Petroleum age is just beginning

charrison

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
17,033
1
81
linkage

The best news is that the age of petroleum has only just begun. For more than 80 years, geological estimates of the world's endowment of oil have risen faster than humanity can pump it out of the ground. In 1920, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the total amount of oil remaining in the world amounted to only 20 billion barrels. By the year 2000, the estimate had grown to 3,000 billion barrels.
Geologists are continually forced to revise their estimates upward, because every year technological advances make it possible to draw upon petroleum resources whose extraction were once unthinkable. We can now drill wells up to 30,000 feet deep. The amount of oil that can be recovered from a single well has been enhanced by a technology that allows multiple horizontal shafts to be branched off from one vertical borehole. The ability to drill offshore in water depths of up to 9,000 feet has opened up the vast petroleum resources of the world's submerged continental margins.
The world also contains immense amounts of unconventional oil resources that we have not yet begun to tap. For example, tar sands found in Canada and South America contain 600 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply the U.S. with 84 years of oil at the current consumption rate. Worldwide, the amount of oil that can be extracted from oil shales could be as large as 14,000 billion barrels ? enough to supply the world for 500 years
 

Tab

Lifer
Sep 15, 2002
12,145
0
71
Worldwide, the amount of oil that can be extracted from oil shales could be as large as 14,000 billion barrels ? enough to supply the world for 500 years

Whoa really? I kinda wish that wasnt true, hollywood looks ugly with that skyline.
 

dexvx

Diamond Member
Feb 2, 2000
3,899
0
0
Originally posted by: Tabb
Worldwide, the amount of oil that can be extracted from oil shales could be as large as 14,000 billion barrels ? enough to supply the world for 500 years

Whoa really? I kinda wish that wasnt true, hollywood looks ugly with that skyline.

Its been a long known fact that the vast majority of the reserves were in the shales. Unforuntately, with today's technology it is not ecnomically feasible to extract them.
 

freegeeks

Diamond Member
May 7, 2001
5,460
1
81
Originally posted by: charrison
linkage

The best news is that the age of petroleum has only just begun. For more than 80 years, geological estimates of the world's endowment of oil have risen faster than humanity can pump it out of the ground. In 1920, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the total amount of oil remaining in the world amounted to only 20 billion barrels. By the year 2000, the estimate had grown to 3,000 billion barrels.
Geologists are continually forced to revise their estimates upward, because every year technological advances make it possible to draw upon petroleum resources whose extraction were once unthinkable. We can now drill wells up to 30,000 feet deep. The amount of oil that can be recovered from a single well has been enhanced by a technology that allows multiple horizontal shafts to be branched off from one vertical borehole. The ability to drill offshore in water depths of up to 9,000 feet has opened up the vast petroleum resources of the world's submerged continental margins.
The world also contains immense amounts of unconventional oil resources that we have not yet begun to tap. For example, tar sands found in Canada and South America contain 600 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply the U.S. with 84 years of oil at the current consumption rate. Worldwide, the amount of oil that can be extracted from oil shales could be as large as 14,000 billion barrels ? enough to supply the world for 500 years

drilling for oil on these depths is not cheap.
I hope there is a breakthrough in nuclear fusion in the next 20 years.
Combined with hydrogen / fuel cells technology we don't need oil anymore
 

charrison

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
17,033
1
81
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: charrison
linkage

The best news is that the age of petroleum has only just begun. For more than 80 years, geological estimates of the world's endowment of oil have risen faster than humanity can pump it out of the ground. In 1920, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the total amount of oil remaining in the world amounted to only 20 billion barrels. By the year 2000, the estimate had grown to 3,000 billion barrels.
Geologists are continually forced to revise their estimates upward, because every year technological advances make it possible to draw upon petroleum resources whose extraction were once unthinkable. We can now drill wells up to 30,000 feet deep. The amount of oil that can be recovered from a single well has been enhanced by a technology that allows multiple horizontal shafts to be branched off from one vertical borehole. The ability to drill offshore in water depths of up to 9,000 feet has opened up the vast petroleum resources of the world's submerged continental margins.
The world also contains immense amounts of unconventional oil resources that we have not yet begun to tap. For example, tar sands found in Canada and South America contain 600 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply the U.S. with 84 years of oil at the current consumption rate. Worldwide, the amount of oil that can be extracted from oil shales could be as large as 14,000 billion barrels ? enough to supply the world for 500 years

drilling for oil on these depths is not cheap.

