Geology 1010 lecture outline - Energy Resources

Where we do obtain energy from?

• fossil fuels: oil, gas, oil shales, tar sands, coal.
• nuclear fission, fusion(?).
• geothermal: hydrothermal and hot dry rock.
• hydroelectric, tides, solar, wind.
• modern organics, e.g. wood, cow chips and gasahol

What are the relative contributions of different energy sources to the energy 'picture'?

Summary of recent energy usage based on 1995 numbers from DOE report (website). I've added related environmental concerns.

• oil ( 39.2%) - nonrenewable, blowouts, oil spills, emissions and associated climate change (?), groundwater contamination.
• gas (21.4%) - nonrenewable, blowouts, explosive, emissions and associate climate change(?).
• coal (25%) - nonrenewable, strip mining, mining accidents, acid mine drainage, acid rain, gas and particulate, emissions and associated climate change.
• nuclear (6.5%) - renewable or nonrenewable, mining wastes, accidents and radioactivity contamination, weapons proliferation, waste disposal
• hydroelectric (7.1%) - renewable, dam saftey, ecosystem and hydrologic disruption, water loss, reservoir induced earthqaukes.
• all others (roughly 1%) - mainly renewable, overall less in way of environmental concerns, however deforestation and devegetation.
• Some 86% from fossil fuels! Thus an appropriate focus of study.
• Alternate source (Davis, 1990) indicates 18% in renewables.

What are factors determining economics of geologic resource exploitation?

• exploration costs (new technology changes picture all the time).
• extraction costs.
• environmental.
• processing costs: (price of labor, infrastructure, cost of associated material).
• tax structure.
• developments of alternatives or discovery of new uses.
• government subsidies.
• market price.

How much oil is left (oil reserves and resources, future projections, and energy policy)?

Below tables taken from USGS report at http://www.usgs.gov/public/press/public_affairs/press_releases/pr1183m.html.

Table 1. Volumes of undiscovered world petroleum, by commodity, from this assessment (mean values, exclusive of the United States) and the previous USGS assessment

Commodity	USGS 1993 Assessment (Masters, 1994)	USGS 2000 Assessment (this study)
Undiscovered oil	539 billion barrels	649 billion barrels
Undiscovered natural gas	915 BBOE *1	778 BBOE
Undiscovered natural gas liquids	90 BBOE	207 BBOE
World Total	1544 BBOE	1634 BBOE

*1BBOE = billion barrels of oil equivalent.

Table 2. Volumes of undiscovered oil and undiscovered natural gas by region, including percentages of world totals (mean values, exclusive of the United States).

Region	Undiscovered oil billion barrels	Percent of world total	Undiscovered natural gas (trillion cubic feet)	Percent of world total
1: Former Soviet Union	116	17.9 %	1611	34.5 %
2: Middle East and North Africa	230	35.4 %	1370	29.3 %
3: Asia-Pacific	30	4.6 %	379	8.1 %
4: Europe	22	3.4 %	312	6.7 %
5: North America*	70	10.9 %	154	3.3 %
6: Central and South America	105	16.2 %	487	10.4 %
7: Sub-Saharan Africa and Antarctica	72	11.0 %	235	5.0 %
8: South Asia	4	0.6 %	120	2.6 %
World Total*	649		4669

* Exclusive of the United States

Note the geopolitical distribution!

Simple facts and simple-minded extrapolation: Annual consumption rate - 25 billion barrels/year global consumption. 859 Bb normal reserves. Straight line and simple minded extrapolation - <40 years of reserves left (still resources). Estimate of total from this report -> 2120 Bb oil left in ground. Perhaps < hundred years of oil resource left.

What factors will likely lengthen this estimate?

What factors will likely shorten this estimate?

U.S. position in the global context (95 DOE #s):

• reserves -> 7% of total.
• resources -> about 110 Bb.
• consumption -> 6.4 Bb, about 25% of the global consumption.
• imports -> oil imports slightly over 50%.
• reserves have been steadily decreasing.
• Hubbert's resource nonrenewable resource utilization curve.
• USGS fact sheets on energy resources

What are exploration techniques for hydrocarbons?

• early on could drill where oil seeped out of ground.
• geologic mapping allowed inference as to geology at depth and location of possible reservoirs.
• now in search of offshore and/or hidden/subtle oil fields -> need to use geophysics.
  • seismic reflection profiling.
  • latest is 3-D seismic reflection profiles.

Concerns associated with transportation, refinement?

• oil spills from tankers.
• Amoco Cadiz, March 1978, offshore France, 1.6 million barrels lost, 160 km of shoreline affected.
• Exxon Valdez, March 24th 1989, Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, 250,000 barrels lost, steam cleaning of shore sections not such a good idea in the long run.
• Mega Borg had fire on June 8th, 1990, 80 km from galveston Texas with 4.3 million gallons released. Tried bioremediation. (source Keller)
• double lined tankers.
• emissions, groundwater contamination from refinement.

What are concerns associated with intensive fossil fuel use?

• depletion of the nonrenewable sources.
• contribution to global warming, global climate change.
• geopolitical distribution and ramifications.

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