Advances in Petroleum Holdings
Recent advances in Petroleum Holdings molecular biology have extended our understanding of the metabolic processes related to microbial transformation of petroleum hydrocarbons. The physiological responses of microorganisms to the presence of hydrocarbons, including cell surface alterations and adaptive mechanisms for uptake and efflux of these substrates, have been characterized. New molecular techniques have enhanced our ability to investigate the dynamics of microbial communities in petroleum-impacted ecosystems. By establishing Petroleum Holdingsconditions which maximize rates and extents of microbial growth, hydrocarbon access, and transformation, highly accelerated and bioreactor-based petroleum waste degradation processes have been implemented. Biofilters capable of removing and biodegrading volatile petroleum contaminants in air streams with short substrate-microbe contact times (<60 s) are being used effectively. Microbes are being injected into partially spent petroleum Petroleum Holdings reservoirs to enhance oil recovery. However, Petroleum Holdings these microbial processes have not exhibited consistent and effective performance, primarily because of our inability to control conditions in the subsurface environment. Microbes may be exploited to break stable oilfield emulsions to produce pipeline quality oil. There is interest in replacing physical oil desulfurization processes with biodesulfurization methods through promotion of selective sulfur removal without degradation of associated carbon moieties. However, since microbes require an environment containing some water Petroleum Holdings, a two-phase oil-water system must be established to optimize contact between the microbes and the hydrocarbon, and such an emulsion is not easily created with viscous crude oil. This challenge may be circumvented by application of the technology to more refined gasoline and diesel substrates, where aqueous-hydrocarbon emulsions are more easily generated. Molecular approaches are being used to broaden the substrate specificity and increase the rates and extents of desulfurization. Bacterial processes are being commercialized for removal of H2S and sulfoxides from petrochemical waste streams. Microbes also have Petroleum Holdings potential for use in removal of nitrogen from crude oil leading to reduced nitric oxide emissions provided that technical problems similar to those experienced in biodesulfurization can be solved. Enzymes are being exploited to produce added-value products from petroleum substrates, and bacterial biosensors are being used to analyze petroleum-contaminated environments.
Petroleum Holdings biology
LS9, a high-tech fuel company that’s all about imitating nature, has received $5 million in funding, as the search to derive alternatives to fossil fuels through plants and microbes gains momentum.
The company hopes to make what it calls “renewable petroleum,” a synthetic version of petroleum and other oil-based industrial products. (It has trademarked the name.)
Synthetic petroleum can provide more energy, per gallon, than ethanol, advocates say, and it can power the wide mass of cars on the road today. It also will result in less carbon dioxide emissions overall than regular gas dug from the ground.
Some start-ups, such as Solazyme and LiveFuels, have announced plans to produce synthetic petroleum from algae. Fields of algae will absorb carbon dioxide and other compounds and metabolize it into petroleum, the companies said.
By contrast, LS9 said it will brew petroleum through synthetic biology, laboratory and industrial processes that can perform the same function as algae or microbes. As a result, production doesn’t rely on live, single-celled creatures. Ideally, this will make the manufacturing process more amenable to performance enhancement or control. In a sense, LS9 will make imitation petroleum with imitation animals.
The company’s efforts are largely based on research conducted by Chris Somerville, director of the Carnegie Institution and professor of plant biology at Stanford University, and George Church, the director of the MIT-Harvard U.S. Department of Energy GTL (Gas to Liquids) Center and professor of genetics at Harvard University. Khosla Ventures is the principal investor, and Khosla Venture partner Doug Cameron is the acting CEO.
In a relatively short time, the Khosla firm has formed something of a microbe mafia by investing in a wide variety of companies that concentrate on harnessing the power of synthetic or real biology. The firm has invested in Gevo, a company spun out of the California Institute of Technology that hopes to develop ethanol production processes by imitating the metabolic processes of termites. Khosla is also one of the primary investors in Mascoma, which is building a plant in New York state to turn leftover farm products and other vegetable matter into ethanol with microbes.
