If Robots Can Mine the Rocks of Planet Mars, Why Not Use Robots on Earth to Mine Oil, Coal, Minerals

The oil industry wants to bring robotic automation to the oil field, for safer, more precise, and eventually more economical operations.

Engineers foresee a day when fully automated rigs roll onto a job site using satellite coordinates, erect 14-story-tall steel reinforcements on their own, drill a well, then pack up and move to the next site. “You’re seeing a new track in the industry emerging,” says Eric van Oort, a former Royal Dutch Shell executive who’s leading a new graduate-level engineering program focused on automated drilling at the University of Texas at Austin. “This is going to blossom.” _BW Robots the Future of Oil Industry

The technology is being developed for both onshore and offshore drilling -- including very deep sea drilling. Up-front costs for such systems will be significant, particularly in the beginning. But over the long haul, automation is likely to bring significant savings to the oil industry, just as it has to so many other industries before it.

The theory behind automating oil exploration is derived not only taking humans out of dangerous work inherent in oil and gas drilling, but eliminating as much as possible the potential for human error. The BP Oil disaster was caused when a drilling rig opened a pocket of methane, according to a BBC story. A smart drill bit would presumably be able to avoid such pockets. If a disaster like BP happens with a robotic oil rig, there would be few if any human casualties. _Texas Looks to Robotic Oil Rigs

Deep sea oil robots are particularly intriguing, operating at depths of midnight darkness, freezing cold, and crushing pressures.

These new robotic rigs would be used for production and exploratory purposes. They have been designed to operate on the ocean floor, for safe exploration of ultra-deep water and also for exploring the arctic regions that are inaccessible by traditional rigs. Seabed Rig AS has created highly intelligent robots, which are controlled by software, coded by Energid Technologies, a Cambridge Massachusetts firm. According to Neil Tardella, Energid’s COO, the software had been developed for the National Science Foundation and NASA for controlling complex robots, and this was then used to construct the most intelligent robotic rig. _azorobotics

Engineers have been devising robotics systems to replace humans in dangerous mining environments -- such as coal mines -- for decades now. As the technology improves, the possibility of removing humans from hazardous work areas and replacing them with robots becomes more feasible.

Deep sea mining for minerals and gas hydrates represent other areas ripe for the application of robotics. The field is still in its infancy, and it is likely that most applications of robotics in energy-related enterprises have yet to be conceived.

A New Era for Deep Sea Drilling

So far this year, upstream operators have made 22 announcements of oil and natural gas discoveries in water depths of 4,000 feet and greater, compared to 37 such discoveries in all of 2010, Simon Johnson, vice president of marketing and contracts for Noble, said during the company's earnings call July 19. The average water depth of the finds is 6,400 feet, although the deepest this year so far is offshore Mozambique in 7,400 feet of water. _Platts

After the Deepwater Horizon disaster, many analysts seemed to write off the prospects for future deepwater and ultra-deepwater energy drilling. But the 70% of the Earth's surface is covered by water, and it is to be expected that many of the rich oilfields yet to be discovered, lie deep beneath the waves.

The newest ultra-deepwater rigs coming into the market these days are equipped to drill in 10,000 feet of water, and can gear up for waters 12,000 feet deep with some added equipment. The most state-of-the-art rigs can also drill 40,000 feet below the mud line. That is well past current needs; the deepest well ever drilled so far in the US Gulf, for example, lies in about 10,000 feet of water and the deepest total depth has been about 35,000 feet. And so far, 10,000 feet is about the water depth limit of US areas now open to leasing.

But ultra-deepwater--loosely definfed as water depths of 7,000 feet and greater--isn't the only market segment doing well. Deepwater--again, loosely defined as water depths around 4,000 to 7,000 feet--also is doing well. Michael Acuff, senior vice president of contracts and marketing for driller Diamond, said rigs for that class are fetching dayrates in the high $400,000s to low $500,000s.

And even the midwater market for rigs that can drill in no more than 1,000-4,000 feet of water is performing well, and dayrates there also continue to increase, he said. _Platts

It is good to reflect repeatedly upon the fact that if not for the corrupt and incompetent state oil & gas companies of MENA, Russia, Venezuela, Mexico etc., the international oil companies might have been kept quite busy pumping all the oil they could sell, from conventional land-based wells. No other land mass on the planet has been explored for oil so thoroughly -- by a factor of one thousand -- as North America. And yet, prospectors are still finding new locations for rich wells across that "over-explored, over-drilled" continent.

It stands to reason that if the vast land expanses of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and elsewhere were explored to the same extent as North America -- and if those lands were open to production by the most highly skilled and competent oil producers on the planet -- that conventional oil production could easily put deep sea oil, tight oil, and heavy oil / oil sands out of the running.

