Saudi Size oil field Claim

[erich]

Dear Folks,

 

What do ya'll think of the talk of the 6 billion barrel claims of Eden Energy?

They have contracted three wells this fall to 15000 feet on their Noah prospect in Nevada.

 

Eden Energy Corp.

http://www.edenenergycorp.com/

 

Ely Times- Eden Energy seeks oil near Ely

http://www.elynews.com/archive/2005/07/15/LocalNews/324444.html

[C1ay]

Very interesting. I would like to see more major oil strikes outside of the persian region.

[alxian]

the US finally smoking from its own supply.. *shock*

[infamous]

Very interesting. I would like to see more major oil strikes outside of the persian region.

Absolutely C1ay, maybe such finds would help diffuse the current tensions in the middle east. Even though there may be other reasons why conflict seems unavoidable in this region, our oil hungry planet could be sustained by additional supplies and it would lessen the overall struggle.

[pgrmdave]

I hope gas prices go down...Before my car died a few weeks ago ( :eek: ) I was spending between twenty and forty dollars a week on gas, and now, gas prices are twenty to forty cents more. I work to pay for a car and gas so that I can get to work...it's not worth it :lol:

[alxian]

gas prices are like taxes, no business man would endanger revenues by reducing prices.

 

the only thing we can hope for is an increase in fuel economy via hybrids or full on electric vehicles.

[erich]

Borealis has an interesting patent on a thermionic car that uses the companies quantum tunneling thermocouples and Chorus motor electric drives. I sent their president, Rodney Cox, the news of this new carbon storage technology using grafite, and asked him about the estimated over all well-to-wheel efficiency.

The Chorus motors produce 300% more torque by overcoming harmonic drag and the Power Chip thermocouples may be up to 80% efficient. This means that with a hydrogen storage system that has an equal energy density to an average gas tank, this car would have a range of 1500 miles!

[infamous]

This means that with a hydrogen storage system that has an equal energy density to an average gas tank, this car would have a range of 1500 miles!

Wow, 1500 mile range would be more than 3 times the average range for most vehicles today. If and when this technology becomes available, I'll have to get me one of these hydrogen powered autos. Sounds to good to be true!! I wonder how long it will take for the big oil companies to buy up all the patents??

[erich]

Rodney Cox told me development will be over the next two years. but his sub company WheelTug had good news two weeks ago when Boeing anounced the use of these drives on the nose wheels of their airliners.

 

Boeing Demonstrates New Technology for Moving Airplanes on the Ground

http://www.boeing.com/news/releases/2005/q3/nr_050801a.html

[erich]

Oh, and I found this today, they talking trillions of barrels here ,for the whole structure, because of the thickness of the source rock.

 

June 29 Abstract

http://www.cspg.org/june_29_abstract.html

[Turtle]

That is some sweet geology!. Nothing like field work. :lol: Trillions of barrels they're saying! Keep us posted. :)

[UncleAl]

I wish them luck, but I don't see it as a good investment for oil or gas production given their posted data.

 

Source rock is Mississippian lacustrine oil shales with organic content averaging between 3% and 6% and thousands of feet thickness.

Oil shale is not a good source rock for petroluem. It is way too hydrogen-deficient, and the organics are bound to the clay fraction of the rock. Diagenesis could give you pyrolysis and oil release, but that product would be highly unsaturated and prone to repolymerization. Much more severe conditions would give you cracking to natural gas, but they claim things were mild over time.

 

Pyrolysis of Colorado oil shale, in situ by combustion or mined and surface processed by heat exchange, gets you rivers of shale oil. It is the perfect refinery poison:

 

1) It is heavily unsaturated. Even refinery hydrogen costs a fortune.

2) It is rich with nitrogen. That kills the acid zeolite support in your reforming catalyst.

3) It has a nice arsenic content. That kills the noble metal in your reforming catalyst.

4) It has a pour point not much below room temp. That makes pipeline transportation somewhat interesting.

 

DO YOU WANT GUARANTEED CHEAP BIG OIL PRODUCTION FROM DOMESTIC FIELDS? Drown some Enviro-whiners and re-open the Santa Barbara Channel oil fields in Southern California. It's that simple and fool-proof. It's an ocean of oil sitting under the asses of a few sea otters.

[Turtle]

I wish them luck, but I don't see it as a good investment for oil or gas production given their posted data.

 

 

Oil shale is not a good source rock for petroluem. It is way too hydrogen-deficient, and the organics are bound to the clay fraction of the rock. Diagenesis could give you pyrolysis and oil release, but that product would be highly unsaturated and prone to repolymerization. Much more severe conditions would give you cracking to natural gas, but they claim things were mild over time.

 

___Hey UncaAl, I watched a science show on cable :) the other day about the mega-plants :) up in Canada that Shell came to late (well, second). I know a little geology but it is seriously weak in the chemistry. Anyway, is there a chemical (deposit morphology) similarity between what is in Canada & what these new mappings indicate is in Nevada?