Additionally, the firm had an investment in Celunol, which was bought by Diversa, a maker of industrial enzymes founded by Caltech professor Mel Simon. Simon has touted the termite ideas being developed at Gevo.
US Petroleum Holdings, information about gas, oil and petroleum
The UK now exports quantities of crude oil and is acknowledged for expertise in the area of deep-water technology – using advanced engineering techniques for extracting a higher proportion of oil from each field. This technique was unknown twenty years ago. Consequently, UK specialists are in demand all over the world.
The UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) is facing significant challenges as the province matures. Recovering oil and gas from the North Sea and the Atlantic Margin (the area of water to the west of Shetland and the north of the Hebrides) is a highly technical, complex, dangerous and expensive job. As supplies from larger oil fields run out, smaller, more expensive fields are being exploited. UK oil companies have to be inventive and invest in safe and efficient techniques to remain competitive.
The UK still has substantial recoverable reserves of oil and gas, potentially exceeding the amount already produced. However, many existing, large producing fields are well into decline and discoveries are becoming fewer and smaller or have significant associated technical challenges.
Current trends
As the UK’s oil fields mature, the industry’s focus has shifted from searching for new oil discoveries to continuing the productivity of mature fields, as well as developing smaller fields that were not previously considered commercially viable. This trend has prompted major oil companies to begin selling some of their mature UKCS assets in favour of other regions of the world. Smaller, independent oil companies have been acquiring these UKCS assets.
Natural gas is the UK’s largest source of primary energy, supplying over 40% of the country’s total energy needs. It is used as both a domestic and industrial fuel. It generates electricity to provide heat and power for homes and industries, and is feedstock for chemicals, pharmaceuticals and other products.
The UK is currently the world’s fourth largest producer of natural gas and has more than 200 offshore fields in production around Great Britain. The greatest concentrations of gas are found in the southern sector of the North Sea, but significant volumes are also produced from the central and
Politics of Alternative fuels
Vinod Khosla (a well known invester in IT firms and alternative energy) argues[19] that the political interests of environmental advocates, agricultural businesses, energy security advocates (such as ex-CIA director James Woolsey) and automakers, are all aligned for the increased production of ethanol. He pointed out that from 2003 to 2006, ethanol fuel in Brazil has replaced 40% of its gasoline consumption while flex fuel vehicles went from 3% of car sales to 70%. Brazilian ethanol, which is produced using sugarcane, reduces green house gases by 60-80% (20% for corn produced ethanol). Khosla also says that ethanol is about 10% cheaper per given distance. There are currently ethanol subsidies in the United States but they are all blender’s credits, meaning the oil refineries receive the subsidies rather than the farmers. There are indirect subsidies due to subsidising farmers to produce corn. Vinod says after one of his presentations in Davos, a Senior Saudi oil official came up to him and threatened: “If biofuels start to take off we will drop the price of oil.”[20] Since then, Vinod has come up with a new recommendation that oil should be taxed if it drops below $40.00/barrel in order to counter price manipulation.
Ex-CIA director James Woolsey and U.S. Senator Richard Lugar are also vocal proponents of ethanol.[21]
In 2005, Sweden announced plans to end its dependence on fossil fuels by the year 2020.[22]
Petroleum Holding politics en Venezuela
According to the Oil and Gas Journal (OGJ), Venezuela has 77.2 billion barrels of proven conventional oil reserves, the largest of any country in the Western Hemisphere. In addition it has non-conventional oil deposits similar in size to Canada’s – at 1,200 billion barrels approximately equal to the world’s reserves of conventional oil. About 267 billion barrels of this may be producible at current prices using current technology.[14] Venezuela’s Orinoco tar sands are less viscous than Canada’s Athabasca oil sands – meaning they can be produced by more conventional means, but are buried deeper – meaning they cannot be extracted by surface mining. In an attempt to have these extra heavy oil reserves recognized by the international community, Venezuela has moved to add them to its conventional reserves to give nearly 350 billion barrels of total oil reserves. This would give it the largest oil reserves in the world, even ahead of Saudi Arabia.
