BP taps vast pool of crude in deepest oil well

[steven johnson]

So possibly peak oil is exaggerated .

Nearly seven miles below the Gulf of Mexico, oil company BP has tapped into a vast pool of crude after digging the deepest oil well in the world. The Tiber Prospect is expected to rank among the largest petroleum discoveries in the United States, potentially producing half as much crude in a day as Alaska's famous North Slope oil field.
The company's chief of exploration on Wednesday estimated that the Tiber deposit holds between 4 billion and 6 billion barrels of oil equivalent, which includes natural gas. That would be enough to satisfy U.S. demand for crude for nearly one year. But BP does not yet know how much it can extract.
"The Gulf of Mexico is proving to be a growing oil province, and a profitable one if you can find the reserves," said Tyler Priest, professor and director of Global Studies at the Bauer College of Business at the University of Houston.
The Tiber well is about 250 miles southeast of Houston in U.S. waters. At 35,055 feet, it is as deep as Mount Everest is tall, not including more than 4,000 feet of water above it.
Drilling at those depths shows how far major oil producers will go to find new supplies as global reserves dwindle, and how technology has advanced, allowing them to reach once-unimaginable depths.


BP taps vast pool of crude in deepest oil well

[XemaSab]

1. My understanding is that peak oil refers not only to the total amount out there

but the ever-increasing costs of extracting the stuff.

If oil from this well can be recovered at the cost of $500/bbl, will that ever really be economical to recover? Or will industry decide it's cheaper and easier to find a replacement for oil before that day comes?

[imdjh]

3. It can mean whatever you want it to mean, because it doesn't matter.

[Terry in Austin]

9. It's also about the rate of extraction and energy costs

There can be a reservoir with a gazillion barrels in it, but pumping it out can only happen at a certain rate. That's just the geology of it.

As a field depletes, the rate declines. If the world rate of production falls short of the rate of consumption, that's the crucial part of peak oil. So, yes, the total amount out there isn't really the main concern.

With cost, the crucial aspect ultimately isn't the dollars, but the amount of energy it takes to extract a given amount of oil. That's "net energy." As oil gets scarcer and harder to extract, it takes more energy to do so, and the net goes down. Used to be, upwards of 100 barrels could be produced for 1 barrel's worth of energy. These days, it's more like 8 or 10 on average, and some fields are even less.

Not too long from now, it will reach 1 to 1, and when it does, oil will no longer be a source of energy -- although it will still be fine for making plastic, paint and pills.

As for what a replacement for oil might be, well, that's open to serious question. There's a strong case to be made that the answer is "nothing" -- not in any meaningful sense of "replacement."

[imdjh]

2. That's pretty impressive. I wonder what the pump looks like. nt

[excess_3]

4. electric cars don't need this stuff /nt

[hatrack]

5. Is that EUR? OOIP?

At $1 billion/platform . . .

[hunter]

6. Hooray! We're saved! Let's all buy new cars!

:eyes:

[Terry in Austin]

7. How many zeroes in "vast"?

Oh, brother -- more trumpeting about Tiber. This crap can't help but sound like the last resort of the truly desperate.

"Vast" is not a number. "Vast" turns out to be a drop in the proverbial bucket. Tiber, if it's developed, may end up producing at a rate of 2 to 3 hundred thousand barrels per day. That's in the face of an 85 million-barrel-a-day habit. And it doesn't even start producing until 15 years from now.

All this happy horsepucky about 6 billion barrels supplying US demand for a year is so wrong and so dishonest, it's hard to know where to start. How about starting with "30% ultimately recoverable"?

[GliderGuider]

8. About a brasilian, I've heard. nt

[Terry in Austin]

10. lol -- Tupi sure! nt

[NickB79]

11. So, 75 DAYS worth of global oil demand suddenly negates Peak Oil???

Let me break out my party hat while I cruise around in my Hummer :sarcasm:

The fact that they are making such a huge deal about an oil strike that 40 years ago would have been considered very small potatoes is in itself quite telling about the state of the current oil extraction industry.

If anything, the hoopla and hype given to such a piddly reserve should scare you more than comfort you.

[Dead_Parrot]

12. ...40 years ago would have been considered very small potatoes...

Four BILLION barrels!

(sorry, couldn't resist)

[bhikkhu]

13. Well, yes it would have been

Particularly as hard to extract as it is likely to be. Of the 1800 billion barrels or so (very roughly) that may still be in the ground, the majority of it has been discovered in the past 50 years. And the vast majority of it is likely easier to produce than the recent find.