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Posts Tagged ‘oil’

So What Next In The Oil Industry

Friday, July 2nd, 2010

It’s not merely organic gasoline that is usually interested in a lot more unconventional means of extraction. Un-conventional oil definitely once again on the table, following many years out of debate and becoming reported as way too high priced or perhaps ineffective in order to use like a method of manufacturing. Non-conventional oil is usually produced or perhaps extracted applying techniques additional than the conventional oil nicely technique and can be a bone of contention with several environmentalists because it is noticed like a particularly ‘dirty’ method of producing oil, including these types of techniques as tar sands, heavy oil, oil shale and the conversion of coal or even organic gasoline to liquid hydrocarbons through processes this sort of as Fischer-Tropsch synthesis. Even so, as conventional oil reserves dwindle, these kind of not so friendly methods are being looked at once again to meet the expanding demand for liquid oil.

It can also consist of extra environmentally friendly production and extraction methods though, since the surge in interest in biofuels has shown. Thermal depolymerization of organic materials is actually also an area that oil corporations are searching at to fill a gap within the marketplace left by dwindling traditional oil supplies. These kinds of days, oil  jobs and oil careers are usually not just about drilling and rig work – the biochemists are usually obtaining a look in about the field as nicely. Drilling jobs and oil rig jobs are set to carry on, but the marketplace for oil workers has expanded beyond the conventional and into choice methods of extraction and refining an end item that may come from various sources within the future.

To date, the world has produced 1 trillion barrels of oil. It is actually expected that approximately 2 trillion barrels more will be created over the following century or so. It will arrive from traditional proved reserves, unconventional resources and as-yet-undiscovered conventional oil.It is predicted that coal methane will be the future.

Today, coalbed methane firms are generally turning a centuries-long nuisance and byproduct into a valuable resource. About 9 percent of total US natural gasoline production comes from the organic gasoline found in coal seams. Because natural gas costs have soared, along using the bull markets found in uranium, oil, and valuable and base metals, coalbed methane has arrive into play. It is actually following all a natural gasoline. But because it can be outside the realm of the petroleum business, coalbed methane, or even CBM as numerous business insiders call it, can be known as the unconventional gas. It may be unconventional today, but as the business continue to grow by leaps and bounds, on a worldwide scale, CBM may soon achieve some respect. Please remember that a few many years ago, generally there had been very little cheerleading about nuclear energy. Today, positive news items are running far better than ten to one in favor of that power source. for more information on teh future of the oil and gas industry visit oil exploration.

Oil Rig Explosion In Gulf Of Mexico – The Deepwater Horizon

Tuesday, June 29th, 2010

Like many individuals who are employed on offshore drilling rigs, the devastating explosion and fire that occurred on the Deepwater Horizon semisubmersible drilling rig is a blunt reminder of the hazards found in deepwater offshore drilling for oil and gas. Few will fail to remember the striking primetime news images and the grave lean the smitten rig took as the fire continued, before slipping beneath the waves a few days later on April 22 at 5:30 pm.

Our thoughts are with the families of the 11 rig workers who were lost along with another 17 crew who were injured, three of them badly. Having personally experienced a life-threatening offshore rig explosion, it brought back loads of memories.  Like many in the drilling industry who have worked for Transocean we are totally appalled and saddened by this Oil Rig Disaster.

The deepwater DP semisubmersible drilling rig is owned and operated by Transocean and was drilling under contract to the BP oil company. Transocean are the world’s largest offshore drilling contractor and possess 140 offshore drilling units. The Minerals Management Service stated that there are 90 drilling rigs running within U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico with oil output currently at 1.7 million barrels per day along with 6.6 billion cubic feet of gas production each day.

The Deepwater Horizon drill rig was drilling the Macondo Prospect for BP about 52 miles southeast of Venice, Louisiana.  BP are partners in this including with MOEX Offshore which includes 10% and Anadarko who have 25% of the working interest in this operation.

They rig had evidently just fixed and cemented 7 inch steel casing in the well before it exploded and caught fire at 10:00 pm on the night of April 20, 2010. The drilling rig was drilling in a water depth of 6940 feet and had drilled to a total depth of 18,360 feet. 

Following the explosion, the U.S. Coast Guard launched a significant search effort for the 11 unfound rig crew and up to six firefighting vessels stood by the burning rig to attempt and contain the massive fire. The US Coast Guard dispatched helicopters from New Orleans and Mobile to evacuate rig people and also to aid in the hunt for the unfound crew. Four USCG cutters were also dispatched to the scene.

While many ignorant people with little offshore drilling experience or perception hypothecate about the reason of the disaster and question the rig safety record, others try and allocate blame to BP. It must be declared that BP did not possess and operate the rig and the Deepwater Horizon was a well proven and modern rig. It was reported that the drilling rig had at least three safety inspections in 2010 and just prior to the blast there was no signal of any problems on board.

