We need to learn quickly to keep up with the massive change around us so we don't get run over. We need to outrun change.
The ‘Peak Idiocy’ comment is at least three years old. Let’s visited a couple of dusty articles.
Mike Munger brings the concept into play in his December 5, 2009 post Peak Idiocy where he says:
Of all the idiotic things that people believe, the whole “peak oil” thing has to be right up there. It is literally impossible for us to run out of oil. We have never run out of anything, and we never will.
Continue reading ““Peak Oil” = “Peak Idiocy” – #10 in a series”
There’s a great interview with Daniel Yergin in today’s Wall Street Journal: Making Sense of the U.S. Oil Boom.
He puts the current boom into good perspective. During the last presidential election, we were talking about running out of oil. This time around, we are discussing how close the U.S. can get to energy independence.
He mentions the jobs impact:
The wizards of the oil industry can drill 4 or 6 or more wells on one pad. They’ve also developed self-propelled rigs.
So what, you ask?
That means less time to drill, far less surface disruption, less truck traffic, and more economical infrastructure.
It’s call pad drilling. Here is an illustration:
Photo: Chesapeake / Statoil. Used with permission.
There are 24 wells in that illustration, but the drilling was done from only 4 sites.
The Energy Information Administration discusses this in their article Pad drilling and rig mobility lead to more efficient drilling:
Continue reading “Multiple wells drilled on one site and walking rigs. Isn’t human ingenuity grand?”
Average daily production in North Dakota is 674,066 barrels of oil per day (bopd) in July.
The June data was adjusted up for late reporting. Now the June production is 664,618 bopd compared to the previously reported 660,322 bopd.
Continue reading “N.D. oil production hits 674K bopd in July 2012”
192 – Bakken – from the current active drilling rig list at the N.D. Department of Mineral Resources website on 8-31-12.
270 – Eagle Ford – from EagleFordShale blog.
Continue reading “Count of drilling rigs end of August 2012 – 192 and 270 for combined total of 462”
Wood Mackenzie, an energy consulting firm, has a prediction for tight oil production in the U.S.
They are predicting 1.3 million barrels of oil per day (bopd) in each of the fields by the end of the decade. That would be about doubling production from current levels.
Reading the full article requires a subscription to Petroleum Economist.
They also predict that Bakken production will hit 750K bopd by the end of 2012.
With June production at 660k bopd and increases of around 20k or 30k bopd each month, I don’t think it will take until the end of the year to hit 750k.
(h/t: BakkenBlog News twitter feed)
I’d say that’s great! Cool!
Where would that be?, I hear you ask. Try the Permian Basin. You know, that ancient field that is in perpetual decline, which just ‘proves’ the peak oil idea that there’s no more oil to be found.
Eric Fox at Motley Fool describes The Resurrection of the Permian Basin. He says the rig count in second quarter of ’12 passed the 500 mark. That is more rigs that are working in Bakken and Eagle Ford combined.
Production growth
This estimate is for production in the field to increase about 330,000 bopd in the next 4 years: Continue reading “At the end of July, Bakken and Eagle Ford had 478 rigs combined. What would you say about a field that has 500 rigs working?”
The Wall Street Journal highlights data showing the solar industry gets subsidies for electricity at 1,000 times the rate going to oil and gas. In return, the industry provides negligible output of electricity.
The oil & gas industry gets subsidies of $654M for providing 25% of the electricity we use. Solar get $968M, almost a billion bucks, in return for providing 0% of our electricity.
Yes, 0%. Rounded to the nearest percent, the output is zero. Let’s move the decimal place out and try again.
Continue reading “Huge subsidies for renewable electricity produces minor results”
Bruce Oksol gives the count of hotels built and under construction in his post, Bakken at Random Note on Hotel/Motel Construction in the Oil Patch.
You need to read the article for yourself. Short summary – almost twice as many hotels coming on line this year than all of last year. More than that under construction or announced. Huge growth curve.
Amazing.
The August “Director’s Cut” from Lynn Helms, Director of Department of Mineral Resources is available here.
A few items of interest to me:
I’ll start noting forecasts for Eagle Ford production when I see them.
RBN Energy has a report on the infrastructure that moves condensate from the wells to the refineries in their post – Knocking on Heaven’s Dorr – The Eagle Ford Crude Story Part III.
The lengthy post starts with this comment:
Average daily oil production in North Dakota for June 2012 hit 660,322 bopd, which is an increase of 20,341 over May. The May increase was 30,469 barrels per day, or 5.0%.
Something I noticed this month is that the monthly data is revised just a bit in following months. That means if you keep your own set of stats for number crunching, like I do, you need check to see if the data was revised.
Number of wells increased to 7,130.
Here is a graph of monthly production: Continue reading “North Dakota oil production passes 660,000 level in June 2012”
Marathon Oil has a great visual showing horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. In contrast, I also found a joke of an illustration.
Here’s the good stuff:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=VY34PQUiwOQ#t=256s]
Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=VY34PQUiwOQ#t=256s
This video includes above ground pictures to help tell the story. Also describes recovery steps when the well is taken out of production. It has more background than just the drilling, well lining, and fracking.
From the description for the video:
Safe, cost-effective refinements in hydraulic fracturing (also known as fracking), horizontal drilling and other innovations now allow for the production of oil and natural gas from tight shale formations that previously were inaccessible. This animated video introduces you to the proven techniques used to extract resources from these shale formations in a safe, environmentally responsible manner.
And now for a contrast….
Continue reading “2 more illustrations of fracking – both educational but for different reasons”
ExxonMobil pays about three times as much in taxes as it has in net income. So take whatever disparaging description you want to use for their profits and repeat that three times to describe their tax load.
Here is their total tax expense, from table 18 of their 2011 audited financial statements. All amounts in millions of US dollars: Continue reading “If ExxonMobil is making obscene amounts of profits, then I guess they are paying outlandish, outrageous, preposterous amounts of taxes”
Here’s another superb primer on hydraulic fracturing: Big Screen Energy: A Fracking Film Festival.
The graphics are great. In particular, there are three superb illustrations of the depths involved in drilling and the multiple layers of protective steel and cement. Check out the thousands of feet of rock between the water table and the horizontal run.
The brochure is from the EnergyFromShale.org website. I browsed the site and found this great video of the drilling and fracking process:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YemKzEPugpk&feature=player_embedded]
Here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YemKzEPugpk&feature=player_embedded
Here are a few of the tidbits I learned from the brochure:
How much steel and cement is used in each well?
Continue reading “2 more primers on fracking. Some good background on fracking from them.”