Extraction cost was not really a topic of this article. The cost of extraction will increase, but the supply is large.
 

freegeeks

Diamond Member
May 7, 2001
5,460
1
81
Originally posted by: charrison
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: charrison
linkage

The best news is that the age of petroleum has only just begun. For more than 80 years, geological estimates of the world's endowment of oil have risen faster than humanity can pump it out of the ground. In 1920, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the total amount of oil remaining in the world amounted to only 20 billion barrels. By the year 2000, the estimate had grown to 3,000 billion barrels.
Geologists are continually forced to revise their estimates upward, because every year technological advances make it possible to draw upon petroleum resources whose extraction were once unthinkable. We can now drill wells up to 30,000 feet deep. The amount of oil that can be recovered from a single well has been enhanced by a technology that allows multiple horizontal shafts to be branched off from one vertical borehole. The ability to drill offshore in water depths of up to 9,000 feet has opened up the vast petroleum resources of the world's submerged continental margins.
The world also contains immense amounts of unconventional oil resources that we have not yet begun to tap. For example, tar sands found in Canada and South America contain 600 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply the U.S. with 84 years of oil at the current consumption rate. Worldwide, the amount of oil that can be extracted from oil shales could be as large as 14,000 billion barrels ? enough to supply the world for 500 years

drilling for oil on these depths is not cheap.

Extraction cost was not really a topic of this article. The cost of extraction will increase, but the supply is large.

it may not be a topic but a lot of these reservoirs are so deep that IMO it's not worth drilling for. It would simply cost too much.
nuclear fusion, renewable energy (sun, wind) hydrogen and fuel cell technology is imo the only way forward

 

charrison

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
17,033
1
81
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: charrison
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: charrison
linkage

The best news is that the age of petroleum has only just begun. For more than 80 years, geological estimates of the world's endowment of oil have risen faster than humanity can pump it out of the ground. In 1920, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the total amount of oil remaining in the world amounted to only 20 billion barrels. By the year 2000, the estimate had grown to 3,000 billion barrels.
Geologists are continually forced to revise their estimates upward, because every year technological advances make it possible to draw upon petroleum resources whose extraction were once unthinkable. We can now drill wells up to 30,000 feet deep. The amount of oil that can be recovered from a single well has been enhanced by a technology that allows multiple horizontal shafts to be branched off from one vertical borehole. The ability to drill offshore in water depths of up to 9,000 feet has opened up the vast petroleum resources of the world's submerged continental margins.
The world also contains immense amounts of unconventional oil resources that we have not yet begun to tap. For example, tar sands found in Canada and South America contain 600 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply the U.S. with 84 years of oil at the current consumption rate. Worldwide, the amount of oil that can be extracted from oil shales could be as large as 14,000 billion barrels ? enough to supply the world for 500 years

drilling for oil on these depths is not cheap.

Extraction cost was not really a topic of this article. The cost of extraction will increase, but the supply is large.

it may not be a topic but a lot of these reservoirs are so deep that IMO it's not worth drilling for. It would simply cost too much.
nuclear fusion, renewable energy (sun, wind) hydrogen and fuel cell technology is imo the only way forward


It depends. Extraction cost of shale and tar sands is getting cheaper as well. It will remain an option for quite a while. As extraction costs get more expensive, alternatives will become more attractive as well.
 

