Peak Oil is You
Donate Bitcoins ;-) or Paypal :-)
Page added on May 16, 2012
Technology can unlock new fields, curb fears of peak oil
Technology advancements in the energy sector can boost oil and gas production, improve safety and curb fears that fossil fuels are rapidly running out, a Chevron official said today.
During the opening session of a Houston energy conference this morning, Jay Pryor, Chevron’s vice president for business development, touted a number of technology advancements that have improved the efficiency and safety of fossil fuel production, including enhanced oil recovery, 3D seismic imaging, horizontal wells, and hydraulic fracturing.
“Because of technology, we are producing in places once just dreamed of,” Pryor said, at the 10th annual KPMG Global Energy Conference. “In lifting those reserves, we’ve raised doubts about the eminence of peak oil.”
The conference, hosted by consulting firm KPMG, is being held today and tomorrow at the InterContinental Hotel.
Technology has allowed the industry to cut the cost of production, increase the volume of fossil fuels captured, reduce environmental impacts and reach previously inaccessible deposits of oil and natural gas.
Global reserves of oil and natural gas have grown 130 percent since 1980 and more than 30 percent since 2000, Pryor said.
New methods for extracting more oil and natural gas from the ground have been particularly important to growing production volumes, Pryor said.
The natural flow of oil from wells only accounts for 15 percent to 20 percent of the total volume produced today, he said. Easing the flow of fossil fuels using water, carbon dioxide and other methods can enhances production by as much as 25 percent.
“And now the combined application of horizontal drilling and fracking can add another 10 percent,” he said. “Each of these technology advances unlocks more resource and reserves.”
Deep-ocean drilling holds among the greatest promises for expanding oil and natural gas production, Pryor said. He noted that in the 1950s, the industry was limited to drilling in water depths less than 100 feet. Today, wells are being completed 10,000 feet below the ocean’s surface.
With the industry’s venture into riskier environments, public fears have grown about accidents that could harm human life and the environment, like the fatal 2010 disaster at BP’s Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico.
Pryor said the industry must respond to the added pressure.
“We know each incident – whether it’s in the U.S. or overseas, whether it’s on land or in the water – raises fears about the safety of our industry and makes governments want to through up barriers to access worldwide,” he said. “We know that all it takes is one teaspoon of oil in the water to dampen the support of the public, the politicians and our partners.”
8 Comments on "Technology can unlock new fields, curb fears of peak oil"
mike on Wed, 16th May 2012 9:30 pm
So peak oil means the maximum peak of production to everyone except those in the oil industry who think it means running out of oil. That’s like everyone thinking a drum is something you hit with sticks except drummers who think you play them like a sax.
Brake Down on Wed, 16th May 2012 9:47 pm
I’ve got over 50 definitions for peak oil that I use, depending on the situation. That way when anybody claims they have refuted peak oil, I can easily demonstrate otherwise.
It’s really the best approach. The deniers often fall asleep from fatigue before we’ve worked our way through the first 30 definitions. It’s great.
Beery on Wed, 16th May 2012 10:31 pm
“We know that all it takes is one teaspoon of oil in the water to dampen the support of the public, the politicians and our partners.”
By a ‘teaspoon’, does he mean hundreds of thousands of gallons? That’s a pretty big teaspoon.
DC on Wed, 16th May 2012 10:33 pm
Mmm all these ‘new’s techs these chevron criminals talk about…..are allready in use, have been for some decades now. All thats going on now with these ‘new’ techs is some tweaking and refineing of long existing methods. Nice try tho, all these methods are more expensive not less, tho its not impossible to make them less so, the oil cartel preffered method of makeing expensive oil cheap, are taxpayer subsidies, not technical improvment.
Brute force and subsidized beats high tech and self-financed any day, right chevron?
Alan Cecil on Wed, 16th May 2012 11:58 pm
All our technology has been able to do is provide new creative ways to use energy; it does not produce energy. Technology can be used to mine tar sands and oil shale more efficiently, but it does not make the energy any cheaper. Our entire economic system is designed to run on cheap petroleum, and when the cheap petroleum is gone, it’s gone.
keith on Thu, 17th May 2012 4:57 am
Peak oil doesn’t exist for the oil industry because their one concern is making profit. All others things, i.e. health, environment, etc. they could care less about. It is up to we the people to make individual changes that somewhat remove us from these heartless monsters. Simple living is the key. We did it before oil, we can do it again. Stop buying into the marketing hype of the consumer life-style. The Mc-mansions, the new modern kitchen every five years, the I need this to do that way of thinking. Simple living. Being content with one’s station in life. Always thinking more, more, more, just leaves you unhappy all the time. The brass ring exists, like the carrot in front of the donkey, to make it easy for our masters to lead us where ever they won’t us to go. Break those chains see how you feel after!
BillT on Thu, 17th May 2012 5:16 am
As someone who can remember before plastic was common, I hope to see that day again before I go. Things were wrapped in waxed or butcher’s paper, or packaged in cardboard. You could take the wrapping and burn it in a barrel in the back yard or it could be shredded and used for mulch. Any item was lose and you bought it by the pound or by each, not prepackaged in indestructible plastics to be carried home and thrown away where it got picked up and hauled by oil powered trucks to some place out of sight and covered up with oil powered machinery, never to bee seen again.
Kenz300 on Thu, 17th May 2012 1:41 pm
The oil industry loves it when oil prices spike. They make huge windfall profits. They will do all they can to limit any alternatives and choice for the consumer.