http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/local&id=6995879

what strikes me as news about this is the depth at which this reserve was found, as it seems to point at abiotic oil theory being extremely credible now. combining this with the fact that oil companies are exploring in even deeper areas than that 35,000 foot deep reserve seems to imply that oil companies are taking the russian theories seriously now. It will be interesting to find out if they find biological markers in this oil reservoir or if it appears to be of a more abiotic nature.

Unfortunately for us, if there are no biological markers in this oil, the companies pumping it out of the ground will have every reason to keep this information hidden from the rest of the world. I wouldn't want people finding out that my "finite" resource is no longer a finite resource and is actually renewable.

9/5/2009 9:57:57 AM

oil is renewable. we're just using it a lot faster than it is being renewed.

9/5/2009 11:02:00 AM

if we are searching for oil at these depths and it's being made by the earth's core and not from biotic life decay, than that probably isn't true anymore.

9/5/2009 11:11:46 AM

well that's crazy

9/5/2009 11:50:35 AM

[old]

Quote :

"From : not dnl To : ***** Received : Thursday September 3, 2009 at 11:13 PM Subject : hey http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/03/business/global/03oil.html?partner=rss&emc=rss do you get excited at stuff like that? "

and it was like a day old then

[Edited on September 5, 2009 at 1:33 PM. Reason : .]

9/5/2009 1:32:29 PM

No blood for oil.

9/5/2009 2:29:06 PM

I have no formal background in the chemistry of oil, but it kind-of makes sense to me that oil might not be solely from biotic sources. Relative to the crust of the earth, the biosphere is pretty small, and it seems weird that biological matter could accumulate in the concentrations that we’re finding oil.

That still wouldn’t change the idea though that burning hydrocarbons into the atmosphere by the megatons isn’t a good idea.

9/5/2009 2:37:09 PM

that's true, however it should crash the current pricing structures for oil if it truly is not as limited as we claim it to be. It also makes no sense for us to be hoarding domestic oil while trying to use up all the oil in the middle east if their oil is also being made by abiotic means and will not run out nearly as fast as all the reserve estimates claim we will.

dnl, you can't claim something is old when it was only announced two days ago and the only place it's been mentioned on tww is through PM.

9/5/2009 3:25:12 PM

so what youre trying to tell me is that the earth is shitting oil

9/5/2009 3:58:50 PM

^^i don't think it would shake up the pricing structures as much as you think it would.

35,000 feet is a damn long way to go beneath the earth's surface, and it is costly to do it, that cost will be passed on to consumers.

9/5/2009 4:46:29 PM

Quote :

"BUT PEAK OIL"

9/5/2009 4:54:45 PM

I still say we need to cut our dependency on it if we hope to keep the planet turning for another billion years.

9/5/2009 6:58:57 PM

Because the earth is turned by a very large internal combustion engine underneath the mantle.

It's in the bible.

9/5/2009 8:27:01 PM

Quote :

"Because the earth is turned by a very large internal combustion engine underneath the mantle. It's in the bible."

Someone placed this argument against me earlier today.

9/6/2009 12:09:43 AM

I wish I could find some of the old threads around here where people went batshit insane when Peak Oil vs. Abiotic oil got mentioned.

Quote :

"35,000 feet is a damn long way to go beneath the earth's surface, and it is costly to do it, that cost will be passed on to consumers. "

another article quoted BP as saying that they could profitably drill at this depth for $46 a barrel, which is lower than what we're currently paying. besides, if it's true that oil is actually be produced at much greater depths and seeping to the top, then it's possible that some of the oil fields closer to the surface may continually replenish themselves. We have witnessed fields replenish themselves before in some cases, and it may be possible that we can make use of this to get cheaper oil.

9/6/2009 12:54:11 AM

Quote :

"oil is renewable. we're just using it a lot faster than it is being renewed."

yep, it's being renewed by the very same processes that created it in the first place, but it's slow as shit...

i wonder if some of this could be from cambrian or pre-cambrian life (keeping with the theme that it comes from bio-matter)

9/6/2009 2:03:16 AM

I guess you don't understand what abiotic means.

9/6/2009 9:44:21 AM

It would appear that he doesn't.

9/6/2009 10:57:07 AM

Quote :

"i wonder if some of this could be from cambrian or pre-cambrian life (keeping with the theme that it comes from bio-matter)"

apparently you missed the second half of this where i stated that keeping with the theme that it comes from bio matter i wondered how old the life was that formed it you twats.

i didn't offer any speculation whatsoever about abiotic oil replenishment

fucking morons

9/6/2009 1:29:18 PM

Quote :

"THIS IS IS NOT CHIT-CHAT"

[Edited on September 6, 2009 at 8:15 PM. Reason : LOL]

9/6/2009 8:14:36 PM

^ rofl

9/6/2009 8:22:05 PM

chit chat #3

9/6/2009 9:05:43 PM

Quote :

"I still say we need to cut our dependency on it if we hope to keep the planet turning for another billion years."

are people really worried about 1 billion years from now?

lets just focus on the next 1000 years, mk?

