BAESI workshop 6 December 2008

2. Petroleum
 L.A. smog plus invisible GHGs
2

Chief source: combustion of petroleum products

Petroleum has been used by
humans for millennia, originally
3
for fires and warfare. In the Middle
East, oil fields were exploited for
naptha, tar, and kerosene in the
8th to 12th centuries.
These early users depended on
seeps (like this modern one),
where petroleum rises naturally
because of subsurface pressure.

Beverly
Hillbillies
theme
The demand for
petroleum on the world
market grew slowly, but 4

started to take off in the

1800s. Whale oil was
replaced by kerosene
lamps starting around
1860.

Coal was still the major fuel

source in the world until
about 1940, when petroleum
passed it and became the
most valuable commodity in
the global marketplace.
 Petroleum: a thick, flammable, yellow-to-black
5
mixture of solid, liquid, and gaseous hydrocarbons
that occurs naturally beneath the Earth's surface.

Hydrocarbons: organic compounds consisting of H

and C (e.g. paraffin) are not abundant, but have many
Solids
uses

Liquids Gases
Crude ts i n ga propane
s methane
pl e
ro butane
oil liqu id d
g
r inpentane
e
ft ss
Condensate a
c e
ro
Natural Gas Liquids p
Natural
(NGLs) Gas
 6

Crude oil (aka oil)

* Liquid mixture of naturally occurring
hydrocarbons
* After refining: the chief source of
transportation fuels

Natural gas
* Gaseous mixture of naturally occurring
*hydrocarbons
After processing: used for power generation,
residential,
fertilizers, manufacturing, transportation (still
very limited)
Combustion (burning) of hydrocarbons releases
7
carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere

In words:
Fuel + Oxygen Carbon dioxide + Water + Heat

The general equation:

CxHy + (x + y/4)O2 xCO2 + (y/2)H2O

E.g., for propane:

C3H8 + 5O2 3CO2 + 4H2O
8
9
10

10
11
12
 gases
Fractional 13

distillation naptha
in a refinery
very schematic cartoon gasoline

kerosene

L.A. oil refinery diesel

lubricants

fuel oil

residue
 Natural
gas 14
Almost always a mixture of
gases; to be used as a fuel,
extensive processing is
required to produce pure
methane.
PetrochemicalsChemicals produced from petroleum
15
 16

Plastics.

The Graduate 1967

ALL PLASTICS are

petrochemicals.
 17

polystyrene epoxies
 18

polycarbonate, etc.
 PVC
19

solvents
 20

Polyester: The most widely used

artificial fiber in the U.S. apparel &
home furnishings, plus bottles,
fiberglass, LCDs, holograms, filters,
insulators, auto body parts, and more.

Other synthetic fibers, such as acrylics & dacron:

clothing, yarn, rugs, rope, sails, grafts,
containers, resins, etc.
 21

Nylon
Apparel, carpets, musical strings, fishing line,
racket strings, rope, auto parts, machine
parts, sutures
More uses 22

dyes MTBE
phenols (antiseptics) packaging

eyeglass lenses TNT vinyl

rubbing alcohol auto parts
synthetic rubber drugs
detergents riot shields
sterilizers (food & medical
supplies
The inescapable fact: Modern 23

developed societies depend on

petroleum in innumerable ways. We
are a petroleum-dependent society.

No civilization can survive the

destruction of its resource base.
Bruce Sterling
Also see Jared Diamonds Collapse and
Joseph Tainters Collapse of Complex Societies
 The foundation of modern society
The lifeblood of modern
civilization
The Prize
20th century = The Oil Century

Petroleum is a non-renewable resource

that took millions of years to form.
Our use of it has been unsustainable.
 25

1858 North Americas first oil wells

1860 Worlds first integrated oil company

Petrolia, Ontario

Titusville, PA
1859 First U.S. drilling rig
18601900 Oil boom trained drillers who later
dispersed around the planet: U.S., Middle East,
South America, etc.
 Make lists of the top 5 countries:
26

Oil production
to date (since ~1860)
USA
FSU Current (2007) rate of
oil production
KSA
Iran KSA Remaining
Venezuela FSU oil reserves
USA KSA
Iran Iraq
China Iran
FSU = former Soviet
Union Kuwait
KSA = Kingdom of Saudi UAE/Venez
Arabia
UAE = United Arab Emirates
The unequal distribution of petroleum triggered
many military and other strategic decisions over
27

the last century.

