[evilgenius]

I was just reading another thread that talked about speculators holding oil offshore in tankers until the price goes up. it struck me that there are several different methods for upgrading heavy crude. One method is to reduce carbon, another is to add hydrogen, and so on. Does anybody know if any of these methods prodoces a sythcrude that comes with a shelf life? If so which methods? What is the shelf life?

It would be just horrible if greedy speculators had to lose money because they had held on for so long that the crude in their tankers had separated into its constituent components or otherwise chemically reacted to become a more difficult to refine substance.

[evilgenius]

I can't believe no one here knows the answer to this. I would like to know the answer because it has direct bearing on potential investment, as if I had much to invest, in various upgraders in response to post peak sweet crude. I should think someone like Threadbare would want to know the answer because it would have direct bearing on whether speculators and/or big oil could practically manipulate the oil markets or if shelf life problems would cause them to sell before the fruition of their plans. Monte might like to consider if shelf life substances might be mixed in the SPR. Mr. Bill might like to consider if near shelf life product necessarily appears in a secondary market or still makes the primary outlets.

At any rate most of you passed over this and it went away, no longer popping up in posts since last visit. I'm sticking my neck out and hoping you aren't offended that I'm bringing it back up. I'll leave it alone if there isn't any response this time.

Thanks

[Bas]

I don't think oil can go bad. Also I think it's unprofitable to hold crude in tankers waiting for oil to become more expensive, maybe when oil reaches a 500$ within a year; Still nobody would do that even in that case because it's more profitable to trade in oil-futures; you get the same returns without having to pay the costs of holding the physical stuff yourself.

[Gerben]

Oil will not go bad in oil tankers. It's not degradable. It's already millions of years old. It might go bad in open air (direct sunlight, exposure to air (oxigen), evaporation of lighter fraction).

[evilgenius]

I asked the question because I wondered if upgraded crude of any kind could be chemically like gasoline, in that gasoline does have a shelf life. Now the shelf life of gasoline is several months to a year. Upgraded crude could be anything. It could be several years.

I supposed that the null would apply here, that upgrading alone would not cause crude to change enough to have a shelf life. If it does, however, it would have ramifications for any situation (SPR) where oil is held for long periods of time.

Thanks for the input, Bas and Gerben.