CaptnKirk

Lifer
Jul 25, 2002
10,053
0
71
You get what you pay for. As the easy accessable petroleum reserves are exhausted,
and we have to go deeper and advance technology the costs will elevate.
500 years from now the consumption rate may make those cost prohibitive to us Oil Shales
a bargain to their society, or - the source of energy may shift to where they are a minor
player. However - petrochemicals are more that gas and oil, fuel and lubricants.

Chemical synthesis of petroleums provide food additives, sweeteners, as well
as goods that go into clothing fabrics and tires. Who knows what our ancestors
will use it for in 500 years - they probably won't have any trees for them to swing back up into.
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,085
5,618
126
500 years or not, it's time to get off the oil. Oil is too important for burning, especially in SUV's.

Not to mention the crap we're putting into the air, Global Climate change, and health concerns.
 

freegeeks

Diamond Member
May 7, 2001
5,460
1
81
Originally posted by: charrison
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: charrison
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: charrison
linkage

The best news is that the age of petroleum has only just begun. For more than 80 years, geological estimates of the world's endowment of oil have risen faster than humanity can pump it out of the ground. In 1920, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the total amount of oil remaining in the world amounted to only 20 billion barrels. By the year 2000, the estimate had grown to 3,000 billion barrels.
Geologists are continually forced to revise their estimates upward, because every year technological advances make it possible to draw upon petroleum resources whose extraction were once unthinkable. We can now drill wells up to 30,000 feet deep. The amount of oil that can be recovered from a single well has been enhanced by a technology that allows multiple horizontal shafts to be branched off from one vertical borehole. The ability to drill offshore in water depths of up to 9,000 feet has opened up the vast petroleum resources of the world's submerged continental margins.
The world also contains immense amounts of unconventional oil resources that we have not yet begun to tap. For example, tar sands found in Canada and South America contain 600 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply the U.S. with 84 years of oil at the current consumption rate. Worldwide, the amount of oil that can be extracted from oil shales could be as large as 14,000 billion barrels ? enough to supply the world for 500 years

drilling for oil on these depths is not cheap.

Extraction cost was not really a topic of this article. The cost of extraction will increase, but the supply is large.

it may not be a topic but a lot of these reservoirs are so deep that IMO it's not worth drilling for. It would simply cost too much.
nuclear fusion, renewable energy (sun, wind) hydrogen and fuel cell technology is imo the only way forward


It depends. Extraction cost of shale and tar sands is getting cheaper as well. It will remain an option for quite a while. As extraction costs get more expensive, alternatives will become more attractive as well.

I agree,

At least we will have oil for the next 100-200 year or so.

 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
19
81
500 years is easy.. Some estimates are just SA alone cold give that. The "empty quarter" of SA is largly unexplored because extraction in sand is expensive and difficult. Superduties for everyone:) Now If we could just break the back of OPEC and disolve the oligarchs OIL will become very very cheap. One side of me would like cleaner air so i like these price constraints but the other says OIL is so cheap and plentiful alternatives are immpossible unless people tire of stinky air.
 

DealMonkey

Lifer
Nov 25, 2001
13,136
1
0
This sounds like one of those "The More You Know..." PSAs:

"Yet the men and women who make our civilization possible are too often treated as pariahs who are damaging the environment. This is a shame. The environmental impacts of petroleum exploration and production are virtually negligible in comparison to the benefits they provide."

They neglect to mention that BURNING the oil has a slightly larger than negligible effect on the environment.

So I guess the point was: We have plenty of oil, so let's keep burnin' it?
 

shiner

Lifer
Jul 18, 2000
17,116
1
0
Originally posted by: sandorski
500 years or not, it's time to get off the oil. Oil is too important for burning, especially in SUV's.

