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
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.
USPetroleum what is petroleum?
US Petroleum Holdings colaborate with the us definition of Petroleum (Latin Petroleum f. Holdings Latin petra (f. Greek ????? – rock) + Latin oleum (f. Greek ?????? – oil)) or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid found in rock formations in the Earth consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various lengths, plus other organic compounds. The proportion of hydrocarbons in the mixture is highly variable and ranges from as much as 97% by weight in the lighter oils to as little as 50% in the heavier oils and bitumens.
The hydrocarbons in crude oil are mostly alkanes, cycloalkanes and various aromatic hydrocarbons while the other organic compounds contain nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur, and trace amounts of metals such as iron, nickel, copper and vanadium. The exact molecular composition varies widely from formation to formation but the proportion of chemical elements vary over fairly narrow limits as follows:[1]
| Carbon | 83-87% |
| Hydrogen | 10-14% |
| Nitrogen | 0.1-2% |
| Oxygen | 0.1-1.5% |
| Sulfur | 0.5-6% |
| Metals | <1000 ppm |
Crude oil varies greatly in appearance depending on its composition. It is usually black or dark brown (although it may be yellowish or even greenish). In the reservoir it is usually found in association with natural gas, which being lighter forms a gas cap over the petroleum, and saline water, which being heavier generally floats underneath it. Crude oil may also be found in semi-solid form mixed with sand, as in the Athabasca oil sands in Canada, where it may be referred to as crude bitumen.
Petroleum is used mostly, by volume, for producing fuel oil and gasoline (petrol), both important “primary energy” sources. [2] 84% by volume of the hydrocarbons present in petroleum is converted into energy-rich fuels (petroleum-based fuels), including gasoline, diesel, jet, heating, and other fuel oils, and liquefied petroleum gas. [3]
Due to its high energy density, easy transportability and relative abundance, it has become the world’s most important source of energy since the mid-1950s. Petroleum is also the raw material for many chemical products, including pharmaceuticals, solvents, fertilizers, pesticides, and plastics; the 16% not used for energy production is converted into these other materials.
Petroleum is found in porous rock formations in the upper strata of some areas of the Earth’s crust. There is also petroleum in oil sands (tar sands). Known reserves of petroleum are typically estimated at around 140 km³ (1.2 trillion barrels) without oil sands [4], or 440 km³ (3.74 trillion barrels) with oil sands [5]. However, oil production from oil sands is currently severely limited. Consumption is currently around 84 million barrels per day, or 3.6 km³ per year. Because of reservoir engineering difficulties, recoverable oil reserves are significantly less than total oil-in-place. At current consumption levels, and assuming that oil will be consumed only from reservoirs, known reserves would be gone around 2039, potentially leading to a global energy crisis. However, this ignores any new discoveries, rapidly increasing consumption in China, India, and other developing nations; using oil sands, using synthetic petroleum, and other factors which may extend or reduce this estimate.
Uses of Fuel
From Wikipedia
Petroleum, in some form or other, is not a substance new in the world’s history. More than four thousand years ago, according to Herodotus and confirmed by Diodorus Siculus, asphalt was employed in the construction of the walls and towers of Babylon; there were oil pits near Ardericca (near Babylon), and a pitch spring on Zacynthus.[10] Great quantities of it were found on the banks of the river Issus, one of the tributaries of the Euphrates. Ancient Persian tablets indicate the medicinal and lighting uses of petroleum in the upper levels of their society.
The earliest known oil wells were drilled in China in 347 CE or earlier. They had depths of up to about 800 feet (244 m) and were drilled using bits attached to bamboo poles.[11] The oil was burned to evaporate brine and produce salt. By the 10th century, extensive bamboo pipelines connected oil wells with salt springs. The ancient records of China and Japan are said to contain many allusions to the use of natural gas for lighting and heating. Petroleum was known as burning water in Japan in the 7th century. [10]
The Middle East petroleum industry was established by the 8th century, when the streets of the newly constructed Baghdad were paved with tar, derived from easily accessible petroleum from natural fields in the region. In the 9th century, oil fields were exploited in the area around modern Baku, Azerbaijan, to produce naphtha. These fields were described by the geographer Masudi in the 10th century, and by Marco Polo in the 13th century, who described the output of those wells as hundreds of shiploads. Petroleum was distilled by Persian chemist al-Razi in the 9th century, producing chemicals such as kerosene in the al-ambiq (alembic). [12] (See also: Alchemy (Islam), Islamic science, and Timeline of science and technology in the Islamic world.)