Undersea Nuclear Reactors Can Find Multiple Uses

DCNS, the French state-controlled naval company, said it will work in partnership with French companies Areva, EDF, and the French Atomic Energy Commission to build small- and medium-sized underwater reactors to provide electricity to consumers....Radio France Internationale reported Wednesday.

The company said its Flexblue project, expected to enter the building phase in 2013, is in response to global energy challenges and renewed interest in nuclear power. _UPI

Video h/t NextBigFuture
Small, portable nuclear reactors that are made for placement under the sea, could be used for many porpoises purposes. Besides running power cables to land to serve terrestrial customers, such undersea reactors could also serve floating installations and seafloor industries -- even undersea cities.

Akin to the submarines that DCNS has been making for the French navy for 40 years, Flexblue is a cylindrical unit 100 metres in length and 12 to 15 metres in diameter. Inside would be a small nuclear power reactor and well as steam generators, turbines and a generator to produce 50 to 250 MWe.

The vision is for such a unit to be installed on the seabed under 60 to 100 metres of water, several kilometres from a centre of power demand such as a city, industrial base or remote community which it would serve via underwater cables.

A video released today depicts the unit's deployment under naval guard. It is transported to sea on a heavy lift ship which lowers itself to allow Flexblue to maneuvre under its own power. Descent occurs under the watch of divers before a cutaway view reveals four stories of plant within the hull. The structure is then covered by a net and power is transmitted by cable to shore. _WorldNuclearNews_via_NextBigFuture

WNN
Brazil is already planning for "undersea cities" as replacements for deep ocean offshore oil rigs:

The plan is to construct 'cities’ more than 2,000 metres under water, containing machines, giant pieces of equipment and robots that could inspect the systems being used to extract millions of barrels of oil. Many operations would be fully automated while others would be controlled by humans at a distance.

“Our target is that we won’t need platforms in ten years from now,” said Carlos Tadeu Fraga, executive manager of the Petrobras Research Centre.

Petrobras already owns virtual reality laboratories where engineers can inspect 3D images of oil fields. But now they want to take a further technological leap by installing floating rig equipment on the sea bed.

The machinery under the sea would be capable of separating oil, gas, water and sand, compressing substances and generating enough energy to keep the operation functioning.

As deep sea mineral mining and deep sea science and exploration joins deep sea oil & gas drilling, the need for self-powered seafloor installations will grow in urgency. Sealed nuclear reactors that can run between 20 and 50 years on a single fueling will provide the necessary energy security for such installations.

A few years ago, the Estonian Maritime Academy proposed the development and installation of a subsea nuclear reactor off the Estonian coast in the Baltic Sea, for provision of basic power to the country. US naval submarines have traversed the world's oceans for several decades, powered safely and reliably by small nuclear reactors, so the concept of undersea reactors is well proven.

The idea of nuclear powered undersea cities may seem like the stuff of science fiction, but show me a better way to power a post-apocalyptic undersea civilisation. And what better place to survive the great lefty-Luddite environmentalist-engineered dieoff of humans on the surface? Abundant electricity allows for producing freshwater via desalination, oxygen for breathing via electrolytic splitting of water, hydrogen for fuel cells and chemical processes, etc. Nuclear reactors produce plenty of heat, so there would be no reason to be cold, regardless of outside sea temperatures.

Last but not least, plentiful small modular nuclear reactors -- both on land and sea -- should put a quick end to all of the EROEI nonsense one hears batted around at peak energy religious websites. ;-)

Taken from an earlier article at Al Fin blog

Something not mentioned in the alfin2100 version of this article is the use of seafloor nuclear reactors to power the autonomous machine mining of methane clathrates and seafloor coal -- both resources are likely to prove enormous beyond current reckoning. Deep seafloor mining of coal -- if it ever becomes necessary on Earth -- will have to be done by either autonomous machine or by remotely controlled robotics.

As for off-planet seafloor mining of methane clathrates -- it may be some time before that is necessary on Europa or Titan, given the energy-rich atmospheres and surface frozen precipitates.

Obama Devastates Gulf Coast, Rejuvenates Alberta's Oil Sands

While Obama's inept moratorium on oil drilling along the US Gulf Coast heaps misery upon millions of Americans, Alberta's economy is being rejuvenated by the shift of resources northward to the oil sands. If Obama's political agenda prevents oil companies from investing in the United States, they will naturally turn to the vast hydrocarbon resources of other nations such as Canada -- while Mexico, Cuba, Russia, China, and Brasil move to take advantage of deep sea oil resources that the US government eschews.

In a research note this week, investment bank Peters & Co. said as much as $30 billion will be spent from 2011 to 2015 on mining and in situ oilsands projects to boost production by almost one million barrels per day.

