[Pops]

So I've been blabbing for a little while now about "flowable" vs. not-so-flowable oil, you know, oil that shoots out of the ground all sweet and light vs the asphalt deposits so many are now crowing about as the savior of our zoom-zoom culture. Most of the oil we use today is the old Jed Clampet kind and only very little is the "Newly Discovered", "High Tech" kind that makes PR copywriters all goose-bumpy. In fact discoveries of the old fashioned, Clampet variety of oil were already becoming rare as hen's teeth about the time Jed laoaded up the truck and moved to Beverly, Hills, that is.

Turns out the reason the newer and much ballyhooed oilish stuff isn't fixing our problem (high prices) is because it's slow! On the one hand being slow might be a good thing, since we simply aren't going to be able to use it up as fast as the old kind. But as far as prolonging happy motoring as we know it, slow oil will come up a day late.

Long ago we stopped finding the old fashioned, fast, sweet oil and precisely because the new-fangled slow oil is slow, we no longer are able to replace the conventional oil fast enough to keep up with increasing demand.

Here is Gregor McDonald:

Slow Oil, unlike the large deposits of conventional crude—found onshore and brought online quickly—is extracted from complex reservoirs, at great depth, in harsh environments, or comes from unconventional deposits like tar sands.

I like that guy, here's his blog: http://gregor.us/fossil-fuels/old-oil-d ... l-is-slow/

[dinopello]

On the one hand being slow might be a good thing, since we simply aren't going to be able to use it up as fast as the old kind.

That's a nice, silver lining. Although I do wonder about the technological, diabolical ways we will try to 'speed it up' and what impacts those will have.

[efarmer]

Stress is the answer Pops. When I have a calm day or a day off, I am not oily on my forehead at
all, but turn up the stress, and my forehead becomes Venezuala. We just need to put Mother Nature
under extreme duress and stress, and watch the oil come boiling out.

[MD]

Yep. Slower and more expensive each passing year, from here out.

[Revi]

The EROEI of some of the slow oil is way lower than a lot of alternatives, so we may see them happen as it makes sense to do them. Unfortunately it takes a lot of oil to make wind turbines and solar panels also, so we are going to be experiencing peak oil and it's consequences from now on. We are going to lose about 1/3rd of our LIHEAP money here in Maine under the best case, and maybe 2/3rds if our senators can's get funding restored. A lot of people will die or move south.

[MD]

So I've been blabbing for a little while now about "flowable" vs. not-so-flowable oil, you know, oil that shoots out of the ground all sweet and light vs the asphalt deposits so many are now crowing about as the savior of our zoom-zoom culture. Most of the oil we use today is the old Jed Clampet kind and only very little is the "Newly Discovered", "High Tech" kind that makes PR copywriters all goose-bumpy. In fact discoveries of the old fashioned, Clampet variety of oil were already becoming rare as hen's teeth about the time Jed laoaded up the truck and moved to Beverly, Hills, that is.

Turns out the reason the newer and much ballyhooed oilish stuff isn't fixing our problem (high prices) is because it's slow! On the one hand being slow might be a good thing, since we simply aren't going to be able to use it up as fast as the old kind. But as far as prolonging happy motoring as we know it, slow oil will come up a day late.

Long ago we stopped finding the old fashioned, fast, sweet oil and precisely because the new-fangled slow oil is slow, we no longer are able to replace the conventional oil fast enough to keep up with increasing demand.

Brings back my analogy of oil reserves to a pimple infested teenager. All the pressure zits have been popped, except for the really deep and painful cysts. It's hot washcloths, blackhead pinching, and face peels from here on out, leaving a face that will be scarred forever.

[Pops]

Man, that's too graphic for even a jaded doom-porn addict like me!

[KingM]

Slow is the best kind. It's the kind of resource that allows us to transition to a non-oil future. And if it's available but expensive, so much the better. It's valuable stuff; it should be costly. If every last drop of oil in the world were in a lake in California, they'd torch the thing the first time it looked like the strawberries would freeze.

[smiley]

Not sure whether slow is the right word. There is certainly nothing slow about the decline rates.


Getting production from these resources means digging holes in North Dakota like a hyperactive rabbit on E.

A little quiz: How many wells are in this picture?

count the rigs

[The Practician]

Slow is the best kind. It's the kind of resource that allows us to transition to a non-oil future. And if it's available but expensive, so much the better. It's valuable stuff; it should be costly. If every last drop of oil in the world were in a lake in California, they'd torch the thing the first time it looked like the strawberries would freeze.

It doesn't sound so bad when you put it that way, but there isn't any guarantee that the slow fossil fuels will be used that way. It's sort of counter-intuitive, but I think the "transition" will probably be effected by those with the least access to fossil fuels, while those with the tar sands etc will just waste it all on a scaled down but still unsustainable industrial infrastructure of sorts.

[MD]

Man, that's too graphic for even a jaded doom-porn addict like me!

Yeah but it's scary accurate. Or did I mean scarry?

Especially when you consider that our culture has been through an adolescent type growth spurt. Will we make it to adulthood?

[Ibon]

My mama always told me not to wolf down my food.

[MD]

My mama always told me not to wolf down my food.

Too right!

[Fiddlerdave]

I don't think we need to worry too much!

Once most oil becomes too slow to come out of the ground without investing more than one barrel of oil to GET one barrel of oil, the energy companies will simply request massive subsidies from their pet congresscritters to develop alternative solar and wind technologies to provide the needed energy to drill and recover the oil!

Subsidies which will, of course, be granted INSTANTLY, like the TARP! Drill, baby, drill!

The oil will flow forth again, to be sold for a 50% higher price for the oil companies! Problem solved!