Oil... The renewable resource

I came across the following article regarding oil fields that are all but dried up, and then start producing even more oil that originally calculated.

I was unaware of the research and conjecture involving this theory and thought I might share.

By the late '80s, the platform's production had slipped to less than 4,000 barrels per day, and was considered pumped out. Done. Suddenly, in 1990, production soared back to 15,000 barrels a day, and the reserves which had been estimated at 60 million barrels in the '70s, were recalculated at 400 million barrels. Interestingly, the measured geological age of the new oil was quantifiably different than the oil pumped in the '70s

www.worldnetdaily.com...


The following is another article based on a single location and pertains more to the island located off the coast of Louisiana called Eugene 330.


www.oralchelation.com...

The article is from the New York Times and was published back in 1999. Although its over 7 years ago, the preceding link I included has reference to further studies involving these occurrences.

From what I have read, its seems to be a plausible explanation for the oil replenishing itself.

If this theory is correct, oil strongholds across the earth would be non-existent.




[edit on 2-5-2006 by Grailkeeper] Brain not functioning properly yet

[edit on 2-5-2006 by Grailkeeper]

Fascinating. sounds quite a compelling theory. Only way to find out though is to keep using oil and seeing if it runs out!

I was thinking, what if they were to go back to 'dried up or pumped out' locations and try digging again?

Maybe this is not a possibility, don't know enough about it. But it would seem to be more cost effective to re-check older locations rather than new exporations.

you're talking about eugene island 330. it's been mentioned in several threads. not only has that shown new life, but several others around the world have had renewed levels of output suggesting that it's not isolated

Not sure if this enters into it or not, but I found it interesting at the time.

Dad and little brother worked in the California oil fields.
they told me that wells that once produced strongly eventually tapered off to "not much" during a 24 hours a day pump run.

Timers were put on the pumps and they ended up running maybe 1-2 hours a day.
Theory was, it took time for oil to flow back into the area where the well pump was.

It would be interesting to leave the pumps off in a particular area for perhaps a year, go back, run the pumps and see what the output was.

I noticed that one oil field that I drove through every few months had more wells running about the time I moved from the area than they did 8 years prior.

No new wells, just more pumps running.

myth exposed... Again!

Mother Earth finds that story kind of silly.

There is not an infinite capacity, but a near self-replenishing supply. There exists a curious parallel between oil and human wisdom as a species.

Bottom line, humans will have to find another end of the world scenario to obsess about...

Not to mention, the geology thinking 'oil from dinosaurs' is TOTALLY bogus.

This doesn't surprise me at all. Anyone who has lived with a water well during a drought has experienced the same phenomenon. The GPH output will drop against a heavy demand (say a lawn irrigation system running) as the water table drops. Once the demand is relieved for awhile water will refill the well from the surrounding area. Oil undoubtedly works the same way. Nature abhors a vacuum.

Originally posted by Desert Dawg

It would be interesting to leave the pumps off in a particular area for perhaps a year, go back, run the pumps and see what the output was.

Has anyone heard of any oil companies trying this?

I don't live in oil country so not sure how it works. I was under the impression (could be from movies,lol) that a lot of the gear was left behind after the last oil of the oil was pumped.
Could they not leave them so they can be operational later on down the road in an attempt to re-pump from the hole?

Some resources for the serious investigators

Greasing the Palms of the Oil Barons

New oil being created today?

CONSIDERATIONS ABOUT RECENT PREDICTIONS
OF IMPENDING SHORTAGES OF PETROLEUM EVALUATED FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF MODERN PETROLEUM SCIENCE.

Fears of dwindling oil supply unfounded.

Oil, Oil, Everywhere . . .

Odd Reservoir Off Louisiana Prods
Oil Experts to Seek a Deeper Meaning

Fuel's Paradise

The Origins of Oil and Petroleum

Thomas Gold

New Ideas in Science

Sustainable oil?

Discovering oil

Oil Reserves Are Increasing

Oil and Gas -"Renewable Resources"?

Petroleum under pressure

------------

in this article, research geochemist Michael Lewan is quoted as one of the most knowledgeable advocates of the opposing theory, that petroleum is a "fossil fuel". Yet even Lewan admits "I don't think anybody has ever doubted that there is an inorganic source of hydrocarbons. The key question is, 'Do they exist in commercial quantities?'"

The AAPG article also mentions a letter published in Nature, April 2002, "Abiogenic formation of alkanes in the Earth's crust as a minor source for global hydrocarbon reservoirs" which discusses evidence that methane gas from the Kidd Creek Mine in Ontario is of abiogenic origin.

The AAPG is organizing a conference in Vienna this July 11-14, 2004, Origin of Petroleum -- Biogenic and/or Abiogenic and Its Significance in Hydrocarbon Exploration and Productions

www.aapg.org...

The call for papers states
"For half a century, scientists from the former Soviet Union (FSU) have recognized that the petroleum produced from fields in the FSU have been generated by abiogenic processes. This is not a new concept, being first reported in 1951. The Russians have used this concept as an exploration strategy and have successfully discovered petroleum fields of which a number of these fields produce either partly and entirely from crystalline basement."