"Most new sizable projects are controlled by majors with less financing risk and lower costs of capital than juniors of previous cycles," wrote research analyst Todd Garman.

"Based on our assessment of currently planned oilsands mining and in situ projects, including phase expansions, we forecast total potential production additions of about 900,000 bpd, with mining and in situ production of 300,000 bpd and 600,000 bpd, respectively."

..."Specifically, we anticipate that ConocoPhillips' Surmont, Husky's Sunrise, Imperial's Kearl, MEG's Christina Lake and Suncor's Firebag 4 projects provide potential oilsands construction growth opportunities for Flint, with these projects expected to be awarded by 2010 year-end," Garman wrote.

He said the biggest risk for development is related to oil prices -- the projects are projected to break even at between $55 and $65 US per barrel. _CalgaryHerald

As long as oil is priced in terms of the weak Obama Dollar, the price of oil is likely to be above $55 per barrel.

As peak oil drifts ever further into the distance, the more relevant and proximal causes of energy shortages derive from "political peak oil", and the disastrous decisions being made daily by incompetent clowns in public office.

Cross-posted to Al Fin

Vast Deposits of Oil From Ancient Microscopic Organisms Still Untapped

NYTScientists have known for quite a while that most of Earth's oil came from vast numbers of oceanic microscopic organisms -- rather than from dead dinosaurs. From diatoms to micro-algae to cyanobacteria and more, these microscopic life forms thrived on warmer seas and higher levels of atmospheric CO2 than are presently available to sea life. Many of these sea creatures are capable of converting gaseous or dissolved CO2 directly into oils and hydrocarbons of various types, and would cheerfully welcome much higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere and in the oceans, if only they could get it.

Geologists scour the planet for the sedimentary basins of ancient seas, in order to find the vast deposits of oil, gas, and other hydrocarbons still waiting to be discovered. Humans may have used perhaps one tenth of exploitable oil deposits, but Al Fin engineers reckon we have used only about one one hundredth. Not that oil is an ideal energy source. Far from it. But we should know that we are quite far from running out -- even while we are discovering how to grow these tiny organisms for ourselves, to produce a wide range of materials, feeds, and fuels at the time and place of our own choosing.

Some of the ancestral waters that made the planet’s oil still exist, like the Gulf of Mexico, while others have long vanished, like the ocean that produced the massive oil fields of the Middle East. The bodies come and go because the earth’s crust, through seemingly rigid, actually moves a great deal over geologic time, tearing apart continents and ocean basins and rearranging them like pieces of a giant jigsaw puzzle.

The secret of the oil story turned out to be understanding how the bygone oceans, ancient seas and smaller bodies of water produced complex environmental conditions that raised the prevalence of microscopic life and ensured its deep burial, producing what eventually became the earth’s main oil reservoirs.

The clues accumulated over more than a century and included discoveries from geology, chemistry and paleontology. An early indication was that petroleum discoveries were always associated with ancient beds of sedimentary rock — the kind that forms when debris rains down through water for ages and slowly grows into thick seabed layers.

...The process typically starts in warm seas ideal for the incubation of microscopic life. The sheer mass is hard to imagine. But scientists note that every drop of seawater contains more than a million tiny organisms.

Oil production begins when surface waters become so rich in microscopic life that the rain of debris outpaces decay on the seabed. The result is thickening accumulations of biologic sludge.

...“The organics got buried quickly because of the heavy sediment flow,” Dr. Tinker said. “So they didn’t get biodegraded as quickly. You preserved the organic richness.”

He said the flow was so heavy that the growing accumulations keep pressing the lower sediment layers deeper into the earth, forcing them into hot zones where the organic material got transformed into oil. The process involves a long series of chemical reactions that slowly turn life molecules into inanimate crude.

“The gulf has miles and miles of sediments,” he said. “So that gets the source rocks down into the kitchen where they cook.”

The standard temperature for oil formation is between 120 and 210 degrees Fahrenheit.

...Many countries and oil companies are now racing to exploit the geological happenstance of deep coastal waters. Hot spots include offshore areas of Angola, Azerbaijan, Congo, Cuba, Egypt, Libya and Tanzania, while countries like Canada and Norway, which have long pursued offshore drilling, are pushing ahead with new plans. Cambridge Energy Research Associates, a consulting firm, estimates that global deepwater extraction could roughly double by 2015, the output rivaling what Saudi Arabia produces on land. _NYT

The new offshore oil fields coming on line will rival Saudi Arabian production -- even if the Saudis decide to ramp up their production even higher than at present.