Venezuela nationalized its oil industry in 1975-1976, creating Petróleos de Venezuela S.A. (PdVSA), the country’s state-run oil and natural gas company. Along with being Venezuela’s largest employer, PdVSA accounts for about one-third of the country’s GDP, 50 percent of the government’s revenue and 80 percent of Venezuela’s exports earnings. In recent years, under the influence of President Chavez, the Venezuelan government has reduced PdVSA’s previous autonomy and amended the rules regulating the country’s hydrocarbons sector.[15]
In the 1990s, Venezuela opened its upstream oil sector to private investment. This collection of policies, called apertura, facilitated the creation of 32 operating service agreements (OSA) with 22 separate foreign oil companies, including international oil majors like Chevron, BP, Total, and Repsol-YPF.
Estimates of Venezuelan oil production vary. Venezuela claims its oil production is over 3 million barrels per day, but oil industry analysts and the U.S. Energy Information Administration believe it to be much lower. In addition to other reporting irregularities, much of its production is extra-heavy oil, which may or may not be included with conventional oil in the various production estimates. The U.S. Energy Information Agency estimated Venezuela’s oil production in December 2006 was only 2.5 million barrels per day, a 24% decline from its peak of 3.3 million in 1997.[16]
Hugo Chávez, the President of Venezuela sharply diverged from previous administrations’ economic policies, terminating their practice of extensively privatizing Venezuela’s state-owned holdings, such as the oil sector.[17] Chávez also worked to reduce Venezuelan oil extraction in the hopes of garnering elevated oil prices and, at least theoretically, elevated total oil revenues, thereby boosting Venezuela’s severely deflated foreign exchange reserves. He extensively lobbied other OPEC countries to cut their production rates as well. As a result of these actions, Chávez became known as a “price hawk” in his dealings with the oil industry and OPEC. Chávez also attempted a comprehensive renegotiation of 60-year-old royalty payment agreements with oil giants Philips Petroleum and ExxonMobil.[18] These agreements had allowed the corporations to pay in taxes as little as 1% of the tens of billions of dollars in revenues they were earning from the Venezuelan oil they were extracting. Afterwards, a frustrated Chávez stated his intention to complete the nationalization of Venezuela’s oil resources. Although unsuccessful in his attempts to renegotiate with the oil corporations, Chávez succeeded in improving both the fairness and efficiency of Venezuela’s formerly lax tax collection and auditing system, especially for major corporations and landholders.
Recently, Venezuela has pushed the creation of regional oil initiatives for the Caribbean (Petrocaribe), the Andean region (Petroandino), and South America (Petrosur), and Latin America (Petroamerica). The initiatives include assistance for oil developments, investments in refining capacity, and preferential oil pricing. The most developed of these three is the Petrocaribe initiative, with 13 nations signing a preliminary agreement in 2005. Under Petrocaribe, Venezuela will offer crude oil and petroleum products to Caribbean nations under preferential terms and prices, with Jamaica as the first nation to sign on in August 2005.
Pipeline diplomacy petroleum
The Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline was built to transport crude oil and the Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum pipeline (South Caucasus Pipeline) was built to transport natural gas from the western side of the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean Sea bypassing Russian pipelines and thus Russian control. Following the construction of the pipelines the United States and the European Union proposed extending them by means of the proposed Trans-Caspian Oil Pipeline and the Trans-Caspian Gas Pipeline under the Caspian Sea to oil and gas fields on the eastern side of the Caspian Sea in Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. In 2007, Russia signed agreements with Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan to connect their oil and gas fields to the Russian pipeline system effectively killing the undersea route.
China has completed the Kazakhstan-China oil pipeline from the Kazakhstan oil fields to the Chinese Alashankou-Dushanzi Crude Oil Pipeline in China. China is also working on the Kazakhstan-China gas pipeline from the Kazakhstan gas fields to the Chinese West-East Gas Pipeline in China.
Petroleum positics holdings US
In 1956, a Shell geophysicist named M. King Hubbert accurately predicted that U.S. oil production would peak in 1970.[1]
Matthew Simmons, an energy investment banker and a former adviser to US president George W. Bush believes that oil production in Saudi Arabia will soon peak, meaning it will not be able to supply the world’s growing energy needs.