The earliest mention of American petroleum occurs in Sir Walter Raleigh’s account of the Trinidad Pitch Lake in 1595; whilst thirty-seven years later, the account of a visit of a Franciscan, Joseph de la Roche d’Allion, to the oil springs of New York was published in Sagard’s Histoire du Canada. A Russian traveller, Peter Kalm, in his work on America published in 1748 showed on a map the oil springs of Pennsylvania. [10]
In 1711 the Greek physician Eyrini d’Eyrinis discovered asphalt at Val-de-Travers, (Neuchâtel). He established a bitumen mine de la Presta there in 1719 that operated until 1986. [13][14]
Oil sands were mined from 1745 in Merkwiller-Pechelbronn, Alsace under the direction of Louis Pierre Ancillon de la Sablonnière, by special appointement of Louis XV.[15] The Pechelbronn oil field was active until 1970, and was the birth place of companies like Antar and Schlumberger. The first modern refinery was built there in 1857.[15]
The modern history of petroleum began in 1846 with the discovery of the process of refining kerosene from coal by Nova Scotian Abraham Pineo Gesner.
Ignacy ?ukasiewicz improved Gesner’s method to develop a means of refining kerosene from the more readily available “rock oil” (“petr-oleum”) seeps in 1852 and the first rock oil mine was built in Bóbrka, near Krosno in Galicia in the following year. These discoveries rapidly spread around the world, and Meerzoeff built the first Russian refinery in the mature oil fields at Baku in 1861. At that time Baku produced about 90% of the world’s oil.
Oil field in California, 1938.
The first commercial oil well drilled in North America was in Oil Springs, Ontario, Canada in 1858, dug by James Miller Williams. The US petroleum industry began with Edwin Drake’s drilling of a 69-foot (21 m) oil well in 1859, on Oil Creek near Titusville, Pennsylvania, for the Seneca Oil Company (originally yielding 25 barrels a day, by the end of the year output was at the rate of 15 barrels). The industry grew slowly in the 1800s, driven by the demand for kerosene and oil lamps. It became a major national concern in the early part of the 20th century; the introduction of the internal combustion engine provided a demand that has largely sustained the industry to this day. Early “local” finds like those in Pennsylvania and Ontario were quickly outpaced by demand, leading to “oil booms” in Texas, Oklahoma, and California.
Early production of crude petroleum in the United States: [10]
- 1859: 2,000 barrels (~340 t)
- 1869: 4,215,000 barrels (~721,000 t)
- 1879: 19,914,146 barrels (~3,410,000 t)
- 1889: 35,163,513 barrels (~6,020,000 t)
- 1899: 57,084,428 barrels (~9,770,000 t)
- 1906: 126,493,936 barrels (~21,600,000 t)
By 1910, significant oil fields had been discovered in Canada (specifically, in the province of Ontario), the Dutch East Indies (1885, in Sumatra), Iran (1908, in Masjed Soleiman), Peru, Venezuela, and Mexico, and were being developed at an industrial level.
Even until the mid-1950s, coal was still the world’s foremost fuel, but oil quickly took over. Following the 1973 energy crisis and the 1979 energy crisis, there was significant media coverage of oil supply levels. This brought to light the concern that oil is a limited resource that will eventually run out, at least as an economically viable energy source. At the time, the most common and popular predictions were always quite dire, and when they did not come true, many dismissed all such discussion. The future of petroleum as a fuel remains somewhat controversial. USA Today news (2004) reports that there are 40 years of petroleum left in the ground. Some[citation needed] argue that because the total amount of petroleum is finite, the dire predictions of the 1970s have merely been postponed. Others[citation needed] claim that technology will continue to allow for the production of cheap hydrocarbons and that the earth has vast sources of unconventional petroleum reserves in the form of tar sands, bitumen fields and oil shale that will allow for petroleum use to continue in the future, with both the Canadian tar sands and United States shale oil deposits representing potential reserves matching existing liquid petroleum deposits worldwide.
Today, about 90% of vehicular fuel needs are met by oil. Petroleum also makes up 40% of total energy consumption in the United States, but is responsible for only 2% of electricity generation. Petroleum’s worth as a portable, dense energy source powering the vast majority of vehicles and as the base of many industrial chemicals makes it one of the world’s most important commodities. Access to it was a major factor in several military conflicts including World War II and the Persian Gulf Wars of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. The top three oil producing countries are Saudi Arabia, Russia, and the United States. About 80% of the world’s readily accessible reserves are located in the Middle East, with 62.5% coming from the Arab 5: Saudi Arabia (12.5%), UAE, Iraq, Qatar and Kuwait. However, with today’s oil prices, Venezuela has larger reserves than Saudi Arabia due to crude reserves derived from bitumen.
Us petroleum holdings quimics
Petroleum is a mixture of a very large number of different hydrocarbons ; the most commonly found molecules are alkanes (linear or branched), cycloalkanes, aromatic hydrocarbons, or more complicated chemicals like asphaltenes. Each petroleum variety has a unique mix of molecules, which define its physical and chemical properties, like color and viscosity.
The alkanes, also known as paraffins, are saturated hydrocarbons with straight or branched chains which contain only carbon and hydrogen and have the general formula CnH2n+2 They generally have from 5 to 40 carbon atoms per molecule, although trace amounts of shorter or longer molecules may be present in the mixture.
