4/3/2017

1

How do “Conventional” oil fields/petroleum pools/ aka

“Oil Traps” form?1) Need Source Rock (different

types)(sedimentary layers originally containing

organic C)

2) Need burial / Heat and Pressureapplied to source rocks to promote Kerogen conversions

3) Concentrate petroleum into a pool--> HC compounds can Migratefrom source rocks into rocks that can become saturated with petroleum.

4) Need Reservoir Rock: permeable rock whose pore space is saturated with oil/gas

and one last thing……..>>>>

How do oil fields/petroleum pools form?

5) To accumulate a pool, the

HC must be trapped in the Reservoir Rock:

Need Cap Rock:impermeable layer that

halts migration of fluids

(e.g. shale, salt deposit)

Common “Oil Traps”include anticlines,

faults, salt domes &

stratigraphic

Why use Oil?

• It burns

• Yields lots of energy

• It’s relatively cheap

• It flows

• Easy to extract or pump it out

• Easy to transport

• Not much land disruption

• It’s abundant

At end of 2011, world proven crude oil reserves stood at over >1.4 trillion Barrels (~1,482 billion barrels)

1,481,526

• can be converted to useful materials

Refining Crude Oil

Heating / distilling separates crude oil into

components with different boiling points

Lightest components rise: petroleum gases,

gasoline. Then kerosene (used as jet fuel),

heating oil, and diesel fuel for trucks, buses,

trains, and ships. Heaviest fractions stay at

the bottom of the column: lubricating oils,

waxes and asphalt.

Petrochemicals are products of oil distillation, over 4,000. Common

“end-products” are pesticides, plastics, fibers, paints, synthetic rubbers and medicines

4/3/2017

2

*Includes both home heating oil and diesel fuel

**Heavy oils used as fuels in industry, marine transportation, and for electric power

generation (Source: American Petroleum Institute)

A bi-product of oil & coal used as fuel, and

in smelting iron ore

Mostly methane, ethane, propane, butane

42 Gallons/Barrel

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eCt0VDg-KcHow is Plastic Made 2:54

Sweet crude oil is a type of petroleum with

less than 0.42% sulfur. Petroleum containing

higher levels of sulfur is called sour crude oil.

Sweet crude oil contains small amounts of

hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide. Source: Wiki

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ed7XJeXl3b4How Plastic Bottles are Made 3:11

Why use Natural Gas?

• Burns hotter than oil

• It’s cleaner than oil

• Easy to extract

• Easy to transport

• Yields lots of energy

• Global reserves up 140% since 1973

• Not much land disruption

Disadvantages of using Oil & Natural Gas?

• Often degrades fresh air, soil and water

• Emits greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4) and other

damaging gases (CO, NOx, SOx, H2S)

• Gases contributes to global climate change

Causes acid deposition

• Can be explosive

• Not much time left at current rate of use

• Damaging leaks, spills and runoff are common in the world’s oceans….

San Francisco Bay Wednesday November 7th, 2007

~58,000 gallons of “oil” spilled from the 926-foot ship Cosco

Busan after tanker hits Bay Bridge; Coast Guard determines

cause was human error.

“Bunker Fuel” is a general name given to any type of fuel oil

used aboard ships.

Investigators found that pilot John Cota of the Costco Busan

abandoned his radar because he was high on pharmaceuticals.

On March 6, 2009, A plea agreement was negotiated with

prosecutors to charges of federal water pollution and

migratory bird killings.

He was sentenced in July 2009 to 10 months imprisonment

and fined between $3,000 and $30,000. He’s currently

trying to pilot again.

Pilots now earn $451,000 /yr & Cota’s pension is ~$228,864/yr

4/3/2017

3

Is petroleum formation likely to happen again soon?• No.• No petroleum found in rocks younger than 1-2 million years so it’s

extremely likely it takes at least this long for petroleum to form.

• It’s estimated that <0.1% of all marine organic matter buried on the sea floor is eventually trapped as usable petroleum.

• Some settings lack adequate heat to convert kerogen to petroleum

• Some settings lack sufficient depth or the necessary cap rock to burry and trap fluids from escape.

