I will believe the Saudis don't see any upcoming problems with Ghawar when they cancel one of their projects due to low oil prices. If they continue to be full steam ahead with increasing their capacity then I think they are aware that Ghawar may not be as robust in 5 years time as they would like us to believe.
Joined: Sep 16, 2004 Posts: 4836 Location: Southwest WI
Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 6:57 am Post subject: Brazilian oil find could cost $240 billion
to develop:
Quote:
June 5 (Bloomberg) -- Brazil's oil discoveries, including the Western Hemisphere's largest in three decades, may cost $100 billion more to develop than the industry's most costly field.
The Tupi deposit and nearby offshore prospects probably will cost $240 billion to exploit, said Peter Wells, director of U.K. research firm Neftex Petroleum Consultants Ltd. and a former Royal Dutch Shell Plc exploration manager. The total exceeds the $136 billion estimate for Kazakhstan's Kashagan field, led by Eni SpA, and would be enough to fund the U.S. space program for 14 years.
Makes Iraq look like a good deal.
Quote:
The $240 billion estimate assumes there are four to seven similar prospects nearby and includes costs to drill wells, lay pipelines and build production platforms over a period of about 20 years, Wells said.
Tupi alone could cost $100 billion, said Wells, part of a Neftex team doing a six-year study to map all of the world's petroleum basins.
Cambridge Energy Research Associates, the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based consulting firm headed by Daniel Yergin, said the Tupi-area fields will cost $200 billion to $240 billion. Costs are rising as producers compete for labor and equipment with oil prices above $120 a barrel. Deepwater drilling rigs are renting for more than $600,000 a day in some cases.
The Brazil fields may hold as much as 50 billion barrels of crude, Wells said. That's more than the reserves of Libya.
They've got to develop it if there really is that kind of oil down there. Although it might take awhile to get a return on your invest and by then who knows what the worldwide economic situation looks like.
$500 oil anyone?
Quote:
Tupi is about 80 percent crude and 20 percent gas, said Wells, a University of Exeter-trained geologist. For each barrel of oil, there's 700 to 1,000 cubic feet of gas.
``Gas is an important cost consideration because they have to decide whether to reinject it back into the reservoir or construct a rather large pipeline to take it to another destination where it can be used,'' said Candida Scott, a senior director at Cambridge Energy Research Associates.
The high wax content of Tupi's crude and the presence of carbon dioxide, which can damage pipes, also may raise costs, Wells said.
Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 7:06 am Post subject: Re: Brazilian oil find could cost $240 billion
Exactly how much is a Brazilian anyway? _________________ "When you understand why you dismiss all the other possible gods, you will understand why I dismiss yours." - Stephen F Roberts.
Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 7:15 am Post subject: Re: Brazilian oil find could cost $240 billion
Quote:
Wax?
Parafin is normal in oil. When it comes up the wax builds up on the inside of the walls reducing flow rates. You have to get wireline out and clean it out. Same happens with pipelines every so often you have to run a pig (plug) through the pipeline to clean out the build up to keep flow rates up. _________________ Nothing is more dangerous than a man with nothing left to lose but has everything left to gain.
Joined: Sep 16, 2004 Posts: 4836 Location: Southwest WI
Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 7:37 am Post subject: Re: Brazilian oil find could cost $240 billion
Well if this find really is what it is and costs what they think it will cost, a Brazilian will be worth...fuzzy math time...6 trillion-240 billion/180 million Brazilians=$32,000 Not bad...
I think a Norwegian may be worth more. _________________ Clothing should be optional.
Joined: Apr 06, 2006 Posts: 3613 Location: 3 miles NW of Champoeg, Republic of Cascadia
Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 11:56 am Post subject: Re: Brazilian oil find could cost $240 billion
This is why ASPO have classified UDW as uneconomical, and moved their peak date to 2007. Nobody's ever drilled wells quite like these, either, especially the thousands of feet of salt.
Wonder what will happen when the cry comes for immediate exploratory drilling of offshore US and they have to explain that, sorry, they're booked down in Brazil. _________________ Cogito, ergo non satis bibivi
The Dude Is Not In: Leave A Message After The Beep.
Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 1:53 pm Post subject: Re: Brazilian oil find could cost $240 billion
with regards to wax I think the oil here is actually much waxier than just resulting in small amounts of parrafin build up in production tubing or minor amounts of scale. Not sure what the pour point for this is but I've dealt with waxy crude before that once it gets to STP at surface it basically goes solid. To keep this from happening you need to use a pour point depressant, basically a chemical that makes the liquid phase stable at lower temperatures.
In terms of overall costs this is indeed a lot of money. But when you look at the size of the resources that actual finding and development costs will definitely be no greater than we are seeing in the North Sea. The bigger potential reserves drives that calculation down. So for any oil and gas company this would make sense.
Joined: Feb 20, 2005 Posts: 2877 Location: Uppsala, Sweden
Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 5:23 pm Post subject: Re: Brazilian oil find could cost $240 billion
TheDude wrote:
This is why ASPO have classified UDW as uneconomical, and moved their peak date to 2007. Nobody's ever drilled wells quite like these, either, especially the thousands of feet of salt.
UDW is not uneconomical, and ASPO has said nothing of the sort. ASPO never talks about prices because they are not economists. With high enough prices ultra deep will make sense. What they have said is that deep and ultra deep will determine the shape and timing of the peak.
I for one is cursing the fact that I didn't buy into Petrobras last fall when I was considering too.
TheDude wrote:
Wonder what will happen when the cry comes for immediate exploratory drilling of offshore US and they have to explain that, sorry, they're booked down in Brazil.
Rig rates go up even more and the Koreans build even more rigs, so what? It's called capitalism. _________________ Peak oil is not an energy crisis. It is a liquid fuel crisis.
Joined: Mar 25, 2008 Posts: 803 Location: Alif Lam Mim
Posted: Fri Jun 06, 2008 6:03 pm Post subject: Re: Brazilian oil find could cost $240 billion
So are we talking about $100/240 bln to get the field to begin producing or do they mean this will be the total for the 10+ bln barrel fields? If it's for the total bill for 10 bln barrels, that's only $24/barrel which is pretty cheap (which is why this would likely rise over the years). _________________ Riches are not from abundance of worldly goods, but from a contented mind.
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