9/8/2009 8:32:25 AM

I highly doubt they found 6 billion oil barrels sitting around in the Gulf.

9/8/2009 10:52:51 AM

nah its just on top of the water

6/9/2010 10:54:05 PM

Niccccee save

6/9/2010 11:03:34 PM

lets just focus on the next 100 years, mk?

6/9/2010 11:15:57 PM

^^

6/9/2010 11:28:00 PM

Quote :

"that's true, however it should crash the current pricing structures for oil if it truly is not as limited as we claim it to be"

LOL. The current pricing structure has little to do with how limited or unlimited we perceive the oil reserves in the ground to be.

Its not like oil companies/OPEC are sitting around saying, oh we shouldn't expand capacity b/c we'll run out too soon! The decision to increase capacity (and therefore supply) is going to be based on the cost of adding the capacity and the forecasted demand for oil. Even if there is unlimited oil, its going to cost money to extract it.

6/9/2010 11:43:13 PM

aha I had forgotten about this thread and was expecting it to say that the oil plumes hold 6 billion barrels of oil

6/10/2010 12:04:50 AM

BP has shown its ineptitude when dealing with a disaster just 5,000ft down. Just imagine how little they're prepared to deal with a problem at 35,000 feet.

6/10/2010 12:25:35 AM

tell me if i'm being retarded but isn't the process of the earth making similar to how diamonds are made? we've already figured out synthetic diamonds , is anyone working on synthetic crude oil ?

6/10/2010 12:28:28 AM

is that a serious question?

6/10/2010 12:46:46 AM

*earth making oil*

6/10/2010 1:44:04 AM

Quote :

"LOL. The current pricing structure has little to do with how limited or unlimited we perceive the oil reserves in the ground to be. Its not like oil companies/OPEC are sitting around saying, oh we shouldn't expand capacity b/c we'll run out too soon! The decision to increase capacity (and therefore supply) is going to be based on the cost of adding the capacity and the forecasted demand for oil. Even if there is unlimited oil, its going to cost money to extract it."

And yet the price of oil on the open market has very little to do with the cost to extract it. It's all supply / demand. Or did you think that the price of oil extraction increased tenfold between 2000 and 2007?

Speculation on peak oil and total recoverable reserves has a HUGE impact on pricing. Oil purchases are futures contracts, and the recent trend is for commodities traders to bet on the price of oil well well into the future. News about unlimited, recoverable supplies of oil beneath the sea would send oil futures plummeting, and correspondingly lower the cost of oil immediately. I'm sure that the big oil wouldn't be in a huge rush to publish that kind of information.

[Edited on June 10, 2010 at 2:05 AM. Reason : 2]

6/10/2010 2:02:48 AM

Quote :

"tell me if i'm being retarded but isn't the process of the earth making similar to how diamonds are made? we've already figured out synthetic diamonds , is anyone working on synthetic crude oil ?"

it's always a matter of doing it economically. there is a lot of research into converting waste biomass into usable petroleum products, but it can't be done economically yet.

6/10/2010 2:36:03 AM

Quote :

"Niccccee save"

6/10/2010 7:46:52 AM

The current disaster is at 35,000 feet. The 5,000 foot figure is the distance to the bottom of the ocean, not the oil well.

6/10/2010 8:57:51 AM

Quote :

"BP has shown its ineptitude when dealing with a disaster just 5,000ft down. Just imagine how little they're prepared to deal with a problem at 35,000 feet."

...the current leak might be at 5,000ft UNDER WATER but they've already drilled 35,000ft down, before this incident.

[Edited on June 10, 2010 at 9:19 AM. Reason : that's what I get for leaving a tab open for a bit...someone posts in front of me...]

6/10/2010 9:06:15 AM

Quote :

"oil is renewable. we're just using it a lot faster than it is being renewed."

yep

Quote :

"if we are searching for oil at these depths and it's being made by the earth's core and not from biotic life decay, than that probably isn't true anymore."

not possible with the current understanding of earth geophysics

Quote :

"Relative to the crust of the earth, the biosphere is pretty small, and it seems weird that biological matter could accumulate in the concentrations that we’re finding oil."

there has been a lot of life in the history of earth, about 2-3 billion years worth.... even single cell organisms can saturate a environment...

Quote :

"I guess you don't understand what abiotic means."

Quote :

"It would appear that he doesn't."

Quote :

""i wonder if some of this could be from cambrian or pre-cambrian life (keeping with the theme that it comes from bio-matter)" apparently you missed the second half of this where i stated that keeping with the theme that it comes from bio matter i wondered how old the life was that formed it you twats. i didn't offer any speculation whatsoever about abiotic oil replenishment fucking morons"

i love how there was no response to being blasted in the face with the obviousness that you 2 missed.

Quote :

"it's always a matter of doing it economically. there is a lot of research into converting waste biomass into usable petroleum products, but it can't be done economically yet."

yep, we can make diesel excreted from bacteria now, the problem is the cost....