The alkanes from pentane (C5H12) to octane (C8H18) are refined into gasoline (petrol), the ones from nonane (C9H20) to hexadecane (C16H34) into diesel fuel and jet fuel, and the ones from hexadecane upwards into fuel oil and lubricating oil. At the heavier end of the range, paraffin wax is an alkane with approximately 25 carbon atoms, while asphalt has 35 and up, although these are usually cracked by modern refineries into more valuable products. Any shorter hydrocarbons are considered natural gas or natural gas liquids.
The cycloalkanes, also known as napthenes, are saturated hydrocarbons which have one or more carbon rings to which hydrogen atoms are attached according to the formula CnH2n. Cycloalkanes have similar properties to alkanes but have higher boiling points.
The aromatic hydrocarbons are unsaturated hydrocarbons which have one or more planar six-carbon rings called benzene rings, to which hydrogen atoms are attached with the formula CnHn. They tend to burn with a sooty flame, and many have a sweet aroma. Some are carcinogenic.
These different molecules are separated by fractional distillation at an oil refinery to produce gasoline, jet fuel, kerosene, and other hydrocarbons. For example 2,2,4-trimethylpentane (isooctane), widely used in gasoline, has a chemical formula of C8H18 and it reacts with oxygen exothermically:[6]
Incomplete combustion of petroleum or gasoline results in production of potentially toxic byproducts. Too little oxygen results in carbon monoxide. Combustion in air (which contains mostly nitrogen) results in nitric oxides. For example:
US Petroleum Holdings: Business Model
Our Business Model & Strategy:
There is no doubt that the trend in the Oil and Natural Gas market is toward higher and higher prices. The contributing factors for this are many and extremely diverse, running from political uncertainty to increased global consumption. We believe, US Petroleum Holdings, as most analysts do, that this trend will continue throughout the decade and through the next. Suffice it to say that we are in the right business, which under current circumstances will remain resilient to many of the dangerous economic forces that may arise.
Houston Farm Project
History
The Houston Farms #1 well was drilled by Midwest Oil Company US Petroleum Holdings in 1960 to a total depth of 16,085 ft. The Lower Frio, the main objective at 16,000 ft. was wet and non-productive, so the well was considered a dry hole. While drilling the well, core sample of various Upper Frio sands between 10,000 – 12,000 ft. were taken and indicated condensate (gas) pay. Prior to plugging and abandonment, several of these Upper Frio sands were tested and they showed to be productive. The well was never completed, most likely due to nominal gas prices and/or the lack of a gas market. With Natural Gas prices at the time only a few pennies per MCF of gas, it was not economical to set several miles of pipeline to transport for just one well. Consequently, the well was plugged and abandoned. US Petroleum Holdings
The Frio Deep-Seated Salt Dome Fields lie south and southeast of Houston in Brazoria, Ford Bend, Harris, Galveston and Chambers counties along the Texas coast, US Petroleum Holdings.
Collectively, the Frio Deep-seated Salt Dome Fields are significant because their cumulative yields exceed those of any other producing formation in Southeast Texas. From the early 1930’s through 1982, the fields reported a combined cumulative production in excess of 2.3 billion barrels of oil, and at the end of 1993, the figure surpassed 2.4 billion barrels.
Although the most prolific fields were found in the 1930’s (15 major discoveries), development of the play continued into the 1940’s and 1950’s, and centered in Chambers and Brazoria counties, US Petroleum Holdings, because of the proximity to the Danbury Dome, Hoskins Mound and the apparent deeper seated salt diaper over the Chocolate Bayou field.
By 1982, engineers set recoverable reserves for Frio reservoirs of the deep-domes play at nearly 4 billion barrels of oil. By the end of 1993 the fields had yielded more than 2.4 billion barrels.
In the 1950’s three new areas became productive and were called Chocolate Bayou Upper Frio (Brazoria County, 1950), Trinity Bay Frio 12 (Chambers County, 1951), and Chocolate Bayou Alibel (Brazoria County, 1952).
During the last half of the 20th century, the Chocolate Bayou Field has increased in aerial extent and multiple sand packages stacked all the way down to the 15,000 ft. Lower Frio Marker. Several major oil companies and numerous independent exploration companies have discovered over 55 different horizons (pay zones) within the Chocolate Bayou Field. The cumulative production of both gas and oil within this field is ENORMOUS!
Multiple Oligocene Frio Gas Sands have been identified in the well by log and core analysis. Sands are located within the existing casing between 10,000 and 12,200 ft. The primary objective is to complete the 12,000 ft. series of sands. A future plugback would complete the 10,000 ft. series of sands.
A second well on the property will be drilled to the Miocene Gas Sands between 5,100 and 7,000 ft. These sands show as productive as in the Houston Farms #1 well. The well will “twin” the Houston Farms #1 location for the shallower objectives.
Geological estimation of total reserves: 350,000 barrels of oil and 15 Billion cubic feet of Natural Gas.
Estimated Payout: somewhere between 100 – 120 barrels of crude oil per day.
