tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19508699.post7327961059008815982..comments2024-03-13T18:55:49.391+00:00Comments on Energy Balance: Drilling Down Deep Over Offshore Oil.Professor Chris Rhodeshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12060542089215379056noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19508699.post-47672901524801456912010-05-30T08:25:44.219+01:002010-05-30T08:25:44.219+01:00Hi mark,
maybe he has! Indeed, I take this as a s...Hi mark,<br /><br />maybe he has! Indeed, I take this as a sign that the age of easy oil is coming to an end and it is hard to get oil that the world will need but will test the limits of technology.<br /><br />I have been incredibly busy lately, both promoting my novel "University Shambles", setting up a new company and travelling around the world giving lectures and consulting.<br /><br />Thanks for reminding me - I shall be posting more shortly, as the world remains a good source of material!<br /><br />Regards,<br /><br />Chris.Professor Chris Rhodeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12060542089215379056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19508699.post-62938481933715047802010-05-29T22:56:17.698+01:002010-05-29T22:56:17.698+01:00Chris,
I wonder if president Obama has been readi...Chris,<br /><br />I wonder if president Obama has been reading your blog. During his press conference last Thursday he made a little noticed comment that pretty much all of the easy to get oil has been gotten and that is why BP has to drill so far under the ocean depths to get the stuff. That bit of candor is pretty rare for a politician but I guess it takes a huge disaster for the truth to come out.<br /><br />Speaking of blogs, when are you going to start posting again. I find your writings an antidote for the happy horses*** press releases that the mainstream media prints verbatim.Marknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19508699.post-36167242007335407632010-05-12T15:01:09.429+01:002010-05-12T15:01:09.429+01:00Mark,
I think what this awful incident indicates ...Mark,<br /><br />I think what this awful incident indicates is that much of the deep-water and other located oil that adds up to the final one trillion barrel reserve will not be easily got. Not only will the EROEI fall in recovering it but the novelty of the technology required to do so is likely to result in a number of different accidents, at least in the immediate term.<br /><br />I agree, the prognosis is not good for clean recovery but we can't have it all ways. If we need oil on the scale we use it now, there will be attendant environmental costs, given that the "easy oil" is running short.<br /><br />The present incident in the Gulf of Mexico does at least forewarn of what may come.<br /><br />Chris.Professor Chris Rhodeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12060542089215379056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19508699.post-18764636364908164752010-05-12T02:43:41.504+01:002010-05-12T02:43:41.504+01:00Chris,
Could it be that we were led down the prim...Chris,<br /><br />Could it be that we were led down the primrose path when it comes to how large oil companies are prepared in dealing with massive oil spills in very deep waters? The way BP has been handing the disaster at the Deep Water Horizon oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico appears that they had no clue in dealing with such incidents. It seems that in dealing with this spill, which some say BP and the US government have under estimated and could be larger than the Exxon Valdez disaster has been a seat at the pants effort at best. Needless to say I am not confident that this well will be capped anytime soon. <br /><br />Maybe we should suspend new drilling in very deep waters until the technology is in place to deal with such disasters.<br /><br />I know we need that oil those platforms produce but at what point does the risk outweigh the benefits of deep water drilling?Marknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19508699.post-44764501370022319812010-03-29T09:21:24.352+01:002010-03-29T09:21:24.352+01:00Hi Peter,
yes, peak phosphorus is a serious threa...Hi Peter,<br /><br />yes, peak phosphorus is a serious threat, as that article you refer to puts well.<br /><br />In answer to your earlier question, my memories of Brent Spar are hazy, being a relatively young man of 50!<br /><br />However, I do know the story and yes, I agree with what you say. Probably the main issue is not pollution, but the sheer cost of this type of deep-drilling and when it is done off Brazil say, when miles of rock and salt need to be drilled through, the price of a barrel of "deep-oil" is going to be very high.<br /><br />So, however much oil is down there it's going to be an expensive commodity and peak oil is really the end of plentiful cheap oil rather than of oil per se.<br /><br />Not quite sure what you mean about "copyright" but indeed I usually try to avoid infringing all such tights.<br /><br />Best regards,<br /><br />Chris.Professor Chris Rhodeshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12060542089215379056noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19508699.post-19632738364292755812010-03-28T22:00:48.080+01:002010-03-28T22:00:48.080+01:00Hi Chris, hope the continent is treating you well!...Hi Chris, hope the continent is treating you well!<br />There is an article I noticed in "The straight Dope" and wondered if perhaps you might have missed it. Please don't infringe any copyrights in my name!<br />Brgds<br />Peter Melia<br /><br />Is peak phosphorus the next global crisis?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19508699.post-51302737775105701822010-03-17T21:19:06.992+00:002010-03-17T21:19:06.992+00:00From your description, deep ocean drilling is inde...From your description, deep ocean drilling is indeed an inspired technology. However, there must be a limit, of funds, of successes, of safety issues, of political issues etc. <br /> You mention a Shell project with Perdidio Spar (?). I remember an affair involving another Shell rig, the Brent Spar. In this affair Shell found themselves dragged into the political/environmental limelight with the Case of the Dismantling of the Brent Spar. Do you recall it? It was about 40 years ago, Shell had a rig which had become obsolete, and they wanted to dispose of it. So they quite reasonably, in the views of people in the trade, decided to tow it out to sea and sink it. There it could decay and in the meantime provide a haven for marine life. They actually started preparing for the tow, when Greenpeace intervened. Brent Spar was a typical rig, about as big as a large office block.They decided that the sinking of the rig would cause massive pollution (it wouldn’t, all pollutants had been safely removed). Much to the astonishment of many people in the oil trade, Shell never mounted any serious defence against Greenpeace’s allegations, which Greenpeace backed up by organising a very effective campaign against buying Shell petrol, especially in Germany, which was big market for Shell, and miles from Scotland and Brent Spar. So in the face of loss of sales revenue, Shell capitulated, and Brent Spar was parked in Scotland and cut up with countless million cubic feet of acetylene. <br /> This is an ironical ending to the story, since much later Greenpeace embraced man-made global warming and became one of the AGW’s most important advocates. Yet it could be argued that by forcing Shell to dismantle Brent Spar instead of sinking it in an environmentally friendly manner, Greenpeace as a group has made a huge contribution to AGW. It will be amusing to see what happens when Shell decide to scrap Perdido. Which course will please the environmentailst best do you think, sink it or acetylene cut it?<br /> Anyway, all of this is by the way. Surely the deep offshore industry must inevitably, evolve into a remote, robotic industry, with the development of a whole host of new and as yet unimagined devices? The big rigs will go away and be replaced by motherships. The oceans will be, on the surface at least, as unchanged as ever, as quiet as a swan, on top, but pedalling furiously beneath the surface. <br />Rgds Peter MeliaAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-19508699.post-28208727637477639522010-03-16T13:53:41.462+00:002010-03-16T13:53:41.462+00:00Imagine my surprise when reading this in my local ...Imagine my surprise when reading this in my local (Canadian)newspaper:<br />http://www.montrealgazette.com/technology/ahead+Canada+green+investments/2673948/story.html<br />about how the USA outpaces Canada in green investment;<br /><br />but it's less of a mystery if the EPA(USA) supports this US-based group:<br />http://www.reusealliance.org<br /><br />Yes, deep sea drilling only works if the price of oil exceeds greatly that of the price for the used-up 'low lying fruit'. But the external costs are increasing ever faster, i.e. the cost of not abandoning 'black gold' as an economic engine.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com