People ought understand that significant fires and explosions on oil drilling rigs are quite uncommon as they are designed with fire prevention and safety as a priority at the construction stage. Fire is the worst enemy offshore and at sea on ships and safety is the main aspect of all operational tasks and activities, as evacuation isn’t straight forward to carry out,. This is the main reason why drilling contractors search for and hire experienced rig workers. The Minerals Management Service stated that there were 39 fires or explosions offshore in the Gulf of Mexico within the initial five months of 2009, and all these were categorised as trivial or incidental.

Follow the succeeding articles on this tragic incident as the oil pollution crisis grows and the political and industry fallout continues, where drilling procedures will be explained including with other helpful information. The author John Payne has over 35 years in the marine and  offshore oil industries and currently works for an offshore drilling company. He is also the writer of the new book Piracy Today.

 

All About Oil Central Heating

Monday, November 23rd, 2009

Most people today use gas as the main fuel for their central heating, totally oblivious that there is another fuel that can be used gas. In most cases, gas is not used in homes only when these properties are in areas that do not have access to a main gas supply line. This is more common than most people think especially in rural locations.

Many people choose to make their homes in remote locations in the countryside. These houses are very often far away from the next house meaning a gas line is out of the question, but they have to heat their house somehow. It is also thought that isolated homes in the countryside can be colder in the winter than those which are more closely built together in the city centres. Oil, therefore, becomes the fuel of choice for countryside dwellers when it comes to heating up the home.

Although the two systems work in exactly the same way, i.e. heating up the water to warm the radiators, it is just the method used to heat the water that differs one uses a oil fired boiler while the other a gas boiler. The only real difference between the two, and one that is probably deemed as a disadvantage, is the fact that oil has to actually be delivered to the house. However, for most people with oil central heating this is not a problem as they soon get used to it. People who have never had oil central heating before though, may find the idea of having an oil tank in the garden somewhere rather strange, not to mention the fact that they would have to phone up to order the oil.

Nevertheless, for those people living in rural spots, oil based central heating systems are the only sort they can have, so it offers the perfect alternative to other systems such as gas.

 

This winter period is going to be ever so cold, so make sure that you have the needed heating oil in place.

The Canadians use submarines to chart the Arctic

Friday, October 9th, 2009

Unbelievably Canada has just received a piece of technology that no other country has currently in the world. Submarines operated by remote control are something new to the world and essentially they are submarines which do not need to be manned to operate. This is fantastic idea because oxygen does not need to be provided for anything and they can be controlled at a base where lots of people can see what is going on.

This has come into the equation because many countries are in argument over who has access to the Arctic. This quarrel of course includes Canada as well as USA, Russia, Denmark and Norway. The argument basically seems to be over oil. Because of global warming the ice around the Arctic has slowly been melting away leaving previous areas where nothing could venture into, accessible. This in turn means that more than likely there is going to be untapped natural resources discovered and the arguing countries will of course want to snap them up for themselves.

The oil giant USA is obviously going to be involved in this as their oils supplies are running extremely low and need to find other means to supply the country with electricity before time runs out. Of course oil would provide the USA with more time to look at new ways of making electricity, which of course is why they are so interested in it. Probably the real reason is more likely to be that USA are absolutely power hungry and simply want more money. If you look at the Iraq war as an example; was it not just a failed ploy to get at Iraq’s oil supply?

Of course Canada itself is a marvellous place to visit so why not take an Alaskan cruise and jet off on one of those Canada tours today. There may be more in your holidays to Canada than you might first think

 

A Look at Some Crude oil Alternatives

Monday, September 28th, 2009

Oil actually controls the whole world at the current moment. It powers machines, cars and so many other pieces of mechanical instruments. Although the globe is looking for an alternative to oil, as we do know that it is running low, what would it in reality be? Imagine that overnight all of the oil dried up completley, which other energy source would you use as a replacement? Lets take a brief look

 

Coal

Before oil dominated the earth, it was coal that powered almost everything. But because of the sheer amount on Co2 that coal emits it would be impossible for coal to come back, especially now as the planet is trying to get greener and greener.

 

Renewable Energy

This is something that the whole world is moving towards, renewable energy is not only natural but it will never run out. Things such as solar power can actually now store energy from the sun or the moon and emit almost a days worth of power.

 

Nuclear Power

Although atomic power is a lot more effective than oil there is still one major problem. Nuclear power is pretty grievous to say the least. Because of the sheer amount of accidents that have happened at a lot of the nuclear branches people just will not accept this as a form of energy. I mean who can forget the incidents of Windscale (UK, 1957), Three Mile Island (US, 1979) and Chernobyl (USSR, 1986).

 

All in all I believe that we are well on track to find a new energy form that is going to substitute oil. We all come to know that oil is not going to last forever and by developing natural methods, it will help us all out in the long run.

 

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