Oil and Gas Development on EARTH Magazine

Kerogen's nanostructure determines oil and gas reservoir capacity

Wed, 13 Feb 2019 16:12:45 -0500

At left is a digitized image of the exterior of a kerogen sample; at right is a three-dimensional image of its internal pore structure as revealed by electron tomography. Credit: Roland Pellenq/MIT.

The petroleum and natural gas that power engines and heat homes are extracted from the complex networks of nooks and crannies that permeate kerogen — a waxy organic mishmash that forms within sedimentary rocks as algae, terrestrial plants and other organic matter is compacted and heated over geologic time. In a new study, scientists have taken the closest look yet at kerogen’s internal pore structure, and the resulting images are helping scientists understand why some oil and gas reservoirs are more productive than others.

Airport earthquakes continued after injection ended

Tue, 01 May 2018 16:08:04 -0400

Seismicity induced by wastewater injection around the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport did not cease when injection stopped. The solid red line delineates the Airport Fault, while the dashed red line marks a cross section in a new pore pressure study. Credit: K. Cantner, AGI modified from Ogwari et al., 2018.

Since Oct. 31, 2008, when seismic activity was first detected, hundreds of earthquakes smaller than magnitude 3.4 have peppered a fault zone that partly underlies the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in north-central Texas. After the quakes were linked to the subsurface disposal of wastewater fluids from oil and gas operations in wells located within a kilometer of the initial quakes, wastewater injections into those wells were halted in August 2009. A new study finds that quakes near the airport continued for years after the wells were shut down, suggesting that halting wastewater injection may not immediately stop induced seismicity.

Coatings may prevent pipeline clogs

Fri, 11 Aug 2017 14:01:14 -0400

Clogs caused by the formation of gas hydrates are a major concern for oil and gas pipeline operators. Water-repellent films coating the inside of pipes could prevent hydrate formation. Credit: Luca Galuzzi, CC BY-SA 2.5.

When ice forms in household water pipes, blockages and expansion can cause the pipes to burst. Similar problems can arise in the transportation of oil and gas when ice-like substances called gas hydrates build up inside pipelines — an issue traditionally mitigated by insulating pipes or by using antifreeze additives. But in a new study published in the journal ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, researchers report an alternative solution: specialized coatings for the inside of oil and gas pipes that prevent hydrate buildups and clogs. The coatings could prove more reliable than the usual approaches, but whether the method can be applied cost-effectively on a large scale is uncertain.

Did Jurassic tectonics lead to supergiant oilfields?

Tue, 18 Apr 2017 12:26:44 -0400

Rapid tectonic movements that shuttled the Arabian Plate from near the equator to the southern tropics and back again in the Middle and Late Jurassic may have led to the formation of Arabia's giant oilfields, including the massive Ghawar field. Credit: K. Cantner, AGI.

More than 6 percent of global oil production comes from a single oilfield: the supergiant Ghawar oilfield in eastern Saudi Arabia, which produces more than 5 million barrels of crude oil every day. In a new study in GSA Today exploring the origins of this vast oilfield, researchers have found that extensive tectonic plate movements during the Middle and Late Jurassic may have created the conditions necessary for the formation of the Ghawar and several other oilfields across the Middle East.

Water use soared as workers flocked to North Dakota's oilfields

Tue, 20 Sep 2016 15:13:27 -0400

Pump trucks transport water from Lake Sakakawea in North Dakota's Bakken region to oil well production sites. Credit: Rob Horner.

Amid North Dakota’s oil boom, about 24,000 temporary oilfield workers moved to Williams County — in the state’s Bakken oil shale region — between 2010 and 2012, almost doubling the area’s population. In a new study, researchers found that those workers have been responsible for the region’s skyrocketing water use almost as much as hydraulic fracturing by the oil industry itself.

Benchmarks: September 23, 1933: The U.S. oil industry arrives in Saudi Arabia

Tue, 23 Aug 2016 10:57:38 -0400

The towns of Jubail and Dammam on Saudi Arabia's Persian Gulf coast played major roles in the early history of oil exploration in the country. Credit: ©NormanEinstein, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported.

Saudi Arabia currently produces about 11 million barrels of oil per day, edging out Russia and the U.S. to rank first in the world in production, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The desert kingdom also has proven reserves of more than 260 billion barrels — spread among numerous fields (though most reside in a handful of giant fields) — amounting to about one-fifth of the world’s total. The country exports more oil than any other and exerts an undeniably prominent influence on the world oil market from its seat in the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Benchmarks: August 2, 1922: Marines invade Teapot Dome, deepen scandal

Fri, 20 Nov 2015 10:24:46 -0500

Teapot Dome in Wyoming today and in 1927 (inset). Credit: both: courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy.

On Aug. 2, 1922, U.S. marines took over the oilfields at Teapot Dome. Credit: courtesy of the U.S. Department of Energy.

Early in the morning of Aug. 2, 1922, soldiers from the United States Marine Corps arrived at the train station in Casper, Wyo. They had been traveling for three days from the East Coast to reach an important government facility, officially designated the Naval Petroleum Reserve No. 3 (NPR-3), better known as Teapot Dome. Their orders, which President Warren Harding had approved only the week before, were to evict trespassers from a small oil claim in the northern end of the reserve. Following a quick breakfast, the soldiers proceeded north by car under the command of Capt. George K. Shuler. He had hand-picked the men, with whom he had fought in World War I.

