Are we running out of fossil fuels? - peak oil theory

[Redneck in training]

I would be curious as to what formed that much algae and why it hasn't happened again or why it isn't ongoing today?

Then how that oil gets forced thousands of feet into the core of the planet in some places, and left at the surface in other places. Eddie

I don't have an answer to how oil got forced deep in ground but the process might be similar to a process that put a coral reef on top of the Sandia mountain range. If you happen to come to Albuquerque take the Tramway to the top and look what you are walking on.

 

[dmccarty]

If that where the case then there should be mile thick layers of algae as an ongoing process as well on the ocean floor today as well.

No such thing today but a couple yards of mud and matter.
That pokes a hole in that algae therory does it!

But back to your first point which was that Fossil Fuels is inaccurate terminology. However oil or gas is created I find it hard to believe that crushing stone bones aka fossils really creates oil or gas.

I do hear the planetologists talk about finding hydrocarbons on other moons and planets. Ain't oil formed from hydrocarbons?

Later,
Dan

 

[dmccarty]

:laughing: Just saw this story New drilling method opens vast oil fields in US :: WRAL.com.

Within five years, analysts and executives predict, the newly unlocked fields are expected to produce 1 million to 2 million barrels of oil per day, enough to boost U.S. production 20 percent to 40 percent. The U.S. Energy Information Administration estimates production will grow a more modest 500,000 barrels per day.


By 2020, oil imports could be slashed by as much as 60 percent, according to Credit Suisse's Morse, who is counting on Gulf oil production to rise and on U.S. gasoline demand to fall.

Companies are investing billions of dollars to get at oil deposits scattered across North Dakota, Colorado, Texas and California. By 2015, oil executives and analysts say, the new fields could yield as much as 2 million barrels of oil a day more than the entire Gulf of Mexico produces now.


This new drilling is expected to raise U.S. production by at least 20 percent over the next five years. And within 10 years, it could help reduce oil imports by more than half, advancing a goal that has long eluded policymakers.


"That's a significant contribution to energy security," says Ed Morse, head of commodities research at Credit Suisse.

Obama has banned oil drilling in the gulf and put thousands of people out of work due to the BP mess. A judge said the ban was unlawful and struck down the first ban. The administration came up with more reasons to ban just as unlawful as their first actions and fight continues in the courts.

A good portion of the gulf is off limits to drilling as is the eastern sea board. The geologists think there are huge amounts of oil in those areas.

Later,
Dan

 

[IH3444]

More bad news about reserves.

WikiLeaks cables: Saudi Arabia cannot pump enough oil to keep a lid on prices | Business | The Guardian

This fact has been known for over 20 years. The Saudi kept reestimating their reserves to larger, and larger numbers. Now I guess they need some additional cash, so this fact is "leaked" possibly in hope of driving the cost per barrel up, as America recovers from it's second great depression. Bigger dollar harvesting by the Saudi reapers.

 

[hawkeye08]

:laughing: Just saw this story New drilling method opens vast oil fields in US :: WRAL.com.

This is what is happening now with the oil fields that LBrown59 posted about earlier.

 

[EddieWalker]

I don't have an answer to how oil got forced deep in ground but the process might be similar to a process that put a coral reef on top of the Sandia mountain range. If you happen to come to Albuquerque take the Tramway to the top and look what you are walking on.

I'm at a loss to understand how one relates to another? Mountains that are created by movement and lifting. How does that put oil EVERYWHERE on the planet? From ten thousand feed down, to coming out of the surface, from the equator to the poles?

Eddie

 

[Chuck52]

Eddie,

The point is that the Earth's crust moves. If you mix an egg into cake batter, the egg eventually ends up distributed through the entire mass. If you stop and check the distribution at any given time during the stirring, it may show up as globs just about anywhere.

Chuck

 

[cdaigle430]

Don't worry, we won't run out of oil. I believe that we are being raised by carnivor aliens who are providing us with everything we need. Once we get to a population barely sustainable by earth, say, 20 billion people, they will come back to collect us.:licking:

 

[EddieWalker]

Eddie,

The point is that the Earth's crust moves. If you mix an egg into cake batter, the egg eventually ends up distributed through the entire mass. If you stop and check the distribution at any given time during the stirring, it may show up as globs just about anywhere.

Chuck

Exactly. The crust moves. To say that the oil in Alberta came from the ocean means that it was carried on a plate that was thousands of feet below the ocean floor. Just like the oil that's being drilled from the Gulf or off the coast of Great Brittain. What about the oil that's in Siberia? Was that carried by the horizontal movement of the plates after it was formed by miles of algae at the bottom of the oceans? Did it get foreced thousands of feet below the floor of the ocean, compressed and converted into oil, then worked it way up and over to Siberia?

I have my doubts that anybody has a clue on what creates oil, or how it got there. Lots of theories, but none that make any sense on a consistant level.

Eddie

 

[Chuck52]

Eddie,

Oil is found in the crust. If one drilled into the very hot mantle and struck oil the result would be "interesting". BTW, did someone in an earlier post mention carbon free crude? As crude is a complex mixture mainly of hydrocarbons, with various other organic (carbon containing) and some inorganic components, carbon free crude oil is not crude oil.

Inside the Earth [This Dynamic Earth, USGS]

Chuck