• Conditions required to produce, concentrate, trap and retain hydrocarbons are rarely observed together--> most marine sedimentary rocks lack petroleum.

• Geologic processes can destroy oil traps. Uplift, erosion and faulting can remove cap rocks or rupture traps allowing oil or gas to escape at the surface. Majority of current oil reserves are in rocks < 160 my old. 90 &150my common

• >90% of all petroleum formed escapes @ Earth’s surface.

Abiotic Oil?Some challenge the accepted view of petroleum formation being

exclusively from biological material.

Extraterrestrial occurrences used to support hydrocarbons may

be inorganic:

� Outer planets and moons contain methane.

� Some stony meteorites (chondrites) contain hydrocarbons.

Carbonaceous chondrites (5% of all chondrites) are a type of stony meteorites that contain Silicates, Oxides, Sulfides and traces of various hydocarbons, including amino acids. Most chondrites (86% of all meteorites) are rich in silicate minerals olivine and pyroxenes. (Iron meteorites account for <6% of all meteorites but make up ~90% of the mass of all known meteorites.)

� Since hydrocarbons formed from inorganic reactions in the above 2 examples, some think hydrocarbons on earth may have formed in a similar way.

Abiotic Oil?� Methane is present in volcanoes (1% - 15%). Abiotic oil from

the mantle that migrated upward, or volcanoes erupting through a

cover of sediments already containing some hydrocarbons?

� Some laboratory experiments using a high-pressure and high

temperature apparatus have produced petroleum from solid iron

oxide (FeO), marble (CaCO3) and H2O –with no biotic compounds

or hydrocarbons originally present.

Could petroleum be produced abiotically? Yes, inassociation with extraterrestrial and internal igneousactivity but it’s not commercial grade.

Could petroleum be produced from recycling various waste?

Yes….

• Thermal Conversion Process (TCP)Changing of manure and/or animal & vegetable waste to crude

oil.

• Thermal Depolymerization (TDP)

Can change many carbon-based materials into crude oil and

methane, and is not limited to manure or vegetable waste. Web

Link: ““““Anything into Oil””””, Discover Vol. 27 April 2006

http://discovermagazine.com/2006/apr/anything-oil

• Pyrolysis

Decomposition of organic material at high temperatures without

oxygen. Web link: Clean Oceans International

http://cleanoceansinternational.org/

Carthage Missouri plant opens in Feb 2005.

270 tons turkey guts & 20 tons of pig fat can yield 500 barrels oil worth ~$42,000/day. Other by-products: fertilizer and water.

Problems: initial high cost, odors and emission violations. US

consumes >22 million bpd175lb human = 38lbs oil, 7lbs gas, 7lbs mineral & 123 lbs water

175

4/3/2017

4

Top Producing Oil Countries as of 2014 BBL/Day

1 United States 13,973,000

2 Saudi Arabia (OPEC) 11,624,000

3 Russia 10,853,000

4 China 4,572,000

5 Canada 4,383,000

6 United Arab Emirates (OPEC) 3,471,000

7 Iran (OPEC) 3,375,000

8 Iraq (OPEC) 3,371,000

9 Brazil 2,950,000

10 Mexico 2,812,000

11 Kuwait (OPEC) 2,780,000 1

2 Venezuela (OPEC) 2,689,000

13 Nigeria (OPEC) 2,427,000

14 Qatar (OPEC) 2,055,000

15 Norway 1,904,000

16 Angola (OPEC) 1,756,000

17 Algeria (OPEC) 1,721,000

18 Kazakhstan 1,719,000

19 Colombia 1,016,000

20 India 978,000 t

List includes conventionaland unconventional sources

Approximate US Energy breakdown(notice 86% is from Fossil Fuels)

How long will current conventional oil reserves last?

• Known and projected global oil reserves expected to be 80% depleted in 42 – 93 yrs. At the rate of consumption in 2008, OPEC’s reserves will last ~85 yrs.

• Known recoverable US reserves is ~21 billion barrels and US consumes ~22 million barrels/day.

US reserves with no oil imported:21 billion barrels/22 million barrels/day = 2.6 years

US imports ~13.5 million barrels of oil/day (~61% of 22 mill).