Benchmarks: October 9, 1865: First Successful U.S. Oil Pipeline

Tue, 01 Sep 2015 10:48:38 -0400

"Colonel" Edwin Drake (right) standing in front of the engine house and derrick of his well at Oil Creek, Pa., circa 1861. Credit: Drake Well Museum.

When Americans think of domestic oil, they likely think of Texas, Alaska or California — vast fields of towering derricks and quietly dipping oil pumps. The American oil industry, however, originated on the other side of the country in the forested wilderness of northwestern Pennsylvania. One of the most pivotal moments in the industry’s early history occurred in October 1865, when Samuel Van Syckel completed more than eight kilometers of underground pipe to transport oil from Pithole, Pa., directly to the railroad. From there, it would go on to Oil City, Pa., and then to major industrial centers, like Pittsburgh.

Geologic Column: By train or pipeline: That is the question

Mon, 21 Jul 2014 16:05:57 -0400

My wife and I (and our 49-year marriage) recently survived a 48-hour train trip from Chicago to Portland aboard Amtrak’s aptly-named “Empire Builder.” Traveling on a single-track line, the train spent a day crossing North Dakota, slowed behind empty tanker trains and shunted to side rails so oncoming, higher-priority oil cargo could pass. We met and chatted with a number of workers heading from or returning to work in the Bakken oilfields. One such conversation was with a gregarious 20-year-old high-school dropout who works for an oil company. Working stretches of 14 consecutive 12-hour days, interspersed with six-day breaks, he earns $25 per hour and also receives a $125 per diem. His total annual compensation exceeds $100,000! It’s tough work, he told us, but it’s an adventure and there’s nowhere else he could make as much money.

Gaming the system in the Caspian Sea: Can game theory solve a decades-old dispute?

Tue, 15 Oct 2013 10:00:27 -0400

Kathleen Cantner, AGI

Water-rights disputes are never easy. Whether they are over pumping from aquifers shared among adjacent landowners, allocation of resources at the municipal, county or state level, or division of a river or lake shared between neighboring countries, there is an inevitable push and pull among stakeholders over who gets what and how much. In the end, resolutions tend to be compromises — often meted out by governing authorities — which, while not ideal from any one party’s standpoint, appeal to the desire of the group for stability over strife.

Building resource corridors in Afghanistan: A solution to an interminable war?

Wed, 14 Aug 2013 12:24:30 -0400

When possible, USGS scientists work together with Afghan geologists to create new resource maps. U.S. Geological Survey

USGS researchers mapped mineral resources on remote sensing missions in Afghanistan. U.S. Geological Survey

Areas near Kabul are rich in copper. U.S. Geological Survey

Afghanistan has been ravaged by decades-long conflicts that have left it economically depressed, but the country also holds a potentially huge natural resource base. Some estimates have put the value of the resources — copper, gold, coal, oil, gas, industrial minerals, rare earth minerals and more — between $1 trillion and $3 trillion. If those resources can be extracted and sold legitimately, they could help the country recover from decades of violence and allow its population to reap the rewards of their considerable natural assets. The sizable mineral and energy resources awaiting exploitation bring the possibility of thousands of new jobs and great wealth enhancement in a chronically wage-starved country.

The Bakken boom and the new wild west: A young geologist's perspective

Fri, 21 Sep 2012 14:54:54 -0400

Statoil

The author, R. Tyler Powers, in front of a drilling rig in the Bakken oilfields. R. Tyler Powers

The author, R. Tyler Powers, at work inside an office trailer. R. Tyler Powers

Lengths of drill pipe at an oilfield near Williston, North Dakota. Lindsey Gee, Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic

Williston North Dakota in 2008, when the population was somewhere between 12,000 and 14,000. Copyright Andrew Filer, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic

Black dots indicate wells drilled in the Bakken Formation, Williston Basin and larger Prairie Pothole Region, as of February 2012. U.S. Geological Survey

Like many of my colleagues, I have found myself in awe of the drastically changing energy landscape around me. Both technologically and economically, the world of energy is not what it used to be. Precious resources that allow the modern world to exist are becoming harder to find and much more difficult to extract, but advances in drilling technology, such as directional drilling, are a tribute to humanity’s ability to innovate when needed. Nowhere on Earth is this more prevalent than in the Bakken Formation of North Dakota, where I have spent the last year working, learning, living and observing as the energy world changes.

Listening for gas bubbles

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 10:39:21 -0500

Methane hydrate recovered during a U.S. Geological Survey gas hydrate research cruise in the Gulf of Mexico in 2002. Passive acoustic techniques may be used to find gas hydrate deposits. William Winters, USGS

Passive acoustic technology detects natural gas leaks and seeps

In recent decades, active acoustic surveys have been used to detect methane seeps and gas hydrates — deposits of crystalline solids consisting of gas molecules, usually methane, surrounded by a cage of water molecules — buried under the seafloor.