"the world had decades' worth of oil to come"

[Toad]

Waste-to-Oil Company Selling Oil Commercially \

CARTHAGE, MISSOURI, USA – Renewable Environmental Solutions LLC (RES) announced in May that its first commercial plant is selling an equivalent of crude oil No. 4, produced from agricultural waste products. The Carthage, Missouri, plant is currently producing 100-200 barrels of oil per day utilizing by-products from an adjacent turkey processing facility....

...At peak capacity, expected to be achieved by the end of this year, the first-out plant will produce 500 barrels of oil per day, as well as natural gas, liquid and solid fertilizer, and solid carbon.

Then there is still nuke power; seems to work for the French and Japanese.

[Godzilla]

The US has so many resources and potential fuel supplies, it isn't even a slight concern of mine.

We are just buying the oil from the stupid countries until thiers is all gone.

[Clifra Jones]

Originally posted by Godzilla
The US has so many resources and potential fuel supplies, it isn't even a slight concern of mine.

We are just buying the oil from the stupid countries until thiers is all gone.

Works for me.

[Toad]

Shell Oil Shale Extraction Technology Economically Viable?

That is pretty kewl tech.

They don't need subsidies; the process should be commercially feasible with world oil prices at $30 a barrel. The energy balance is favorable; under a conservative life-cycle analysis, it should yield 3.5 units of energy for every 1 unit used in production. The process recovers about 10 times as much oil as mining the rock and crushing and cooking it at the surface, and it's a more desirable grade. Reclamation is easier because the only thing that comes to the surface is the oil you want.

They speculate it could supply the entire world demand for 22 years at the projected rate of increased demand.

[ASTAC]

Actually, our environmental wackos are keeping us from using ours.

[nirvana]

I heard that I was supposed to blame tree hugging hippies for not allowing us to build more refineries, then again Rip's idea makes sense:)

If anything comes out of this conversation, we need to find a scapegoat, and thus I start by saying NOT IT!


On the other side of things, where in the fudge is this oil here in Colorado?  I've never heard of such things, however we have some prime radioactive material at Rocky Flats if you can sneak in.

[Habu]

Originally posted by Mickey1992
Unrelated to topic but related to oil.

What happens to the void that is created when all of this oil is drawn out of the ground?  It is filled with water naturally or by man?  It is just a hole in the earth?  If so are there ever cave-ins?  

Or is it so deep under the surface that it doesn't matter?

Oil is held in resevoir rocks like sandstone or limestone.

Picture a bucket full of sand. Pour water into the bucket until it is full to the top. Now stick a straw down to the bottom of the bucket and start to pump the water out. When all the water is gone does the sand collaspe? No of course not. That is how an oil reservor works.

Except oil floats on water so they extract from the top of the reservoir zone usually and the water underneith the oil rises up as the oil is taken out. There is never any type of void or cave left in the earth.

Yes there always water under the oil. That is why to find oil you not only have to find layers of sandstone or limestone to drill into, you also need some sort of trap (like a concave shape in the layer) to trap the oil. Otherwise the oil keeps floating up on the water below and eventually migrates to the surface or a trap.

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by Godzilla
no, it was oil.


I'd bet we have plenty of oil though, we're just going to buy everyone elses while we can.

That would be the smart move

[DREDIOCK]

Originally posted by Ripsnort
I read that Canada has the worlds 2nd largest oil fields untapped in the world. Lets invade Canada!

All in due time

[Nash]

Here in Alberta alone, there's enough oil to meet the current world consumption for over a century. I'm not worried about it. And no, Toad, it doesn't take 30 bucks a barrel to produce. It's half that. Even if it were $30, it'd still be profitable.

[Holden McGroin]

Originally posted by Nash
Here in Alberta alone, there's enough oil to meet the current world consumption for over a century.

The US has by some accounts 500 to 1000 years of energy in the form of coal.  some 25% of world coal reserves.  A few years ago, the FT method is estimated to be profitable at to $45 per bbl.

38 states has significant coal reserves. there is a FT pilot project in the Powder River basin (WY) which refined 28,000 bbl of diesel last year.

Sasol in South Africa uses the FT method in that counrty, and Sasol and American Companies have built pilot plants in China.  China also has huge coal reserves.

[Toad]

Originally posted by Nash
And no, Toad, it doesn't take 30 bucks a barrel to produce. It's half that. Even if it were $30, it'd still be profitable.

What several articles say is that the Alberta tar sand operation is profitable when oil prices are at or above $30 per barrel, a figure that "rises along with the price of the natural gas used in the extraction and upgrading process."

In any event, it's obvious that there's a BUNCH of it and it's now worth producing despite the difficulties.

[Torque]

they are now investing some 10 billion dollars into the sand fields, i've always said i rather have alberta produce alot more oil if it keeps american foreign policy from meddling in the middle-east.

even if it cost a buck or two more at the pumps, in the long run it's cheaper and young americans don't have to needlessly sacrifice their lives for corporate interests in a desert somewhere.

[Toad]

You'll really be pissed when we have our Israeli drones attack Iran then.

Plans for the military takeover of the Canadian oilfields had to be put on hold because of the hurricanes.

After that though, it'll be straight world domination, small countries first.

Once that's done, we'll be able to run Dr. Evil openly as the Republican Presidential candidate. No more hiding in the secret underground headquarters near the shark tank.

[mora]

Originally posted by Toad
~200 billion tons of coal in Wyoming & Montana @ 1.5 barrels diesel per ton = 300 billion barrels of diesel.

How many barrels does it take to even mine the ton of coal and convert it? Doesn't sound too efficient on the long run.