[Buffy]

Uncle Al's right about both these things:

 

Shale Oil will be economically viable when we are paying $10/gallon for gas. It works, its just a pain in the rear to refine.

 

I'm for green stuff in general, but both the Southern California Coast (actually from Point Conception all the way down to the Mexican Border) has a huge quantity of oil under it. So does the Gulf Coast of Florida, but it turns out even die-hard pro-big-oil Republicans who live there have got their friend Jeb Bush to make sure that his brother kept drilling along there out of the latest "Energy" bill so their views will not be despoiled.

 

Cheers,

Buffy

[alxian]

leaving the canadian oil sands pretty much useless for export as car fuel..

[erich]

From Rockdoc in: Peak Oil News and Message Boards Forums >> Post 156403 >> Saudi Size field Claim http://peakoil.com/post156403.html#156403

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Quote:

Oil shale is not a good source rock for petroluem. It is way too hydrogen-deficient, and the organics are bound to the clay fraction of the rock. Diagenesis could give you pyrolysis and oil release, but that product would be highly unsaturated and prone to repolymerization. Much more severe conditions would give you cracking to natural gas, but they claim things were mild over time.

 

 

Classic example of a little knowledge being a dangerous thing....the Mississipian Chainman shale is not an oil shale in the classic sense as you suggest. It is a typcial lacustrine (lake deposited) shale that is extemely high in Type I kerogen. Type I kerogens have a very high HI amongst the kerogen types and as a consequence are prolific in terms of oil generation. Lacustrine shales are responsible for many of the large oil accumulations in the world. The entirety of the oil discovered to date in Sudan and Chad as examples come from lacustrine shales of Cretaceous age. In the case of the Chainman it is indeed an extemely rich source rock that is locally at peak maturity.

If you want to understand all the ins and outs of Nevada geology and particularily the Chainman shale there are a number of publications in AAPG bulletin, CSPG etc. by Alan Chamberlain who did much of this work as part of his PhD dissertation at Colorado School of Mines.

[erich]

Here's another reply to Uncle Al , from http://ragingbull.lycos.com/mboard/boards.cgi?board=EDNE&newpost=1

 

And thank you Uncle Al for not telling me that I have a cranial rectal inversion :) :)

 

By: blanketpower

16 Aug 2005, 02:34 AM EDT Msg. 1112 of 1116

(Msg. is a reply to 1111 by erichknight.)

Re: scienceforum post

 

The guy's data is specific to the area and type of rock he is talking about (Colorado oil shales). Has nothing to do with EDEN. At EDEN we are NOT talking about the pyrolysis of oil shales (mining and "cracking" of oil-bearing shales, similar to mining Athabasca "tar sands"). Rather, we are talking about the pumping of trapped oil from dolomitic reservoir formations, with lacustrine shale as the original source rock.

 

Here are a couple of (the many available) examples of commercial oil derived from lacustrine shales as the source rock:

 

A large proportion of Oklahoma's oil resources are derived originally from shale (Woodford shale, for example) but are not extracted from the shale itself - the viable deposits are found in formations adjacent to the shale that have trapped oil that was squeezed (squozen?) out over time.

 

Equatorial Guinea is another example - world class oil and gas hosted in sandstone, but the source rock is underlying lacustrine shales from Kissenda and Melania formations.

 

These examples are the type of thing that EDEN is talking about - in our case, Mississippian lacustrine shales overlain by porous dolomites. If you drill into the shale itself you find the kind of hydrocarbon-bearing crap that poster is talking about (relatively common in eastern Nevada, and uneconomical), but if you have a sealed reservoir over the shale (in our case a very porous Devonian dolomite) you may be in business.

 

That is what makes EDEN attractive. We know the original source rock (shale) is all over the place, and is hydrocarbon rich. We also know that the source rock is overlain by a porous formation, and that the geological structures (anticlines) are in place that (a) show evidence of tectonic compression; and (:evil: have created generally enclosing structures. We also know that within the overall anticline several terminal structures are in place that would serve as specific trap-points for the oil.

 

(Note: Anticlines are sort of like railway tunnels in shape... long structures with big domed roofs, but open at the ends where the train enters and leaves. Open anticlines tend not to trap oil - when compressed it leaves via the ends of the tunnel. Terminal structures are analogous to roof collapses in the tunnel. They create "dead ends" within the tunnels where oil can accumulate. That's why the recent news was so significant - several of these terminal structures are present within our anticline). All of the pieces are in place for a world class deposit. Still not a guarantee, but a very good bet.

 

I have not been a geologist for over 20 years, and do not feel like getting into a p*ssing match with some new college grad with a shiny diploma and un-scuffed field boots who wants to show the world how brilliant he is. It has been too long a time - I would lose. I will gladly defer to a better explanation from a more recent practitioner of the art, but thought I would post this from what is left of my crusty, half-dead geological memory in an effort to put your mind at ease.

 

Good luck to all.