In June of 2006, former U.S. president Bill Clinton said in a speech,[2]
“We may be at a point of peak oil production. You may see $100 a barrel oil in the next two or three years, but what still is driving this globalization is the idea that is you cannot possibly get rich, stay rich and get richer if you don’t release more greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. That was true in the industrial era; it is simply factually not true. What is true is that the old energy economy is well organized, financed and connected politically.”
In a 1999 speech, Dick Cheney, the US Vice President and former CEO of Halliburton (one of the world’s largest energy services corporations), said,
“By some estimates there will be an average of two per cent annual growth in global oil demand over the years ahead along with conservatively a three per cent natural decline in production from existing reserves. That means by 2010 we will need on the order of an additional fifty million barrels a day. So where is the oil going to come from?….While many regions of the world offer great oil opportunities, the Middle East with two thirds of the world’s oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies, even though companies are anxious for greater access there, progress continues to be slow.”[3]
Cheney went on to argue that the oil industry should become more active in politics:
” Oil is the only large industry whose leverage has not been all that effective in the political arena. Textiles, electronics, agriculture all seem often to be more influential. Our constituency is not only oilmen from Louisiana and Texas, but software writers in Massachusetts and specially steel producers in Pennsylvania. I am struck that this industry is so strong technically and financially yet not as politically successful or influential as are often smaller industries. We need to earn credibility to have our views heard.”
Prices of oil
economist of the International Energy Agency expressed his opinion in October 2007 that oil prices will remain high for the foreseeable future. Birol says this is due to rapid increases in demand from the rapidly growing economies of India and China.[16] The ministers of OPEC, meeting in early December 2007, appeared to reach a consensus for high, but stable prices. This price point would deliver consistently high income to the oil producing states, but avoid prices so high that they would depress the economies of the oil consuming nations. A range of 70-80 dollars a barrel was suggested by some analysts to be OPEC’s goal.[17] Major oil exporting countries are rapidly developing and are using more oil domestically. Particularly significant are Indonesia, which no longer exports oil, Mexico and Iran, where projected demand will exceed production in about 5 years, and Russia, which is growing rapidly.[18]
Analysis source rocks petroleum geology
Analysis of source rocks
In terms of source rock analysis, several facts need to be established. Firstly, the question of whether there actually is any source rock in the area must be answered. Delineation and identification of potential source rocks depends on studies of the local stratigraphy, palaeogeography and sedimentology to determine the likelihood of organic-rich sediments having been deposited in the past.
If the likelihood of there being a source rock is thought to be high, the next matter to address is the state of thermal maturity of the source, and the timing of maturation. Maturation of source rocks (see diagenesis and fossil fuels) depends strongly on temperature, such that the majority of oil generation occurs in the 60° to 120°C range. Gas generation starts at similar temperatures, but may continue up beyond this range, perhaps as high as 200°C. In order to determine the likelihood of oil/gas generation, therefore, the thermal history of the source rock must be calculated. This is performed with a combination of geochemical analysis of the source rock (to determine the type of kerogens present and their maturation characteristics) and basin modelling methods, such as back-stripping, to model the thermal gradient in the sedimentary column.
Uses of Gas Oil
Us Petroleum Holdings Oil has many uses; it heats homes and businesses and fuels trucks, ships and some cars. A small amount of electricity is produced by diesel, but it is more polluting and more expensive than natural gas. It is often used as a backup fuel for peaking power plants in case the supply of natural gas is interrupted or as the main fuel for small electrical generators. In Europe the use of diesel is generally restricted to cars (about 40%), SUVs (about 90%), and trucks (virtually all). The market for home heating using fuel oil, called heating oil, has decreased due to the widespread penetration of natural gas. However, it is very common in some areas, such as the Northeastern United States.
