[Ayoob]

If you tore the top off an oil reservoir, what would you see on top? Would you be looking at a pool of oil, or would you be looking at a layer of sand?

As you make your way down from the top of the reservoir to the middle, are you going through only liquid oil, or are you going down through a rocky sandy sludgy junky mess?

The reason I ask is on another board a guy that supposedly works in an oilfield said that's what it looks like. He used the analogy that it's like packing crushed ice in a cup and then pouring root beer in on top, then poking a straw in to the bottom.

Is that accurate? Are all oil fields this way? It makes sense... it's just that I've never run across this before.

[MonteQuest]

Oil is contained in porous sedimentary rock, as I understand it.

Reservoir Rocks

[Aaron]

Oil is spun from gold & fairy dust deep in the Earth by Abiotic Gnomes from Russia who worship Tesla's frozen head and hijack airplanes.

[MonteQuest]

I stand corrected.

[rockdoc123]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he reason I ask is on another board a guy that supposedly works in an oilfield said that's what it looks like. He used the analogy that it's like packing crushed ice in a cup and then pouring root beer in on top, then poking a straw in to the bottom.

Is that accurate? Are all oil fields this way? It makes sense... it's just that I've never run across this before.

[shakespear1]

Rockdoc has basicly described the mechanism that is of importance here. Pressure. The oil undersground is compressed into the pores spaces so if you tore open the Earth in some controlled way, the gases would first start to come out as they are in solution (in general) and at the same time the oil would expand and start to ooze out creating a bubbling lake. IF THIS WAS DONE SLOWWWLLLLYYYYY. BIG IF. Otherwise the rock would expode because the oil would see a sudden drop in pressure and would expand to a larger volume than the pore space in which it is.

When we take cores out of wells the core is able to see a gradual pressure drop as the core comes up to surface. Then the oil/gas start to come out of the rock and you would see a stained core from intervals where you have oil. Even once on surface the oil may still "bleed" out.

Hope that helps a bit :>)))

[khebab]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ayoob', 'A')s you make your way down from the top of the reservoir to the middle, are you going through only liquid oil, or are you going down through a rocky sandy sludgy junky mess?

[Ayoob]

OK. So the oil, under pressure, is inside the rock in the reservoir. It's not a pool of oil that you could go swimming around in if you could stand the 3500PSI pressure. If you were to poke a stick down in the reservoir it wouldn't go anywhere 'cause it's all rock.

[Kingcoal]

As I understand it, hundreds of millions of years ago there was an inland sea covering Ohio, the shores of which bordered Pittsburgh. Over millions of years, biomass in the form of microbes lived, died and sank to the bottom of these costal areas. This biomass sank into the sands at the bottom and was covered with new sands. Over millions of years, this biomass infused sand sank deeper and deeper and began to come under high pressure. Oil and Gas formed from the biomass. I give a location specific explanation because oil can form in many different kinds of source rock.

Wells in western Pa would often spew out this oil/sand/salt water combination after being "shot."

[rockdoc123]

kingcoal....sort of correct. However the biomass you refer to is largely either bacteria, plant material or amorphous organic matter of some other type that is largely contained in mudstones or coals. Marine mudstones tend to be (not always) made up of type II kerogens which are organics formed mainly from marine planktonic material....type I kerogens are very rick petroleum sources and are most often formed in lacustine (lake) environments whereas coals have mostly type III kerogens or humic matter made up of plant matter. the shale or mudstones or coals are subjected to heat during burial and the kerogens are then converted to hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbon is expelled from the shale, mudstone, coal source bed and finds its way into the sandstone or carbonate reservoir via various migration pathways. In some cases this migration can be very short distance in others up to tens or more kilometers.

[basil_hayden]

Luminescent....

[Ayoob]

I'm going to update this one more time because I don't understand the answers so far. My question is: Could you go swimming in the liquid pool of oil found in the reservoir, or would you bang your head on rock while diving in?

Please, somebody, stick a Yes or a No in here. Or a Yes except when... or a No except when...

Seriously, I don't understand the answers unless you feed me one small spoonful at a time.

[MonteQuest]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ayoob', 'I')'m going to update this one more time because I don't understand the answers so far. My question is: Could you go swimming in the liquid pool of oil found in the reservoir, or would you bang your head on rock while diving in?

Please, somebody, stick a Yes or a No in here. Or a Yes except when... or a No except when...

Seriously, I don't understand the answers unless you feed me one small spoonful at a time.

[khebab]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ayoob', 'C')ould you go swimming in the liquid pool of oil found in the reservoir

[GoIllini]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('rockdoc123', 'k')ingcoal....sort of correct. However the biomass you refer to is largely either bacteria, plant material or amorphous organic matter of some other type that is largely contained in mudstones or coals. Marine mudstones tend to be (not always) made up of type II kerogens which are organics formed mainly from marine planktonic material....type I kerogens are very rick petroleum sources and are most often formed in lacustine (lake) environments whereas coals have mostly type III kerogens or humic matter made up of plant matter. the shale or mudstones or coals are subjected to heat during burial and the kerogens are then converted to hydrocarbons. The hydrocarbon is expelled from the shale, mudstone, coal source bed and finds its way into the sandstone or carbonate reservoir via various migration pathways. In some cases this migration can be very short distance in others up to tens or more kilometers.

[rockdoc123]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')o what I'm hearing is that if we get lots of biomass in a freshwater environment, we usually get coal. If we get it in a saltwater environment, we get oil and natural gas. Is that what you're saying?

[DesertBear2]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ayoob', 'I')f you tore the top off an oil reservoir, what would you see on top? Would you be looking at a pool of oil, or would you be looking at a layer of sand?

[Caoimhan]

The hydrocarbons on Saturn's moon, Titan, are abiotic.

Given that Titan resembles Earth in so many ways, why is it so hard to believe that hydrocarbons can be formed abiotically on Earth?