6/10/2010 12:38:55 PM

yay cheaper oil prices

hmm suddenly new technologies will emerge like magic and they will be expensive as shit

where's my shovel? hmmm

6/10/2010 3:08:09 PM

Quote :

"Speculation on peak oil and total recoverable reserves has a HUGE impact on pricing. Oil purchases are futures contracts, and the recent trend is for commodities traders to bet on the price of oil well well into the future. News about unlimited, recoverable supplies of oil beneath the sea would send oil futures plummeting, and correspondingly lower the cost of oil immediately. I'm sure that the big oil wouldn't be in a huge rush to publish that kind of information."

Do you actually have any idea what you're talking about? There might be some slight drop in really far out futures, but that wouldn't really mean much since contracts many years out don't trade at a very high volume. The fact that there is an infinite supply of oil under the ocean won't do much to change the economics. They still have to figure out how to get it out. If it costs $60 a barrel to pump it up, and they can only sell it for $59...they're not going to pump it up. Infinite supply of oil in ground != infinite supply of oil in market. Maybe I'm just not following your logic...but I don't see where this huge impact would come in.

6/10/2010 10:05:23 PM

Quote :

"not possible with the current understanding of earth geophysics "

you, sir, are a fucking moron.

Quote :

"i love how there was no response to being blasted in the face with the obviousness that you 2 missed. "

you didn't "blast" anyone with your retarded ass assumptions about the origins of oil. You got ignored because what you said was just flat out fucking stupid and not in line with the topic. I love how you think you deserved to be validated with a response when you said that garbage the first time.

[Edited on June 10, 2010 at 10:24 PM. Reason : .]

6/10/2010 10:22:15 PM

he's an Arab, if theres, one thign he knows about it's oil

6/11/2010 9:35:38 AM

also that would be more of a geochemical understanding than a geophysical one

6/11/2010 12:49:02 PM

First, I don't appreciate the name calling. It reflects on the nature of your character.

eleusis has a long history of being stubbornly incorrect.

he's got his panties in a wad b/c he tried to call me out over something that I explicitly did not say (if he had bothered to read the entirety of the post and not just jump off at the beginning he would have seen i was not talking about what he was talking about but more along the lines of the "oil is renewable. we're just using it a lot faster than it is being renewed.") then again he must think everyone posts only in response to his asinine commentary.

example:

Quote :

"retarded ass assumptions about the origins of oil."

oh you mean the ones that everyone that doesn't "believe" in abiotic oil as to where oil comes from? yeah those retarded ass assumptions... yes I'm willing to stick with those than your grossly unproven abiotic assumptions....

geophysical in the realm of we have a somewhat reasonable understanding of the structure of the earths interior, which from what I know, does not leave any room for abiotic oil.

geochemically i wouldn't have much of an opinion on it other than a base understanding of the pressure and heating aspects of the creation of oil.

Quote :

"you, sir, are a fucking moron. "

I like how you put "you" instead of "I'm" there...

I'll wait for you to find ANY CREDIBLE EVIDENCE for abiotic oil before I take any of your rambling even remotely seriously. because, well, the vast majority of the world does not agree with your stance on the subject.

I offer (as a overview and access to root sources, which I don't have the time or the inclination to explain to you or provide) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Petroleum#Formation as a backing for my thoughts on the subject.

I'm not closed to the idea of abiotic oil, i just think it's highly unlikely that's the source of it.

You've pretty much proven your lack of basic biochemistry knowledge so far

but hey, if you really want to keep arguing about it I can get my petroleum engineer uncle to chime in as well.

[Edited on June 11, 2010 at 1:22 PM. Reason : oh and before you pull up the Carnegie results NG=!crude oil]

6/11/2010 1:21:13 PM

Quote :

"I highly doubt they found 6 billion oil barrels sitting around in the Gulf"

Quote of the year

6/11/2010 2:03:28 PM

Quote :

"First, I don't appreciate the name calling. It reflects on the nature of your character."

Umm, you did it first (and twice!), like 9 months ago, Arab.

Quote :

"but hey, if you really want to keep arguing about it I can get my petroleum engineer uncle to chime in as well"

TWW... serious business!

Quote :

"PETROLEUM ENGINEER UNCLE"

[Edited on June 11, 2010 at 5:55 PM. Reason : ]

6/11/2010 5:53:07 PM

Another oil rig exploded. On all the 'BREAKING NEWS', but not much info yet.

Quote :

"Rescue efforts underway after oil rig explosion in Gulf An oil rig has exploded 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana, with 12 people overboard and one missing, the Coast Guard said Thursday morning. Rescue attempts are underway for at least 12 people, Coast Guard spokesman John Edwards told CNN. 13 people were on board the rig total, Edwards said, noting 12 have been accounted for, but one person was missing. The accident took place 80 miles off the coast of Louisiana on the Vermilion Oil rig 380, which is owned by Houston-based Mariner Energy. The Coast Guard has multiple helicopters, an airplane and several Coast Guard cutters en route. It's unknown if there are any injuries. "

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2010/09/02/rescue-efforts-underway-after-oil-rig-accident-in-gulf/

[Edited on September 2, 2010 at 11:43 AM. Reason : ]

9/2/2010 11:42:32 AM

drill baby drill

9/2/2010 11:46:47 AM