THE world’s population is expected to increase by another 2 billion in less than 17 years. Most of the undeveloped countries moving into the 21st century are experiencing rapid growth especially in the transportation sector. If peak oil occurs, this will be a major dilemma for countries using fossil fuel for energy. What is peak oil?
Peak oil as defined by Investopedia as “a hypothetical date referring to the world's peak crude oil production, whereby following this day, production rates will begin to diminish.” Geophysicist Marion King Hubbert created the peak theory, which states that oil production follows a bell-shaped curve. In simple words, because oil does not renew or replenish itself, there is a limit to how much that can be pumped out of the ground. Peak oil will be the day that oil production reaches its maximum production, and from then on, production will decline until we deplete all the crude oil.
Peak oil is a little more complicated than just drying out oil wells. Most oil fields have three layers, the primary of which is on top, the secondary which is the middle layer, and the last layer is the tertiary. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the primary level accounts for about 10 percent of the reservoir, the secondary level accounts for 20 to 40 percent, and lastly the tertiary level account for about 50 percent. It is relatively easy to pump out the primary level, since at times this is sitting right at ground level. The secondary level is a bit more difficult.
There are usually two reasons why an oil field or well is abandoned. The first reason is during the drilling of the secondary level. Water or gas is injected into the reservoir to pressurize the oil. The process to extract the water or gas from the oil is expensive and adds on to the price of the oil. There comes a point in which it costs more to produce the oil, than what the oil is worth. When that happens, the oil field is abandoned. The second reason is when the primary and secondary oil layers are depleted and drilling to the tertiary level is too difficult and very costly.
Once we abandon the easy, cost-effective fields, drillers start looking elsewhere. There is a large untapped oil reservoir in the Artic, but the weather conditions and accessibility are very extreme and will most certainly raise prices of oil. Besides, do we really want to start drilling in one of the world’s most pristine areas?
Scientists are not sure exactly when the oil will run “dry.” It took millions of years and a whole lot of pressure to create fossil fuels and we have managed to burn approximately half of the oil reserves in a brief 125 years. So now is the time to start looking at renewable resources that the Earth provides. The sun, the wind, and the ocean tides are infinite and non-polluting and will be around for a long time to come. This to me is not a debate on climate change – just plain old common sense.
Peak oil as defined by Investopedia as “a hypothetical date referring to the world's peak crude oil production, whereby following this day, production rates will begin to diminish.” Geophysicist Marion King Hubbert created the peak theory, which states that oil production follows a bell-shaped curve. In simple words, because oil does not renew or replenish itself, there is a limit to how much that can be pumped out of the ground. Peak oil will be the day that oil production reaches its maximum production, and from then on, production will decline until we deplete all the crude oil.
Peak oil is a little more complicated than just drying out oil wells. Most oil fields have three layers, the primary of which is on top, the secondary which is the middle layer, and the last layer is the tertiary. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, the primary level accounts for about 10 percent of the reservoir, the secondary level accounts for 20 to 40 percent, and lastly the tertiary level account for about 50 percent. It is relatively easy to pump out the primary level, since at times this is sitting right at ground level. The secondary level is a bit more difficult.
There are usually two reasons why an oil field or well is abandoned. The first reason is during the drilling of the secondary level. Water or gas is injected into the reservoir to pressurize the oil. The process to extract the water or gas from the oil is expensive and adds on to the price of the oil. There comes a point in which it costs more to produce the oil, than what the oil is worth. When that happens, the oil field is abandoned. The second reason is when the primary and secondary oil layers are depleted and drilling to the tertiary level is too difficult and very costly.
Once we abandon the easy, cost-effective fields, drillers start looking elsewhere. There is a large untapped oil reservoir in the Artic, but the weather conditions and accessibility are very extreme and will most certainly raise prices of oil. Besides, do we really want to start drilling in one of the world’s most pristine areas?
Scientists are not sure exactly when the oil will run “dry.” It took millions of years and a whole lot of pressure to create fossil fuels and we have managed to burn approximately half of the oil reserves in a brief 125 years. So now is the time to start looking at renewable resources that the Earth provides. The sun, the wind, and the ocean tides are infinite and non-polluting and will be around for a long time to come. This to me is not a debate on climate change – just plain old common sense.
Tracy Voacolo is the president of Micronesia Renewable Energy. She has more than 20 years of experience in the renewable energy industry. Tracy can be contacted at info[at]micronesiarenewableenergy.com.
For more information about Micronesia Renewable Energy, visit http://micronesiarenewableenergy.com/.