21 billion barrels/the remaining 8.5 million US barrels use/day = 6.7 years

• Opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling would add ~4 – 10 months

• Saudi Arabia alone could supply world for ~10 yrs.

• Global oil consumption is expected to increase >30% by 2020.» Source: G.Griggs, UCSC

Peak Oil = the midpoint of depletion, when ½ the total has been taken.

Other sources of Oil / UnconventionalOil Shale and Oil Sand (aka “Heavy Oils”)

Oil still in Source RockOil Shale:

Sedimentary rock containing organic kerogen (altered org matter in Sed Rk)

– never buried deep enough to raise temperature required to convert

Kerogen to liquid oil

– Massive deposits underlie US

(estimate 2-5 trillion barrels)

Oil Sand/ aka Tar Sand:

mixture of sand, clay, water and

Bitumen (a viscous, heavy oil, too thick

to flow out of rock, the soluble portion of Kerogen).

– Alberta Canada extensive deposits--few in US

4/3/2017

5

Oil Shale Resources of North AmericaIt’s estimated that the Green River Formation in Colorado,

Wyoming and Utah contain >400 billion barrels of oil.

“Monterey Shale”

Oil Shale Booming• Hydraulic Fracturing (Fracking): a drilling process

designed to increase the yield of oil and/or gas out

of rock; method involves fracturing surrounding

rock (increasing permeability) and pumping fluids

into the fractures under extremely high pressures to

force the desired gas or liquids out.

• As of 2012, 2.5 million "frac jobs" had been performed

worldwide on oil and gas wells; over one million of

those within the U.S.

• Oklahoma Earthquakes: between 1978 and 2008 ~2-

6/yr. In 2010 there were 1,047 earthquakes28

Web Link: Horizontal Wells and Frackinghttp://www.northernoil.com/drilling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VY34PQUiwOQ (6.5min)

Some Fracking Practices

Steel casing, cement sleeve – protect aquifers

Horizontal drilling

Perforation

Water + sand + slickening agents + salt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_additives_for_hydraulic_fracturing

https://fracfocus.org/chemical-use/what-chemicals-are-used

http://www.propublica.org/special/hydraulic-fracturing-national

Read this slide at home

electrical gunshots perforate

steel casing & cement, then

slickwater pressure + propping

agents fracture the shale

4/3/2017

6

How Fracking Can Impact The Environment

• water consumption, C02 output; use of diesel pumps, compressors,

drills, etc.

• methane escape & flaring

• truck traffic, emissions, habitat impacts, pipelines

The number of people who have died in Texas car crashes involving commercial vehicles has increased

by more than 50 percent since the fracking boom started there in 2008. Fatal car accidents in Texas

rose from 301 incidents in 2009 to 454 incidents in 2013, according to Texas Dept of Transportation data.

• wastewater disposal

– underground / aquifer contamination

– untreated in streams

– burden on sewage treatment plants

32~93x54 Miles

The Athabasca Tar

Sands of Alberta,

Canada

McMurray FormationFluvial and estuarine,

Early Cretaceous (146 -100my)

How much Oil Shale and Tar Sand (aka oil sand)?

• Global supplies are estimated to be 200X larger than

conventional oil.

• More oil is trapped in Canadian tar sands than Saudi Arabia

has in all it’s reserves.

• It is estimated that tar sand in Alberta & Orinico Oil Belt in

Venezuela contain nearly 3.4 trillion barrels of oil.

At end of 2010, world proven conventional crude oil reserves

stood at >1.49 trillion Barrels

Why not use these resources?

• Oil shale and sand extraction requires surface mining

– ecosystem disruption; forests, wetlands, grasslands

– huge volumes of waste rock-- only ~3 barrels of shale oil for 1 ton of rock processed

– 3 barrels of H2O/1 barrel of shale oil produced

– tailing ponds created: hold leftover water, sand, clay, bitumen, salts, metals (Ni, V, Hg, As, Pb)

– pollution floats downstream

– land reclamation issues

– lower useful energy yield than conventional oil and gas

Web Link: http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100831/full/news.2010.439.html

Web Link: Garth Lenz: The True Cost of Oil

– http://www.ted.com/talks/garth_lenz_images_of_beauty_and_devastation.html

17.4 min