The heavy oil issue and its solutions

jwh · Coal Joined: Jul 18, 2007 Posts: 1

Peak oil is going to become more and more of a problem as time goes on because people will face the truth. It is true that there is plenty of crude oil left in the world however 70% of it is heavy oil (can be used to make bitumen, tar) which cannot be economically converted into light oil (can be used to make gas, diesel and similar fuels).

KingM

SPAM.

HorneyGeekBoi · Tar Sands Joined: Apr 28, 2007 Posts: 30

Heavy oil is of no use if there are not enough refineries that can process it...

And... It isnt as economical as sweet light crude...

evilgenius

Its not true that there isn't an answer to heavy oil. It can be upgraded on location and sent upstream as a better product. It just can't be done on the massive scale that the world is used to. That would require huge investment that the refineries aren't willing to engage in. Face it, the future is off-shore refining, which can't be indefinetly sustained. The US will have to scale back in order to match its capacity. The checks are built in. To do otherwise violates the plans of the rich.
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HorneyGeekBoi · Tar Sands Joined: Apr 28, 2007 Posts: 30

Yes, it will take more money (aka, oil) in order to upgrade the infrastructure to process it, thus, making heavy oil more expensive until that infrastructure is built and paid for by said oil products...

Once it becomes clear that oil production is diminishing, are we really going to invest energy (aka, oil petrodollars) in an infrastructure that has no long term future...