Not to mention the crap we're putting into the air, Global Climate change, and health concerns.
Know what I'm gonna do? I'm gonna get myself a 1967 Cadillac El Dorado
Convertible, hot pink, with whaleskin hubcaps and all-leather cow
interior and big brown baby seal eyes for headlights... yeah! And I'm
gonna drive around in that baby at 115 miles per hour, getting 1 mile
per gallon, suckin' down quarter pound cheeseburgers from McDonald's
in the old-fashioned non-biodegradable styrofoam containers and when
I'm done suckin' down those greaseball burgers I'm gonna wipe my mouth
on the American Flag and then I'm gonna toss the styrofoam containers
right out the side, and there ain't a goddamn thing anybody can
do about it. You know why? Because we got the bombs, that's why Two
words: Nuclear fvckin' weapons, OK? Russia, Germany, Romania, they
can have all the democracy they want...they can have a big democracy
cakewalk right through the middle of Tienamen Square and it won't make
a lick of difference, because we got the bombs, OK? John Wayne's not
dead, he's frozen! And as soon as we find a cure for cancer, we're
gonna thaw out the Duke and he's gonna be pretty pissed off. You know
why? Have you ever taken a cold shower? Well, multiply that by 15
million times, that's how pissed off the Duke's gonna be.


 

TheBDB

Diamond Member
Jan 26, 2002
3,176
0
0
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: charrison
linkage

The best news is that the age of petroleum has only just begun. For more than 80 years, geological estimates of the world's endowment of oil have risen faster than humanity can pump it out of the ground. In 1920, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the total amount of oil remaining in the world amounted to only 20 billion barrels. By the year 2000, the estimate had grown to 3,000 billion barrels.
Geologists are continually forced to revise their estimates upward, because every year technological advances make it possible to draw upon petroleum resources whose extraction were once unthinkable. We can now drill wells up to 30,000 feet deep. The amount of oil that can be recovered from a single well has been enhanced by a technology that allows multiple horizontal shafts to be branched off from one vertical borehole. The ability to drill offshore in water depths of up to 9,000 feet has opened up the vast petroleum resources of the world's submerged continental margins.
The world also contains immense amounts of unconventional oil resources that we have not yet begun to tap. For example, tar sands found in Canada and South America contain 600 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply the U.S. with 84 years of oil at the current consumption rate. Worldwide, the amount of oil that can be extracted from oil shales could be as large as 14,000 billion barrels ? enough to supply the world for 500 years

drilling for oil on these depths is not cheap.
I hope there is a breakthrough in nuclear fusion in the next 20 years.
Combined with hydrogen / fuel cells technology we don't need oil anymore

Oil is used for a lot more than energy. It will still be needed for lubricants and plastics and other things.
 

freegeeks

Diamond Member
May 7, 2001
5,460
1
81
Originally posted by: TheBDB
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: charrison
linkage

The best news is that the age of petroleum has only just begun. For more than 80 years, geological estimates of the world's endowment of oil have risen faster than humanity can pump it out of the ground. In 1920, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the total amount of oil remaining in the world amounted to only 20 billion barrels. By the year 2000, the estimate had grown to 3,000 billion barrels.
Geologists are continually forced to revise their estimates upward, because every year technological advances make it possible to draw upon petroleum resources whose extraction were once unthinkable. We can now drill wells up to 30,000 feet deep. The amount of oil that can be recovered from a single well has been enhanced by a technology that allows multiple horizontal shafts to be branched off from one vertical borehole. The ability to drill offshore in water depths of up to 9,000 feet has opened up the vast petroleum resources of the world's submerged continental margins.
The world also contains immense amounts of unconventional oil resources that we have not yet begun to tap. For example, tar sands found in Canada and South America contain 600 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply the U.S. with 84 years of oil at the current consumption rate. Worldwide, the amount of oil that can be extracted from oil shales could be as large as 14,000 billion barrels ? enough to supply the world for 500 years

drilling for oil on these depths is not cheap.
I hope there is a breakthrough in nuclear fusion in the next 20 years.
Combined with hydrogen / fuel cells technology we don't need oil anymore

Oil is used for a lot more than energy. It will still be needed for lubricants and plastics and other things.

I know but for a lot of these things you have alternatives, you can recycle plastics etc...

