Posted on 12/18/2013 5:21:36 AM PST by thackney
Out-of-phase detachment folds and low-angle faults in the Monterey Formation at “the Boathouse” section, Vandenberg Air Force Base
https://www.aapg.org/explorer/2013/02feb/monterey_6_800.jpg
onterey Shale Continues to Tempt and Tease
https://www.aapg.org/explorer/2013/02feb/monterey_shale0213.cfm
We're all going to die!
Peak oil, peak oil!
Save us Obama!
Is the the energy sector equivalent of Real Clear Politics?
Sheesh.
That’s not even taking into account California’s political insanity.
They might want to hire a new contractor
The Green River Formation weighs in at 3 TRILLION BARRELS.
With 1 Trillion recoverable with today's technology.
The Green River Formation’s 3 trillion barrels is not oil already separated from the rock, like what has been produced by drilling from the Bakken, Eagle Ford and other shales.
The Green River is a much less thermally mature formation. It contains Kerogen that has to be retorted (cooked) from the rock in order to then create a synthetic crude oil.
They are not the same thing and it is far more expensive to produce.
“The Green River Formation’s 3 trillion barrels is not oil already separated from the rock, like what has been produced by drilling from the Bakken, Eagle Ford and other shales.
The Green River is a much less thermally mature formation. It contains Kerogen that has to be retorted (cooked) from the rock in order to then create a synthetic crude oil.
They are not the same thing and it is far more expensive to produce.”
Same thing goes for the Monterey
OOIP is not the same as reserves
Never is a long time.
Call me optimistic, but I can't believe California will be run by moronic Marxist criminals forever.
No. The quantities of oil discussed are oil already cooked out of the rock. There has been drilling and limited production already done without retorting.
The is additional hydrocarbons that could be retorted out, but that is not the subject of discussion.
The article is discussing the technical challenges of the formation, not the political roadblocks.
The 15.4 billion barrels is estimated technically recoverable oil based upon today’s drilling/fracking technology.
Total oil in place that includes stuff that would require retorting and stuff that will never be economically recovered is estimated at 500 billion barrels.
https://www.aapg.org/explorer/2013/02feb/monterey_shale0213.cfm
You may be confusing oil shale with shale oil.
Horribly confusing terms, I know. Retorting shale to release Kerogen from the rock is far different than drilling into layers in/near the shale to get oil that was already cooked out.
You are missing the point entirely
The Monterey has extremely large OOIP in the form of Kerogen. That cannot be said for recoverable reserves however
Most geologists agree that it is mostly outside the hydrocarbon maturity window. It is simply not cooked enough
The maturity window is a big thing.
For all the hoorah for the Eagleford, 90% of it exists outside the ideal maturity window
That petroleum is not the topic of discussion of this article. It is only referencing the oil that has already been "cooked" out. What you are describing applies to the Bakken as well. That may be future production but it isn't the real concern of today.
“That petroleum is not the topic of discussion of this article. It is only referencing the oil that has already been “cooked” out. What you are describing applies to the Bakken as well. That may be future production but it isn’t the real concern of today.”
You are reading too many articles obviously.
I am a practicing Petroleum Engineer of 40 years who has worked exploration extensively, a number of years including the Monterey.
The company I worked for drilled hundreds of Monterey wells.
There is no way the Monterey is “cooked” as extensively to produce the large volumes mentioned in the articles.
The thermal maturity of the Bakken is a magnitude better than the Monterey.
While I don't begin to claim your level of knowledge, there are others that disagree.
Review of Emerging Resources:
U.S. Shale Gas and Shale Oil Plays
http://www.eia.gov/analysis/studies/usshalegas/pdf/usshaleplays.pdf
July 2011
Executive Summary
Table ii U.S. Technically Recoverable Shale Oil Resources Summary
Page x
The thermal maturity of the Bakken is a magnitude better than the Monterey.
That may be true, but the "Technically Recoverable Shale Oil Resources" compared to the total petroleum in place is a comparable ratio when compared to the Monterey. The Bakken also has hundreds of billions of barrels underground but a small fraction of that is available without retorting.
Just don’t believe all the articles you read. Many are slanted to produce certain results.
The Bakken shales which generate and exude the Bakken oils contain the richest known organic content of any shale in the world. That, plus the trapping of the oil between the shale layers which provide high overpressures and natural fraccing of the rock, makes it a unique system, unlike anything seen elsewhere.
The Monterey has immense kerogens, but little chance at maturity. Taking many billions and identifying a small % of it as mature calculates to billions of oil possible; however, it is dissipated across vast vertical and horizontal volumes and does not make reserves necessarily.
Sorta like knowing the oceans contains billions of barrels of oil dissipated across the many trillions of barrels of water. We know it is there, but is it recoverable? No. Just no way to economically extract it, so it stays in the oceans, floating around.
I do enjoy the many postings on energy matters you produce.
I find them succinct, current, and of interest to us in the community of energy. Keep it up.
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