Note that the organizers of the conference include Michel Halbouty, recipient of a "Legendary Geoscientist" award www.agiweb.org... as well as Ernest Mancini of the University of Alabama, and the cornucopian author Peter Odell of Erasmus University. Evidently they are taking the abiogenic theory seriously, at least to the extent of organizing this conference.

www.melbourne.indymedia.org...

--------
Technical resources....

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
www.pnas.org...
www.pnas.org... maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&searchid=1116989848949_817&stored_sear ch=&FIRSTINDEX=0&minscore=5000&journalcode=pnas
www.pnas.org... maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&searchid=1116989848949_817&stored_sear ch=&FIRSTINDEX=0&minscore=5000&journalcode=pnas
www.pnas.org... maxtoshow=&HITS=10&hits=10&RESULTFORMAT=&searchid=1116989848949_817&stored_sear ch=&FIRSTINDEX=0&minscore=5000&journalcode=pnas

The evolution of multicomponent systems at high pressures: VI. The thermodynamic stability of the hydrogen–carbon system: The genesis of hydrocarbons and the origin of petroleum

Some of the American scientist involved.

J.F. Kenney, Gas Resources Corporation, Houston, TX
V. A. Krayushkin, T. I. Tchebanenko, V. P. Klochko, Ye. S. Dvoryanin
Institute of Geological Sciences, Kiev, Ukraine
gasresources.net...

Thomas Gold, Professor emeritus of astronomy at Cornell University
About the man... www.news.cornell.edu..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow"> www.news.cornell.edu...
The science... people.cornell.edu... based on data from the U.S. Geological Survey.

American Association of Petroleum Geologists www.aapg.org..." target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow"> www.aapg.org...

Gas Research Institute ....
www.gastechnology.org... g03/GasAMessengerfromSubsurfaceResources.pdf" target="_blank" class="postlink" rel="nofollow"> www.gastechnology.org... g03/GasAMessengerfromSubsurfaceResources.pdf

Geotimes
www.geotimes.org...

Michael C. Lynch, president of Strategic Energy and Economic Research and formerly chief energy economist for DRI-WEFA.
www.energyseer.com...

Jean Whelan, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, Massachusetts
www.whoi.edu... and www-ocean.tamu.edu... Professor Mahlon Kennicutt II , Chemical Oceanography, Texas A&M University: Department of Oceanography both had some very choice things to say that im still looking for in my mess of a links directory.....

Stellar

reply to post by StellarX


Most offshore oil fields have a strong water drive. In a thick oil formation, wells may have partly depleted the reservoir pressure around the wellbore and there probably are main channels of drainage that have occurred. This can be partly due to stratigraphic locations of indivdual wells in a reservoir and may also be influenced by the rate of production that occurred. When fluid withdrawal has diminished to a low rate, the water drive may increase the reservoir pressure again as a function of time. In addition gravity drainage will assist in the re-orientation of oil to the top of the structure and water to the bottom of the structure..

I don't have particular knowledge of the field in question, but do know of individual wells that have watered out and set for several years before a a decision was made to work over the wells to a shallower reservoir and then found out that the existing completion would flow more than a 1000 bbls of oil per day. However, the remaining reserve life was much smaller than the earlier completion.

I also know of fault blocks that had wells within approximately 30 feet of each other and one was at virgin pressure and the other was partially depleted. Sometimes earth movements may fracture a reservoir seal that woud allow oil to flow from one fault block into another one.

I doubt very seriously that there is any appreciable resaturation of old oil field reservoirs occurring. It has been proved time and time again that the best place to look for oil and gas is locations where they have already been found. Very frequently deeper structures may hold accumulations of hydrocarbons that were never penetrated because the shallower reservoirs that have been found were put on production.

mod edit: removed poster's e-mail address

[edit on 6/5/2008 by Gools]

whether or not oil will continue forever, oil will pollute the earth and effect our already-poor air

I don't know for sure, but what if there isn't a limit on oil or anything at all? What if quantum mysticism is right? What if there isn't a limit on gold or silver or platinum either? I mean humans have made jewelry since at least the time of the Celts but probably back to the Egyptians, but we're sill using and having gold! And it's still plentiful enough to be sold in stores and jewelry shops! Same with silver! What if there's no such thing as a nonrenewable resource?

I've heard about Abiotic Oil before and don't know what to think! Though the fossil theory has been far more accepted, could this be due to profits? We may never know. We may eventually hit the wall where production
can no longer keep up with demand, no matter how Oil is produced! Unless of coarse it can be man made!
I would expect that we would never know for sure but just like De beers and the way they keep the price of diamonds up by keeping the supply small by buying up all the diamonds. The Oil Giants would play the same game! As time goes by it seems that everything we thought we knew is a big lie to keep our numbers (the useless eaters) down! Will humanity ever realize the matrix of deception we are spoon fed?

Thanks for this amazing shearing