 

Tab

Lifer
Sep 15, 2002
12,145
0
71
Heh I want get a SUV with oversized tires with the liscense plate "GASGUZLR". The chrome hubcaps will have flashing red white and blue leds and will spin backwords even with the car starts moving. The back window will have a gun rack with all american M16s. The car's paint scheme will have american flag :p

That would be fun to drive around wouldnt it :p
 

Zebo

Elite Member
Jul 29, 2001
39,398
19
81
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: TheBDB
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: charrison
linkage

The best news is that the age of petroleum has only just begun. For more than 80 years, geological estimates of the world's endowment of oil have risen faster than humanity can pump it out of the ground. In 1920, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the total amount of oil remaining in the world amounted to only 20 billion barrels. By the year 2000, the estimate had grown to 3,000 billion barrels.
Geologists are continually forced to revise their estimates upward, because every year technological advances make it possible to draw upon petroleum resources whose extraction were once unthinkable. We can now drill wells up to 30,000 feet deep. The amount of oil that can be recovered from a single well has been enhanced by a technology that allows multiple horizontal shafts to be branched off from one vertical borehole. The ability to drill offshore in water depths of up to 9,000 feet has opened up the vast petroleum resources of the world's submerged continental margins.
The world also contains immense amounts of unconventional oil resources that we have not yet begun to tap. For example, tar sands found in Canada and South America contain 600 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply the U.S. with 84 years of oil at the current consumption rate. Worldwide, the amount of oil that can be extracted from oil shales could be as large as 14,000 billion barrels ? enough to supply the world for 500 years

drilling for oil on these depths is not cheap.
I hope there is a breakthrough in nuclear fusion in the next 20 years.
Combined with hydrogen / fuel cells technology we don't need oil anymore

Oil is used for a lot more than energy. It will still be needed for lubricants and plastics and other things.

I know but for a lot of these things you have alternatives, you can recycle plastics etc...

There are no alternatives to alkene and alkyne -mer plastics without spend an inordiante amount of energy and chemicals to "recycle" them. OIL at Cost of porduction of around $3-4 a barrel is simply to good to pass up.
 

freegeeks

Diamond Member
May 7, 2001
5,460
1
81
Originally posted by: Zebo
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: TheBDB
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: charrison
linkage

The best news is that the age of petroleum has only just begun. For more than 80 years, geological estimates of the world's endowment of oil have risen faster than humanity can pump it out of the ground. In 1920, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the total amount of oil remaining in the world amounted to only 20 billion barrels. By the year 2000, the estimate had grown to 3,000 billion barrels.
Geologists are continually forced to revise their estimates upward, because every year technological advances make it possible to draw upon petroleum resources whose extraction were once unthinkable. We can now drill wells up to 30,000 feet deep. The amount of oil that can be recovered from a single well has been enhanced by a technology that allows multiple horizontal shafts to be branched off from one vertical borehole. The ability to drill offshore in water depths of up to 9,000 feet has opened up the vast petroleum resources of the world's submerged continental margins.
The world also contains immense amounts of unconventional oil resources that we have not yet begun to tap. For example, tar sands found in Canada and South America contain 600 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply the U.S. with 84 years of oil at the current consumption rate. Worldwide, the amount of oil that can be extracted from oil shales could be as large as 14,000 billion barrels ? enough to supply the world for 500 years

drilling for oil on these depths is not cheap.
I hope there is a breakthrough in nuclear fusion in the next 20 years.
Combined with hydrogen / fuel cells technology we don't need oil anymore

Oil is used for a lot more than energy. It will still be needed for lubricants and plastics and other things.

I know but for a lot of these things you have alternatives, you can recycle plastics etc...