Early 1900s: Britain converted its fleet from coal to oil;
dependence on Middle East oil; long-term involvement there
Events before and during
starting in World War 1. World War II
* 1930s: Japan imports ~80% of its oil from the USA, and
~18% from
Dutch East Indies (Indonesia).
* 1937: Japan invades China, initiating war between them.
* Aug 1941: U.S. oil embargo vs. Japan, which has 1.5 years
of oil reserves.
* Dec 1941: Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, simultaneously
invades Dutch East
Indies (Indonesia); first targets: oil fields and refineries.
*Germanys North Africa campaign part of the Axis plan to
control the
Suez canal and Middle East oil supplies.
U.S. strategy after WWII: U.S. production supported the
28
Allied effort throughout WWII, but dwindling reserves
encouraged administrations (starting w/FDR) to look
internationally.chiefly to the Middle East.
Iran 1953: The U.S. (via CIA) and U.K. organized the
overthrow of Irans elected prime minister, who had
recently nationalized the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company
(which became British Petroleum (BP) in 1954).

1991 Gulf War: After Iraq invaded oil-rich Kuwait, the U.S.
spearheaded the liberation of Kuwait and the defense of
oil-richer KSA.

The 2003 invasion of Iraq: Purportedly to eliminate weapons

of mass destruction etc. Recommended book: Michael Klare,
Blood and Oil (2004).
 B
29

KSA
E Iran
Iraq
 Caspian
Sea 30

Mediterranean
Sea

Persian
Gulf

Red
Sea
en
of Ad
u lf
G
 31

Iraq Iran
Kuwait

Kingdom of Qatar
UAE
Saudi Arabia

an
Om
e n
Ye m
 The Middle East
contains 4560%
32

of the worlds
petroleum reserves.

Ghawar Ghawar: perhaps the

most important place
youve never heard of
* Worlds largest oil field
* 60-65% of KSA production to
date
* 6% of global production to dat
* 6% of modern production
 How to Make Exploitable Petroleum
33
1. Start with lots of source rock, such as shale
containing organic material that has not been
oxidized (not very common).
2. Heat the source rock to 60120C (for oil) or
120220C (for gas). Do not overcook. Will take
millions of years.
3. Place a reservoir rock above the source rock.
The petroleum will rise because of its low density,
so you need a porous (and preferably permeable)
rock to hold it.
4. Ensure that the reservoir has a suitable trapa
subsurface geologic structure that will hold (trap)
petroleum in the reservoir rock, preventing its slow
migration to the surface.
Pores are open spaces
between the particles of a
rock. 34

Pores may contain air, gas,

or liquid (water or oil).

The more pore space, the

higher the porosity.

The more connected the

pores, the higher the
permeability.
Pore fluids will flow more
easily in rocks that are more
permeable.
Cartoon of a vertical slice through the crust showing
traps in reservoir rocks where petroleum and water
typically accumulate. 35

Color code:Rock Natural Gas Oil Water

Typical E&P (exploration and production)
teps
Explore, using dumb luck (Jed); geologic mapping (late 1800s);
36

standard geophysical tools (1930s); high-tech tools (1990s).

Drill a test well.

If the petroleum is trapped and under pressure, it will rise

naturally; no pumping needed (Jed, early Saudi Arabia).

This is the primary recovery phasefree-flowing

petroleum.

Gas released during extraction is

valuable but must be trapped and
processed; for decades, it was
simply flared off.
Typical E&P steps, part 2
Primary recovery lasts for several months or
37
years.

As the pressure drops, flow slows and operators

must use secondary recovery techniques for to
recover petroleum. The most common technique:
injection of water or gas.
Injection
well Production
well

water forced petroleum

downward rises

water enters pores, raises

pressure; sweeps petroleum
in front of it
Typical E&P steps, part 3
38

Water injection also is used to increase production,

but usually leads to a quicker reservoir decline and
less total production.

Injected water produces problems with corrosion,

scaling, treatment prior to disposal; requires costly
processing and replacement of parts.
Tertiary recovery techniques may be used once
the injection techniques are ineffective. However,
theyre expensive, and thus feasible only if the
price of petroleum is high....
Production history of an oil field
39

Primary

Tertiary
Secondary
 M. King Hubbert and Peak Oil
40
Peak Oil: The maximum sustainable production
rate of petroleum for an area (e.g., a field, a
country, or the world).
M. King Hubbert (U.S. geologist) predicted that
production rate for any well, field, or region will
resemble a bell curve.
The peak of such a
curve is known as
Hubberts Peak.

Peak Oil does NOT

mean running out of
oil.
 Hubberts prediction for U.S. peak oil: ~1970
41

Actual date of U.S. peak oil: 1970

(curve shape differs from his prediction due to Alaska discoveries)

U.S. production

w/Alaska
peak in
1970 lower 48

Hubberts prediction for global peak oil: ~2000

 Global peak
2000
production had not
peaked by 2004.

Shift to natural
Fuel-efficient
76 cars
gas, Aug
Arab oil electricity for v
embarg 08
heat 72
o
1965

68

But it looks like

barrels/day

weve been on a
millions

bumpy plateau
since 2004. 4/0 4/0 4/0 4/0 4/0 4/0 4/0