Advanced drilling technology that could provide us so much oil
12:18 PM
"Photo from RigZone"
New
oil drilling technologies could increase the world’s petroleum supplies
six-fold in the coming years to 10.2 trillion barrels, says a report
released today by market research firm Lux Research.
The most common and
controversial technique is hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in which
chemical-laced water is injected to break up subterranean rock formations to
extract oil and natural gas. But the Lux report details a host of exotic
so-called Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) technologies—from solar-powered steam
injection to microorganisms—that could be used to extend the life of old oil
fields and gain access to so-called unconventional petroleum reserves like oil
sands.
“In light of current
oil prices, the peak oil hysteria and projection of $300 [a barrel] prices of a
few years ago seem overblown – if not outright silly,” the report states. “But
in a sense, they were accurate forecasts of what would have happened if EOR
technologies had not come online and made unconventional oil reserves – which
vastly exceed conventional ones – accessible.”
But don’t ditch your
electric car just yet. The development of such technologies is predicated on
high oil prices – at least $100 a barrel – to offset the costs and induce a
conservative industry to invest in and deploy new methods. And many of the
technologies are still young.
Morever, as we’ve seen
with fracking, political opposition to technologies that could
pollute the environment and use lots of water could derail their use.
And as climate change accelerates, opposition to carbon-intensive
extraction of fossil fuels and their expanded use is sure to grow.
Thermal intervention injects steam into
wells to extract heavy oils or oil sands. The problem is, it takes a lot of
energy to generate that steam, so some oil companies are turning to solar
energy instead of natural gas or other fossil fuels. Chevron, for instance,
has deployed solar fields built by BrightSource Energy and GlassPoint
Solar at old oil fields in California
Chemical EOR injects polymers and alkaline
compounds into oil fields to help loosen oil from rock formations and push it
into production wells. The China National Petroleum Corporation is the leader
in this method, which it is betting will be 20% more efficient than just
flooding wells with water to bring oil to the surface. But in the US
Microbial EOR uses environmentally
benign microorganisms to break down heavier oils and produce methane, which can
be pumped into wells to push out lighter oil. The technology dates from the
1950s but only recently has it been put to limited use. An experiment with
microbial EOR in Malaysia
0 التعليقات