"FUEL WARS: Maps Of Last Producing Oil Fields?" Topic

Are there any maps of known but "untouched" oil fields that are being put off until all others run out, or . . .

. . . of existing fields that are expected to produce all the way until the bitter end (around the middle of the century)?

Thanks,

Dan
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Hmmmm

Don't know about known but untouched, but off-shore US oil fields and oilsands spring to mind – but, of course, Saudi and Iraq still have lots as well

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The US has tons of fields which are off limits to exploration and production.

The Gulf of Mexico is a prime example – we can't drill there currently, but are funding other countries' efforts to extract oil there.

Alaska has a huge reserves too.

Dan, as an oilfield service tech I can tell you that the "oil field" is a series of pockets and reservoirs…in some cases these voids will wick more from cousin sites.

It seems that most of the easily accessed fields are being tapped at angles and in depth; revisiting zones.

But if there are zones of untouched oil it is because it is extremely difficult to reach these zones.

Deep arctic waters are one such location…the dangers are clear.

The Gulf of Mexico is a prime example – we can't drill there currently, but are funding other countries' efforts to extract oil there.

You mean, like BP?

Artic or Antarctic. But maybe just choose some place very far from anything else in deep water or very difficult terrain. Who is going to know for 40 years?

So, nothing like this then, Mobius?

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Dan

The biggest untoched oil reserves are below the Great Barrier Reef. The reefs status as a national aquatic park for the Autralians has thus far prevented extraction.

Oil reserves are being located in more and more areas. The technology has now moved onto the point where, what was once un-extractable due to technical/ecanomic grounds, can now be tapped viably. As the price of oil rises, more smaller reserves become viable and so on and so forth.

. . . of existing fields that are expected to produce all the way until the bitter end (around the middle of the century)?

Heh.
What century would that be?

Even the paranoid-fantasy-apocalypse freaks really ought to understand that the middle of the 21st century might be a vaguely defensible timetable for peak oil, but not for the end of oil extraction…

As others have noted, there are lots of untapped reserves. Environmentally protected places are big, but there are also places that just haven't been explored yet, or until recently. Brazil just started opening up a bunch of undersea fields, there are all those disputed areas off China, exploration is just picking up around the Falklands, etc, etc…
-Kle.

There are a number of alternatives that are feasible to stave off the end of fuel. Natural gas and coal. Both can be modified and used as fuel for most things that use oil based fuels.

The game shows a number of battle scenes at refineries. Usually refineries are not near the oil fields. They are more vital and must be secured near the homeland. (Just for tax base purposes alone is one reason.) (Though if your country is France your unions may disprove this.)

BTW, I found out this week Australia exports 1/2 million tons of coal per day. Mainly to China. Besides just oil developed and developing countries need all kinds of resources. There are less than half the number of countries exporting lithium than oil. If you change to electric vehicles you are just giving the keys to another cartel.

We are also actually running out of drinkable water supply faster than we are oil right now.

Massive areas of china are suffering from flouride influx into ground water reseviours and rivers.

About 40% of the world is reliant upon archeo water deposits which they are extracting, which cannot be replaced. So.. oil may last longer, but water is likely to be the next big thing and with water goes food of course.

"You mean, like BP"?

Yep, so other countries with less regulation and oversight are essentially drilling in the same areas, with funding from US taxpayers.

Sooner than you might think:

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Dan

If we have power (from oil or nuclear or sunlight) I cannot, for the life of me, see how we can run out of water. Sure the water (like the oil) may not be where we want it and we will have to find somewhere to store the salt, but extraction of drinkable water from sea water isn't difficult, just expensive.

John T

PS I have a good friend in the satellite mapping for oil business. Apparently, the people that pay for the info of where the oil might be aren't always that keen about sharing it…

Im reading a book right now called, "Jihad", by Ahmed Rashid. He states that some of the worlds largest untapped oil reserves are in the 5 "Stans"…namely, "Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan", as well as under the Caspian Sea.

There is currently a low-grade 4-way political war going on between Iran, Russia, China, and the US to obtain the rights to these reserves.

These reserves largely went untapped during the Soviet era as they preferred to develop the fields in Siberia.

Add the above 4 foreign players in with a mix of growing Islamic militancy in each of the above 5 "Stans" and it makes for a fun near-future campaign.

