Six Tech Advancements Changing the Fossil Fuels Game

The Blaze / OilPrice.com ^ | July 18, 2013

[2ndDivisionVet]

Oil and gas is getting bigger, deeper, faster and more efficient, with new technology chipping away at “peak oil” concerns. While hydraulic fracturing has been the most visible revolutionary advancement, other high-tech developments are keeping the ball rolling—from the next generation of ultra-deepwater drillships, subsea oil and gas infrastructure and multi-well-pad drilling to M2M networking, floating LNG facilities, new dimensions in seismic imagery and supercomputing for analog exploration.

ADVANCED SEMI-SUBMERSIBLES & 6TH GENERATION DRILLSHIPS

Rig advancements are coming online in tandem with the significantly increased momentum to drill in deeper waters as shallower reserves run out. For 2012, 49% of new offshore discoveries were in ultra-deepwater plays, while 28% were in deepwater plays. What we’re looking at now are amazing advancements in deepwater rigs, with new semi-submersibles capable of drilling to depths of 5,000 feet or deeper. Beyond that, though, new sixth generation enterprise-class drillships can go to depths of 12,000 feet! From a global perspective, there are 120 ultra-deepwater rigs in existence—and demand is on the steep rises.

SUBSEA PROCESSING

Subsea processing can turn marginal fields into major producers.

Subsea production systems are wells located on the sea floor rather than the surface. Petroleum is extracted at the seafloor, and then ‘tied-back’ to an already existing production platform. The well is drilled by a moveable rig and the extracted oil and natural gas is transported by riser or undersea pipeline to a nearby production platform. Subsea systems are typically in use at depths of 7,000 feet or more. They don’t drill, they just extract and transport.....

[Vince Ferrer]

Isn’t that subsea processing how we got into so much trouble with the underwater aliens in The Abyss?

[ConservativeInPA]

Oil and gas is getting bigger, deeper, faster and more efficient, with new technology chipping away at “peak oil” concerns. While hydraulic fracturing has been the most visible revolutionary advancement, other high-tech developments are keeping the ball rolling

I stopped reading there. "Peak Oil" has been a farce since the term was coined, and it has been proven to be so ever since. Anyone using term "Peak Oil" should be laughed at for their ignorance. Hydraulic fracturing is not a revolutionary advancement. It is a 50+ year old proven method to extracting oil and gas.

Excuse me, I am probably just being a curmudgeon this evening.

[stickywillie]

totally agree. there is more oil and gas to be taken by dry land platforms than you can shake a stick @

[Pox]

There is a finite supply to be extracted regardless of the term “Peak Oil”. What that number is can be debated forever, but someday, perhaps dozens of years from now, perhaps hundreds or even thousands of year from now, it will eventually all be extracted from our planet.

However, there is an enormous amount to be had in this solar system if it is valuable enough to warrant its harvesting.

Also, it’s not out of the question that someone will be able to figure out how to “reassemble” the used products and waste products and synthesize petroleum to extend the supply our planet possesses. Don’t know if that would be economical enough to be feasible, but only time will tell.

[Balding_Eagle]

The number is already in the hundreds of years, so thousands is not out of the question.

[Pox]

It’s likely going to be thousands, but hundreds or less wouldn’t surprise me as we are getting much better at extracting what we can get to.

[ronnietherocket3]

The author did put peak oil in quotes. He might be trying to say that the predictions didn’t take into account several different things than directly stating peak oil was a bad theory to begin with.

That said, predictions never seem to take anything into account. I have noticed in technology when the commentariat say we will have something in 5 years, it will take 50. When they say we will have something in 50 years, we will have it in 5.

[xjcsa]

There is a finite supply to be extracted regardless of the term “Peak Oil”. What that number is can be debated forever, but someday, perhaps dozens of years from now, perhaps hundreds or even thousands of year from now, it will eventually all be extracted from our planet.

Eh, that depends - is the Earth also producing/creating new oil? Do we know the answer to that question?

[spokeshave]

According to the USGS in Feb this year....the Green River Formations weigh in at over 3 Trillion Barrels of oil...

...with 1Trillion recoverable using todays technology

for comparison...the known worlds reserves of oil are about 1 Trillion barrels

[ckilmer]

It’s likely going to be thousands (of years supply of hydrocarbons), but hundreds or less wouldn’t surprise me as we are getting much better at extracting what we can get to.
.........
imho fifty years from now the cost of electricity will be 1/10th of current lowest cost coal power produced electricity. Likely the some low cost nuclear power electrical generator will have been developed—that causes this cost reduction.

Battery technology will have been so advanced that cost and storage and recharging issues will have been resolved. The net effect will be that electric cars will be much less expensive than internal combustion engine cars. So electric engine cars will collapse the demand for internal combustion engine cars and collapse the demand for oil/natural gas—rendering much of the available supply of oil and gas too expensive to mine—unless of course, extraction methods become many orders of magnitude cheaper. Which is possible over time.

[Pox]

You don’t create it out of nothing (unless you’re creating the Universe! :) ). There is a finite amount of matter comprising the planet. While hydrocarbons may be seeping into the mantle from below, the speed at which that may occur is unknown and is still finite.

[Pox]

That’s a good thing, but there is still only so much matter that the Earth is comprised of, so someday there will be nothing else to extract. The only question is when, but that may be so far into the future we may find an alternative and not need to extract it all. Hopefully hundreds or thousands of years supply left, but that is unknown at our current level of knowledge.

[Pox]

That is what we all would hope for. And although our illogical government is dead set on trying to force the issue now instead of letting nature take it’s course, someday someone will figure out new and useful replacement technologies as long as our current crop of libs don’t destroy our society.

[ckilmer]

what I’m hoping for is a continuous price war between internal combustion engines and electric battery engines.

That kind of price war continually forces the cost of energy down...which is hugely beneficial/profitable/enriching to every person, community and country on the whole planet.

[D Rider]

...it will eventually all be extracted from our planet.

Th technology aleady exists to turn waste into hydrocarbons. We do not do it yet due to risk/cost from cheap oil. The carbon cycle is how the earth stores sunlight as energy. The earth still runs on a carbon cycle, and will continue to do so until we eliminate all life on earth.