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Oil, Gas, and all that stuff

Oil, Gas, and all that stuff. Morgan P. Brown, Ph.D. Amerada Hess Corporation Houston, TX. About the speaker…. Born 1974, Salt Lake City, Utah Places lived: California(4), Louisiana, Texas(4), Colorado Graduated from 24 th grade in 2004 Married, two kids (3 rd ,4 th grade)

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Oil, Gas, and all that stuff

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  1. Oil, Gas, and all that stuff Morgan P. Brown, Ph.D. Amerada Hess Corporation Houston, TX

  2. About the speaker… • Born 1974, Salt Lake City, Utah • Places lived: California(4), Louisiana, Texas(4), Colorado • Graduated from 24th grade in 2004 • Married, two kids (3rd,4th grade) • Geophysicist for Amerada Hess

  3. What’s a Geophysicist do? • Study volcanoes • Study earthquakes • Explore for oil and gas using reflection seismology?!?

  4. Reflection Seismology • Seismos = Greek for “earthquake” • Logo = Greek for “word” • Seismology = The word of earthquakes?! • Seismology = The study of how waves travel within the earth • But what exactly is a “wave”?

  5. Reflection Seismology Quiz #1: If you squeeze a rock equally from all sides, then let go, what happens? • Nothing • Rock squishes, but returns to normal size • Rock squishes, then oscillates between small and big

  6. Reflection Seismology • This oscillation produces a (compressional) P-wave! • Why does the oscillation die out? • What if you set off an explosion underwater? • Waves move circularly away from source • Also have (shear) S-waves

  7. Reflection Seismology • What about the reflections? • When properties of rocks change, waves are reflected • Record the reflections with microphones • Look for oil & gas traps on the seismic image

  8. What is oil? • Sometimes it’s really light, with a lot of dissolved natural gas • Sometimes it’s gooey, like asphalt • Usually it is somewhere in between: a black, stinky liquid Spindletop gusher, 1901

  9. How much oil do we use? • The world consumes 82 million barrels of oil per year. • That’s 3.4 billion barrels per year! • At that rate, you could fill Crater Lake Oregon in 4 years! 6 miles across 1148 feet deep

  10. How much oil do we use? • Or, you’d fill the 610 loop to a depth of 400 feet! 10 miles 400 feet

  11. What is natural gas? • Methane: CH4 • The lightest component of oil • The world consumes 100 trillion cubic feet per year! • Imagine a balloon 20 miles in diameter!

  12. How we get oil & gas Quiz #2: Where do oil & natural gas occur in nature? • Between the grains in rocks • In large underground pools • Close to hot magma in volcanoes

  13. How we get oil & gas Deepwater Gulf of Mexico salt top seal gas oil water sand Lots of pressure Lots of heat Shale—full of carbon-rich goo Oil rises upward—why? Oil forms in the shale

  14. Getting oil out of the ground Quiz #3: Which is better for oil extraction? = sand = oil doesn’t matter (a) (b) (c)

  15. Unconventional Resources • “Tight gas” – Barnett Shale, TX Shale looks like this. Bad for oil & gas extraction! Make cracks in the rock. Fill cracks with sand! Oil flows out!

  16. Unconventional Resources • “Tight gas” – Barnett Shale, TX shale

  17. Unconventional Resources • Coal Bed Methane • Methane (CH4) adsorbs onto coal But Carbon Dioxide (CO2) adsorbs even better than CH4!

  18. Unconventional Resources • Coal Bed Methane CO2 We can use a greenhouse gas (CO2) to produce electricity! The CO2 is sequestered underground! coal CH4

  19. Unconventional Resources • Coal Bed Methane US Coal Distribution

  20. Unconventional Resources • Methane Hydrates • Solid form of CH4 bonded to water (H2O) • About 20 molecules of CH4 per molecule H2O • Forms under high pressures and low tempteratures • Deep water, near the seabed

  21. Unconventional Resources • Methane Hydrates • Energy density of methane hydrate = 168 m3 free gas/1 m3 hydrate

  22. Unconventional Resources • Methane Hydrates • How much natural gas is present in hydrates? Could supply the world’s energy needs for hundreds of years!

  23. Alternative Energy • Alternatives that don’t require fossil fuels: • Wind power (NIMBY, bird killers) • Nuclear (NIMBY, disposal) • Water power (NIMBY, dams kill fish) • Biofuels (still emit greenhouse gas) • Solar (expensive, how to store?) • Geothermal (limited availability) • Tides (limited availability, like a dam) • Fuel cells (how to get hydrogen?)

  24. An Alternative Energy House solar power windmill fuel cell geothermal heating and cooling

  25. Thanks for your attention! Any questions?

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