Even the paranoid-fantasy-apocalypse freaks really ought to understand that the middle of the 21st century might be a vaguely defensible timetable for peak oil, but not for the end of oil extraction…

Long before peak oil, I expect, the increased prices would have made coal and gas synfuels more economically viable. High oil prices are one of the reasons Canadian shale oil is now being exploited.

Peak oil isn't the end of oil production. It's the worldwide high water mark for petroleum extraction. There will continue to be plenty of oil being extracted, it just won't be enough to satisfy world demand at what we would consider reasonable prices. We are extracting oil from tar sands and deepwater fields because we've already found and exploited most of the cheap and easy-to-produce fields in the world.

What lebooge said. Also, keep in mind that even if the oil 'lasts' for another thousand years, it is a finite resource (well, it takes a LONG time to make…) This does not translate into the 'end of the world' but into a real change in economics (and therefore many other things…) In the grim darkness of the far future, we may not be able to choose from twenty seven different brands of dog food… A lot of people do want to accept this. (But on the bright side, the dogs don't seem to care too much…)

LOL. As long as we have more than twenty brands, I say we are still living the life. :)

After those are gone . . . Soylent Purina.

Dan

Water is a much bigger problem then oil. The next major wars will all be over the supply of water. Between bio-diesal and electric it is much easier to fix what moves our cars and trucks then how to get water to Billions in the rest of the world.

…ditto Doug. Oddly enough, the 'post industrial,post modern' concepts may be crap. It may go back to arable land. Solar cells can recharge our batteries but corn doesn't grow on toxic waste. Water and food may be more important than comfort in the next 200 years.
Just don't do another 50+ posts on this, let it gestate on it's own. ….and yes, no-one does it in 15mm yet.

The Gulf of Mexico is a prime example – we can't drill there currently, but are funding other countries' efforts to extract oil there.

Pretty sure that's incorrect. We get a huge amount of oil from the Gulf, and its one of our biggest sources. We don't drill in the Eastern part of the gulf, and that is due, in part, to Florida's law prohibiting it. But there is a lot of activity off the Texas coast, and an even greater amount of activity south of Louisiana. You should see the size of some of the platforms that are operating out there, and how many there are*.

*Murphy Oil used to operate a huge cluster of interconnected rigs that was so big, they had shipped pickup trucks out to drive between platforms. Not sure if they still operate that one.

I cannot, for the life of me, see how we can run out of water.

We are talking about drinkable water.

We can live without oil we cannot live without water.

This is one of the reason why the amounts in the following article will never happen.

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"Africa's population will be growing most quickly. The humans in the continent by 2050 will double to reach 2.1 billion, US Population Reference Bureau said."

In order for this to happen they would need twice the amount of food and water then they have now.

That is not likely, but what is likely is War on a large scale and it will not be for oil but for clean water and food.

The Great Water War:

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Dan

Is it plausible?

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Dan

""You mean, like BP"?

Yep, so other countries with less regulation and oversight are essentially drilling in the same areas, with funding from US taxpayers."

Except BP was and is effectively a US company. Certainly in the Gulf it is simply the old Amoco and Arco rebranded. And any company operating in the Gulf of Mexico is subject to US oversight and regulation- which unfortunately is a lot less stringent than most of the rest of the world.

Scarcity is unlikely to provoke war. If you look at the last 10 years, the prices of most major commodities, including oil have risen by a factor of 5 or so.

Do we see resource wars? Not so much. We just see wealth transfers on a modest scale from those who consume to those who produce. Mr and Mrs Jones in New Hampshire may buy a smaller car to offste $20/gallon fuel, but the loser is the Kenyan Taxi driver who has no customers who can pay $20/gallon.

The Chinese are just paying more for copper, iron, petroleum products and coal and can afford to pay more, you dont see them taking over Indonesia to increase their domestic oil reserves. The people whose lives will take the biggest hit dont have bucks to pay for the weaponry they would need and those who do would rather pay more than fight for it. $20/gallon gas is a lot cheaper than a small war.

Water, even more so, it cannot be transported efficiently. And the first group of people to experience a water shortage do not have the wherewithal to fight a sort of migration of the huns type war, unless you were to look at a migratory war into the Congo.

28mm AK rules, largely a set of linked skirmish actions

I wonder how many in the US were really expecting the Japanese to attack Pearl Harbor and then attempt to take the Aleutians.

Dan
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