2.

4 Petroleum Story
I) Where does oil come from?
a) Oil mostly from shallow oceans
i) Only small portion from dinosaurs etc
ii) Majority of oil comes from formations back when continents were together
(1) Biomass/ Algae and plankton and things die  go to bottom  sand and silt
build up on top goes way deep
(a) If oxygen reached biomass would have degraded all of biomass  no oil
iii) Shallow ocean = scare in O2 => no decomposition

b) Oil found ~ 10-16k deep

i) Cannot dig deeper because of hot molten core of earth which heat degrades
biomass
c) Needs very specific set of circumstances of pressure and temperature to turn biomass
into oil or natural gas
i) Natural gases and oil found in similar places b/c need similar conditions for both to
exist
ii) Coal is slightly different by similar
II) Basins: 600 known basins across the world
 a) these are major oil reservoirs and they are huge

III) How Do We Get oil?

a) 25% of oil flows due to reservoir pressure and comes up under its own free will
i) pop hole in ground  release pressure  gushers up cap gusher and control flow
b) 10-25% forced out with pumping/energy
i) comes up but needs a to put work
ii) put down sea water or freshwater/liquefied natural gas to keep reservoir pressure
up
iii) maintain pressure and pumping it out
(1) increasing energy consumption in order to get a unit of energy out
c) 50-60% too thick (heavy oil) and or bound to soil
i) remains in reservoir and eventually thins and becomes water
(1) eventually need to pump 100 gallons of water to get 1 gallon of oil = not worth it
ii) steam, soaps, microbes, mineral spirits, vibration used to recover this oil
iii) maybe 5% actually recovered
iv) energy input: output ratio diminishes
IV) Young Oil Fields in Middle East:
a) Good resources b/c flows through sand and sand is more porous and lets liquid flow
more readily
b) Warmer  crude less thick
c) Flow rate is really good early on and with time less flow rate

i)
V) Crude Oil Facts:
a) 14000 major/giant oil fields
i) holds 94% of world’s oil
b) 2888 giant fields in US
i) 1960s: 22 discovered
ii) 1970s: 14
iii) 1980s: 3
iv) none since
VI) Alaska oil:
a) Prudhoe Bay
i) Must traverse 800 miles of pipe
ii) Must be boiled to keep it moving
iii) Must refrigerate to protect permafrost
iv) Input/output ration very low
VII) Petroleum Key Facts
a) World oil discoveries peaked in 1962
b) Industry began in 1859 in Oil Creek, PA
c) 1850-1940s: US supplied 66% of world oil
d) 1950s: US supplied 50% of world oil
e) 1970s: US imported 23%
f) 2010: US imported 68%
i) over time production decreased consumption increased
g) life span of oil field is 40-60 years
h) 1 barrel = 42 gallons of oil