Peak Oil a Fantasy for Losers?

Update: Neil Craig has much more

An exciting new oil & gas discovery technique has been developed by scientists at the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. The new technique improves the chances of hitting paydirt from 20% up to 70%. The improved odds should take some of the risk out of fossil fuel discovery, and put back some of the profit.

Together with two research colleagues, Vladimir Kutcherov has simulated the process involving pressure and heat that occurs naturally in the inner layers of the earth, the process that generates hydrocarbon, the primary component in oil and natural gas.

According to Vladimir Kutcherov, the findings are a clear indication that the oil supply is not about to end, which researchers and experts in the field have long feared....

The degree of accuracy in finding oil is enhanced dramatically – from 20 to 70 percent. Since drilling for oil and natural gas is a very expensive process, the cost picture will be radically altered for petroleum companies, and in the end probably for consumers as well.

“The savings will be in the many billions,” says Vladimir Kutcherov. _SD

The research also suggests that oil and gas can form deep in the Earth, without any fossil intermediaries from plants or animals. The process can be completely abiotic, in other words.

It is certainly a relief to learn that the oil supply is not about to end. The suggestion is that humans have not yet discovered the truly huge oil and gas fields yet. That being the case, talk of an irreversible peaking of oil production may be rather premature. Time will tell.

More information and discussion from Jennifer Marohasy

Previously published at Al Fin