Back in my college days when I was working the summers in the oil fields
of west Texas, there were a couple of techniques used to free up oil
when the wells quit producing.
One was to pump hot oil down into the formation to melt the semi solid
oil to get it flowing again.
The other was what they called "Fracking". It was a process of
fracturing the formation to create more channels for the oil to flow
into and therefore get to oil that was difficult to pump.
Both these procedures were done by Haliburton (and others).
I am sure that more techniques have been developed in the intervening
years.
Joe C.
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-fot@autox.team.net [mailto:owner-fot@autox.team.net] On
Behalf Of Randall Young
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 3:04 PM
Cc: fot@autox.team.net
Subject: RE: buying gasoline
> Just a confirmation of what Larry is saying, unfortunately, I can
> vouch for the "shale oil" in Wyoming being the same thing... its
> there, its being pumped, but its expensive....
How expensive ? Oil Tech claims they can produce a "shale crude" for
$10-$20/barrel... sounds pretty good compared to $50/barrel for Arabian
oil
that then has to be shipped here.
http://www.oil-tech.net/newsrel/nsrlease_march05.html
Pumped ? My understanding was that oil shale had to be mined ... that
it's
about like the kitty litter you sweep up from the shop floor as far as
oil
content.
Randall
|