steam |
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| SoothSayer wrote: |
IMHO this is a key indicator that Saudi is in trouble ... they wouldn't even consider this option if they had the promised centuries of 25mb/day normal production remaining. |
absolutely no doubt about it
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DantesPeak
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| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:11 am Post subject: Re: Saudi may boost heavy-oil reserves with steam |
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So much for the theory they have lots of untapped reserves.
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SoothSayer
Light Sweet Crude
Joined: Mar 02, 2006
Posts: 1194
Location: England
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| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:16 am Post subject: Re: Saudi may boost heavy-oil reserves with steam |
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Good pix.
I assume that they are burning other oil or more likely natural gas to heat the heavy oil.
If they are using NG then they had better be careful ... they will need the gas for desalination now that the SA water aquifers are getting low.
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Sleepybag
Tar Sands
Joined: Oct 17, 2005
Posts: 68
Location: The Netherlands
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| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:24 am Post subject: Re: Saudi may boost heavy-oil reserves with steam |
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- What will the Eroei be? Steaming up the heavy oil must cost a lot of energy. So therefor, this technique will drop the ERoEI significantly.
- How much will they be able to increase production? I mean, peak oil is all about production limits, not about increasing potential reserves.
- Does Saudi Arabia want to increase extraction? I guess they might plateau for as long as possible, not speeding up their depletion date.
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MacG
Light Sweet Crude
Joined: Jun 04, 2005
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| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:37 am Post subject: Re: Saudi may boost heavy-oil reserves with steam |
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| One thing is for sure: When Saudi go for steam injection, they are pretty much out of the sweet light stuff. I also assume that a lot of refineries are beeing upgraded to handle the heavy stuff. |
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SoothSayer
Light Sweet Crude
Joined: Mar 02, 2006
Posts: 1194
Location: England
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| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:39 am Post subject: Re: Saudi may boost heavy-oil reserves with steam |
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Take a look here for a good overview of heavy oil production .... Link
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RattlesnakeJake
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Joined: May 08, 2006
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| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:08 am Post subject: Re: Saudi may boost heavy-oil reserves with steam |
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| Steam injection is not a technology break-thru, if memory serves, it was being used in the US 30 years ago. |
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Dreamtwister
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Joined: Feb 06, 2006
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| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:50 am Post subject: Re: Saudi may boost heavy-oil reserves with steam |
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| RattlesnakeJake wrote: | | Steam injection is not a technology break-thru, if memory serves, it was being used in the US 30 years ago. |
Exactly. And look at what happened. Steam injection = end of the road (pun intended).
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Fergus
Heavy Crude
Joined: Jun 13, 2006
Posts: 409
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| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:15 am Post subject: Re: Saudi may boost heavy-oil reserves with steam |
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| Dreamtwister wrote: | | RattlesnakeJake wrote: | | Steam injection is not a technology break-thru, if memory serves, it was being used in the US 30 years ago. |
Exactly. And look at what happened. Steam injection = end of the road (pun intended). |
So looking at that site that was linked, they talk about making Snythetic oil out of the heavy oil. Whats a synthetic oil? I thought that was an oil based not on oil, but something else? I guess your never too old too learn something new. Interesting. |
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Leanan
News Editor
Joined: May 20, 2004
Posts: 4490
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| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:24 am Post subject: Re: Saudi may boost heavy-oil reserves with steam |
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This was a front page story in the Wall St. Journal today. (It's behind a paywall, unfortunately, though it might be available for free at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette later.)
Gotta love this bit:
| Quote: | | It would also be a blow to so-called peak-oil theorists who have forecast that world oil production is on the brink of peaking. |
Idiots. If anything, it's a sign that the peak is nigh. Why would the Saudis be messing around with expensive methods like steam injection if they really had lots of oil? It seems they now trying to get tar/bitumin out. That's a bad sign, not a good one.
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Zardoz
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Joined: Dec 02, 2005
Posts: 6284
Location: Oil-addicted Southern Californucopia
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| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:28 am Post subject: Re: Saudi may boost heavy-oil reserves with steam |
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Let's not forget the worldwide shortage of heavy oil refining capability.
We're getting too many indications that we're on the plateau to come to any other conclusion.
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SoothSayer
Light Sweet Crude
Joined: Mar 02, 2006
Posts: 1194
Location: England
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| Posted: Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:31 am Post subject: Re: Saudi may boost heavy-oil reserves with steam |
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Whats a synthetic oil?
It's an oil made for a special purpose - for example, as a gas turbine bearing lubricant, or as a vacuum pump lubricant.
These oils are "designer oils" and may not exist in nature.
However normal oil can provide the required ingredients.
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