[UIUCstudent01]

It looks absolutely delicious...

So, do they have to transfer this heat to PUMP it?

Because, you know, heat is energy. And they're getting that energy from somewhere...

[Specop_007]

Damn, THATS considered crude oil??

[seldom_seen]

Ahh, the proverbial moment where the pothead is completely out of good reefer and starts scraping the resins ouf of his pipe to keep the high going.

Next phase of course is the withdrawal symptoms.

[Dreamtwister]

I wonder how much of this is sitting in SPR's around the world...padding numbers...instilling confidence...

The fact that anyone is drilling this AT ALL is telling.

[smallpoxgirl]

Wow. That's some nasty stuff. It'd be good to grease your wheel bearings with, but I sure wouldn't want to burn it in the engine. How on earth do they get it out of the ground?

[eric_b]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('seldom_seen', 'A')hh, the proverbial moment where the pothead is completely out of good reefer and starts scraping the resins ouf of his pipe to keep the high going.

Next phase of course is the withdrawal symptoms.

[oilpimp]

Hey everyone (this is my first post, so bear with me)...we install electric pumps deep inside the well to suck the oil out of the ground. This stuff can't flow to surface on it's own. In other words, no electricy offshore = no oil from well. Also, all oil companies have economic thresholds or limits where it's no longer "economic" to produce the well anymore. For us here, that's about 100bbls/day. At that point, it's more expensive to get it out of the ground than it is to sell the stuff so you simply shut the well in and stop production. If you look closely at that number though, you see that most of the cost comes from powering the pumps, manning the platforms (energy), refining the crude, disposing of water (oh yes, these wells have water cuts nearly 75% of total fluid produced...I'm talking hundreds of thousands of barrels of water per day per field), abandoning the well at the end of it's life, etc. "Expensive" translates into energy required. Plain and simple. One thing to note, the vast majority of Venezuela's oil consists of this kinda gunk.

[Specop_007]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('smallpoxgirl', 'W')ow. That's some nasty stuff. It'd be good to grease your wheel bearings with, but I sure wouldn't want to burn it in the engine. How on earth do they get it out of the ground?

[seahorse]

Hey oilpimp,

We always appreciate what people in the industry have to say and what you can share with us. So:

(1) What's your guess as to when world oil production will peak?

(2) Have you read Twighlight in the Desert by Mathew Simmons? If so, what is your take on it?

(3) What is your area of expertise?

[PenultimateManStanding]

So it's thick, it does flow if you heat it up. So heat it up and flow it through a refinery and crack the crap out of it: presto gasoline! If there are hundreds of billions of barrels of this crud then we gotta do what we gotta do it seems to me. Of course, it probably means building new refineries to handle the stuff. (just one question: is there more or less energy in a barrel of this stuff than in the lighter crude?)

[smallpoxgirl]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('PenultimateManStanding', ' ')(just one question: is there more or less energy in a barrel of this stuff than in the lighter crude?)

[Ludi]

More expensive oil! I'm sure there's plenty of EXPENSIVE oil!

[Specop_007]

Is it just me or does it look like theres snow on the ground in the picture?

[Dreamtwister]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Specop_007', 'I')s it just me or does it look like theres snow on the ground in the picture?

[Specop_007]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Dreamtwister', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Specop_007', 'I')s it just me or does it look like theres snow on the ground in the picture?

[Specop_007]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Shannymara', '1')0 Celsius is 50 degrees F. He said that was the surface temperature, not sure if that meant the ground or the air. I'm a meteorologist so if I said it it would mean air temperature, but he's not so I don't know. The snow looks very wet and slushy, so I'm sure it's above freezing in any case.

[oilpimp]

-yes, that's melting snow on the rig floor. Bohai Bay gets cold but it's a good bit above freezing when this pic was taken.
-however, it's still 13deg API crude. Heavy oil. It would act this way if it were 50degF or 75degF outside. Oozier of course the warmer it gets, but that's not really the point.
-we'd just pulled that out of the ground (where it's nice and warm).
-since the bottom hole temperatures are 60degC (145degF), this stuff can flow, it just needs help from the pumps to get it out of the ground.

-I think the point of shannymara's post wasn't so much to discuss the characteristics of viscous heavy oil at various temperatures (that's not my intent either), I think it was to illustrate that heavy oil is nasty. After all, pictures are cool.

To answer Seahorse's questions.
-I believe conventional oil is peaking.
-yes, I've read "Twilight..." Isn't that required reading for this site?
-I'll give you my area of expertise in the context of oil/gas (even though that's only a sliver of everything else I do). I am and have been an engineer in the oil biz for a number of years speciallizing in drilling/completions(well construction) and production engineering (what happens once they're online with regard to flow rates, declines, etc). I focus on the downhole. I worked for a major for a while and now an independent having experience in US onshore, offshore, deepwater and international (heavy oil).

[seahorse]

Oilpimp,

Thanks for taking the time to answer questions. I hope you don't mind a few more. I'm sure everyone here will appreciate your view on many, many things. I would also like to know you view about Saudi Arabia. I find it interesting you have read his book. If you aren't aware, there is a book review section on this site where "Twighlight in the Desert" was hotly debated. As you can tell from the book, Mathew Simmons of course, is fairly pessimistic about SA and believes they are or are very near peaking. On the other hand, there are many who believe Simmons is an investment banker that doesn't know what the hell he's talking about. What is your take on the book? Is Simmons completely ignorant or are his points fair to make? It seems Simmons pessimistic view is somewhat supported by the recent statements from SA that they are producing at maximum capacity right now (which is 9.4mbpd according to the latest Opec Monthly Report) while also admitting 8%depletion in producing fields (with the confusing statement that could be reduced to 2%).

Do you personally feel SA is at or near peak?

Also, another question, in the depletion forum, I started a thread asking if Opec is at a production peak. Opec production has been at a plateau now since 2004, and in fact, is producing slightly less now than last year. Is it possible Opec as an organization has reached its peak in production? How many years of production data would be needed to determine that Opec or anyone is at production peak?

Thank you for your time and input.

[Specop_007]

I have a question oilpimp.

Can we get some more pics because as you say pics are cool.

[Doly]

I'm starting to wonder what the extra heavy oil that Chavez goes on about looks like.