There are no alternatives to alkene and alkyne -mer plastics without spend an inordiante amount of energy and chemicals to "recycle" them. OIL at Cost of porduction of around $3-4 a barrel is simply to good to pass up.

that's just the point. In 70 years when we have to drill 40.000 feet for oil you can say bye bye to your 3$ barrel.
enjoy it while it lasts
we can only hope that in 50 years science has progressed so much that we will have alternatives for some plastics
 

charrison

Lifer
Oct 13, 1999
17,033
1
81
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: Zebo
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: TheBDB
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: charrison
linkage

The best news is that the age of petroleum has only just begun. For more than 80 years, geological estimates of the world's endowment of oil have risen faster than humanity can pump it out of the ground. In 1920, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the total amount of oil remaining in the world amounted to only 20 billion barrels. By the year 2000, the estimate had grown to 3,000 billion barrels.
Geologists are continually forced to revise their estimates upward, because every year technological advances make it possible to draw upon petroleum resources whose extraction were once unthinkable. We can now drill wells up to 30,000 feet deep. The amount of oil that can be recovered from a single well has been enhanced by a technology that allows multiple horizontal shafts to be branched off from one vertical borehole. The ability to drill offshore in water depths of up to 9,000 feet has opened up the vast petroleum resources of the world's submerged continental margins.
The world also contains immense amounts of unconventional oil resources that we have not yet begun to tap. For example, tar sands found in Canada and South America contain 600 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply the U.S. with 84 years of oil at the current consumption rate. Worldwide, the amount of oil that can be extracted from oil shales could be as large as 14,000 billion barrels ? enough to supply the world for 500 years

drilling for oil on these depths is not cheap.
I hope there is a breakthrough in nuclear fusion in the next 20 years.
Combined with hydrogen / fuel cells technology we don't need oil anymore

Oil is used for a lot more than energy. It will still be needed for lubricants and plastics and other things.

I know but for a lot of these things you have alternatives, you can recycle plastics etc...

There are no alternatives to alkene and alkyne -mer plastics without spend an inordiante amount of energy and chemicals to "recycle" them. OIL at Cost of porduction of around $3-4 a barrel is simply to good to pass up.

that's just the point. In 70 years when we have too drill 40.000 feet for oil you can say bye bye to your 3$ barrel.
enjoy it while it lasts

And in 70 years MR fusion just might exist(I wont count on it however).

 

freegeeks

Diamond Member
May 7, 2001
5,460
1
81
Originally posted by: charrison
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: Zebo
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: TheBDB
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: charrison
linkage

The best news is that the age of petroleum has only just begun. For more than 80 years, geological estimates of the world's endowment of oil have risen faster than humanity can pump it out of the ground. In 1920, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the total amount of oil remaining in the world amounted to only 20 billion barrels. By the year 2000, the estimate had grown to 3,000 billion barrels.
Geologists are continually forced to revise their estimates upward, because every year technological advances make it possible to draw upon petroleum resources whose extraction were once unthinkable. We can now drill wells up to 30,000 feet deep. The amount of oil that can be recovered from a single well has been enhanced by a technology that allows multiple horizontal shafts to be branched off from one vertical borehole. The ability to drill offshore in water depths of up to 9,000 feet has opened up the vast petroleum resources of the world's submerged continental margins.
The world also contains immense amounts of unconventional oil resources that we have not yet begun to tap. For example, tar sands found in Canada and South America contain 600 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply the U.S. with 84 years of oil at the current consumption rate. Worldwide, the amount of oil that can be extracted from oil shales could be as large as 14,000 billion barrels ? enough to supply the world for 500 years

drilling for oil on these depths is not cheap.
I hope there is a breakthrough in nuclear fusion in the next 20 years.
Combined with hydrogen / fuel cells technology we don't need oil anymore

Oil is used for a lot more than energy. It will still be needed for lubricants and plastics and other things.

I know but for a lot of these things you have alternatives, you can recycle plastics etc...

There are no alternatives to alkene and alkyne -mer plastics without spend an inordiante amount of energy and chemicals to "recycle" them. OIL at Cost of porduction of around $3-4 a barrel is simply to good to pass up.

that's just the point. In 70 years when we have too drill 40.000 feet for oil you can say bye bye to your 3$ barrel.
enjoy it while it lasts

And in 70 years MR fusion just might exist(I wont count on it however).

I'm positive about it. A lot of progress has been made in the last 20 years in the USA, Europe and Japan.
 