Residual fuel oil is less useful because it is so viscous that it has to be heated with a special heating system before use and it contains relatively high amounts of pollutants, particularly sulfur, which forms sulfur dioxide upon combustion. However, its undesirable properties make it very cheap. In fact, it is the cheapest liquid fuel available. Since it requires heating before use, residual fuel oil cannot be used in road vehicles, boats or small ships, as the heating equipment takes up valuable space and makes the vehicle heavier. Heating the oil is also a delicate procedure, which is inappropriate to do on small, fast moving vehicles. However, power plants and large ships are able to use residual fuel oil.
Residual fuel oil was used more frequently in the past. It powered boilers, railroad locomotives and steamships. Locomotives now use diesel, steamships are still used however are not as common as they were previously due to their higher operating costs, (most LNG carriers use steam plants as boil off gas emitted from the cargo can be used as a fuel source), and most boilers now use heating oil or natural gas. However, some industrial boilers still use it and so do a few old buildings, mostly in New York City. Residual fuel’s use in electricity generation has also decreased. In 1973, residual fuel oil produced 16.8% of the electricity in the United States. By 1983, it had fallen to 6.2%, and as of 2005, electricity production from all forms US Petroleum Holdings of petroleum, including diesel and residual fuel, is only 3% of total production. The decline is the result of price competition with natural gas and environmental restrictions on emissions. For power plants, the costs of heating the oil, extra pollution control and additional maintenance required after burning it often outweigh the low cost of the fuel. Burning fuel oil, particularly residual fuel oil, also produces much darker smoke than natural gas, which affects the perception of the plant by the community.
Heavy fuel oils continue to be used in the boiler “lighting up” facility in every coal-fired power plant, of which there are a small number in the UK and dozens in China. Although on an enormous scale, it is analogous to lighting kindling to start a fire – without performing this simple function it is difficult to begin the large-scale combustion process.
The chief drawback to residual fuel oil is its high initial viscosity, particularly in the case of No. 6 oil, which requires a correctly engineered system for storage, pumping, and burning. Though it is still usually lighter than water (with a specific gravity usually ranging from 0.95 to 1.03) it is much heavier and more viscous than No. 2 oil, kerosene, or gasoline. No. 6 oil must, in fact, be stored at around 100°F (37.8°C) heated to 150°F (65.6°C)–250°F (121.1°C) before it can be easily pumped, and in cooler temperatures it can congeal into a tarry semisolid. The flash point of most blends of No. 6 oil is, incidentally, about 150°F (65.6°C). Attempting to pump high-viscosity oil at low temperatures was a frequent cause of damage to fuel lines, furnaces, and related equipment which were often designed with lighter fuels in mind.
(For comparison, BS2869 Class G Heavy Fuel Oil behaves in similar fashion, requiring storage at 104°F (40°C), pumping at around 122°F (50°C) and finalising for burning at around 194°F (90°C) / 248°F (120°C).)
Most of the facilities which historically burned No. 6 or other residual oils were industrial plants and similar facilities constructed in the early or mid 20th century, or which had switched from coal to oil fuel during the same time period. In either case, residual oil was seen as a good prospect because it was cheap and readily available, even though it provided less energy per litre than lighter fuels. Most of these facilities have subsequently been closed and demolished, or have replaced their fuel supplies with a simpler one such as gas or No. 2 oil. The high sulfur content of No. 6 oil– up to 3% by weight in some extreme cases– had a corrosive effect on many heating systems (which were usually designed without adequate corrosion protection in mind), shortening their lifespans and increasing the polluting effects. This was particularly the case in furnaces that were regularly shut down and allowed to go cold; the internal condensation produced sulfuric acid.
Environmental cleanups at such facilities are frequently complicated by the use of asbestos insulation on the fuel feed lines. No. 6 oil is very persistent, and does not degrade rapidly. Its viscosity and stickiness also make remediation of underground contamination very difficult, since it reduces the effectiveness of methods such as air-stripping.
When released into water, such as a river or ocean, residual oil tends to break up into patches or tarballs– mixtures of oil and particulate matter such as silt and floating organic matter- rather than form a single slick. An average of about 5-10% of the material will evaporate within hours of the release, primarily the lighter hydrocarbon fractions. The remainder will then often sink to the bottom of the water column.