Tab

Lifer
Sep 15, 2002
12,145
0
71
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: Zebo
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: TheBDB
Originally posted by: freegeeks
Originally posted by: charrison
linkage

The best news is that the age of petroleum has only just begun. For more than 80 years, geological estimates of the world's endowment of oil have risen faster than humanity can pump it out of the ground. In 1920, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the total amount of oil remaining in the world amounted to only 20 billion barrels. By the year 2000, the estimate had grown to 3,000 billion barrels.
Geologists are continually forced to revise their estimates upward, because every year technological advances make it possible to draw upon petroleum resources whose extraction were once unthinkable. We can now drill wells up to 30,000 feet deep. The amount of oil that can be recovered from a single well has been enhanced by a technology that allows multiple horizontal shafts to be branched off from one vertical borehole. The ability to drill offshore in water depths of up to 9,000 feet has opened up the vast petroleum resources of the world's submerged continental margins.
The world also contains immense amounts of unconventional oil resources that we have not yet begun to tap. For example, tar sands found in Canada and South America contain 600 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply the U.S. with 84 years of oil at the current consumption rate. Worldwide, the amount of oil that can be extracted from oil shales could be as large as 14,000 billion barrels ? enough to supply the world for 500 years

drilling for oil on these depths is not cheap.
I hope there is a breakthrough in nuclear fusion in the next 20 years.
Combined with hydrogen / fuel cells technology we don't need oil anymore

Oil is used for a lot more than energy. It will still be needed for lubricants and plastics and other things.

I know but for a lot of these things you have alternatives, you can recycle plastics etc...

There are no alternatives to alkene and alkyne -mer plastics without spend an inordiante amount of energy and chemicals to "recycle" them. OIL at Cost of porduction of around $3-4 a barrel is simply to good to pass up.

that's just the point. In 70 years when we have to drill 40.000 feet for oil you can say bye bye to your 3$ barrel.
enjoy it while it lasts
we can only hope that in 50 years science has progressed so much that we will have alternatives for some plastics

In 70 years new oil drilling methods will be devloped therefore reducing the cost of drilling that deep.
 

Jmman

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 1999
5,302
0
76
I originally posted the same statistics quoted by the OP several months ago here on this forum when we were having this same discussion. Our oil resverves are huge, and yes, the processes for extracting oil from shale etc are getting cheaper day by day. The studies I have seen show that the price of oil is expected to remain steady for the forseeable future (100's of years). I wouldn't throw away the SUV yet, even though the left-wing environmental wackos would have you believe otherwise.....
 

daniel1113

Diamond Member
Jun 6, 2003
6,448
0
0
Originally posted by: sandorski
500 years or not, it's time to get off the oil. Oil is too important for burning, especially in SUV's.

Not to mention the crap we're putting into the air, Global Climate change, and health concerns.

Global warming is a myth. People are in better health now then they have ever been. Pollution is a problem, but not to the extent that some make it out to be, and it is improving as we speak (or type). As far as I'm concerned, oil is not too important for an SUV. In fact, I think I am going to go buy an Excursion to drive myself around town... alone.
 

sandorski

No Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
70,085
5,618
126
Originally posted by: daniel1113
Originally posted by: sandorski
500 years or not, it's time to get off the oil. Oil is too important for burning, especially in SUV's.

Not to mention the crap we're putting into the air, Global Climate change, and health concerns.

Global warming is a myth. People are in better health now then they have ever been. Pollution is a problem, but not to the extent that some make it out to be, and it is improving as we speak (or type). As far as I'm concerned, oil is not too important for an SUV. In fact, I think I am going to go buy an Excursion to drive myself around town... alone.

A myth? Believe what you must, I'll accept that scientiss know what they're talking about.
 

Jmman

Diamond Member
Dec 17, 1999
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OK, so you don't to believe the 15,000 scientists who signed the petition against global warming?........petition


Or how about the Harvard scientists who reported that the Earth went through a period much hotter than today in the middle ages......Harvard