But many more giant fields await discovery until geologists develop better tools to find ancient ocean basins lying beneath subsequent overlaying deposits of seismic and volcanic turmoil. For most of the planet, geologists simply do not have a clue what lies beneath. They will need far better tools than the primitive seismic, electromagnetic, and other tools which currently limit their vision. But those tools are coming. And those vast unknown deposits will be found, if they are ever needed.

Vast Deposits of Oil In the Deep Dark Bottoms

Most of the Earth's crude oil remains undiscovered, deep underground or under the sea. Large oil corporations are tackling deeper and deeper drilling projects -- many of them in the savage environment of the open sea.

From the window of a helicopter 1,500 feet above the Gulf of Mexico, oil platforms look like Tinkertoys in a swimming pool. Dozens dot the horizon stretching south from New Orleans and continuing out as the water deepens and turns a darker blue. Then, about 50 miles offshore, the platforms stop, and for the next hundred miles there's nothing. This is the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, where the ocean floor is 8,000 feet down and covered in a heavy layer of muck. Below that is an ancient salt bed several miles thick, and hidden under that, trapped tens of thousands of feet down, there's oil—billions and billions of barrels of it. And it's all in U.S. waters. _Newsweek

Chevron's Tahiti platform, about 190 miles offshore, first appears as a speck in open water. Even up close, its size is deceiving. A three-level structure sits above the surface, but its 555-foot hull is entirely submerged. At 714 feet tall and weighing more than 80 million pounds, Tahiti is the equivalent of a 70-story skyscraper floating in 4,000 feet of water. The first thing you notice when stepping onto its platform is a high-pitched hum: the sound of thousands of barrels of oil being pulled from the depths and pumped back to shore.

To Chevron, it's among the most beautiful sounds in the world, proof that a decade of investment in deepwater-drilling technology is beginning to pay off for big oil companies like itself, as well as BP, ExxonMobil, and Shell. After a string of hurricanes led to seven straight years of declining oil production in the Gulf of Mexico, a handful of new deepwater projects reversed the trend in 2009. This year deepwater oil is likely to power the first year-over-year increase in total U.S. domestic production since 1991. _Newsweek

The upsurge in US oil production comes in spite of a tight lid the Obama - Pelosi regime wishes to hold over US energy output. The Obama administration is attempting to prevent the utilisation of vast US resources of coal, oil shales, heavy oils, and large reserves of Arctic oil. The "go-slow" policy of the Obama Nuclear Regulatory Commission puts off construction of new nuclear plants for many years and decades. The Obama EPA is attempting to cripple US use of Canadian oil sands. Altogether, a policy of "energy starvation" and a kneecapping of US industry.

US crude oil is just a drop in the bucket compared with all the crude oil in the world. And all the crude in the world is just a drop in the bucket compared with all the unconventional fossil fuels out there. And all the fossil fuels in the world are just a drop in the bucket compared to all the potential fission energy available. And all the fission energy in the world is just a needle in a haystack compared to all the fusion energy in the world.

And then there is solar and geothermal. All of that, without even leaving the mother planet. Just think of what is out there in the vast darkness of space.

Big oil bets at sea

Chevron Tahiti to record depths

More on Chevron Tahiti

More on the big picture of Gulf of Mexico oil drilling

Improved Oil Discovery Under the Sea--Expect More

The recent discovery of a huge new undersea oil reservoir in the Gulf of Mexico is causing more intelligent people to rethink the issue of "peak oil."

The well sustained a flow rate of about 6,000 barrels a day, strong enough to encourage analysts to predict that the field may contain anywhere from three billion to fifteen billion barrels of oil, although the results of a second well test scheduled for 2007 will sharpen the accuracy of those figures considerably. If the higher-end estimate is correct, though, the discovery would approach Prudhoe Bay in size, and possibly increase total U.S. reserves by some 50 percent.

Technology Review.

This huge undersea oil field was found by improved seismic techniques. But oil discovery science is not limited to seismic methods. A new generation of petroleum prospectors are learning to use these new techniques, which promise a new wave of oil discovery that could last for decades.

Other parts of the world that once appeared beyond the pale may also come into play. Areas believed to have oil deposits extremely deep beneath the ocean floor, which could now become commercially recoverable, include the North Sea off the coast of Britain, the Nile River Delta off the coast of Egypt, and possibly coastal Brazil, says Andrew Latham, a vice-president at energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie in Edinburgh, Scotland. Other analysts say West Africa could harbor lots of ultra-deep deposits. The areas have produced oil before but never from these depths.

Source.

Of course, these huge new oil fields will take time to develop. Much of the new oil reserves will probably lie undisturbed, like the ANWR oil fields in Alaska, due to lack of desperate need for it. Oil prices of $70 US per barrel are not economy busters by any means. Yet those prices are high enough to encourage development of renewable sources of energy, as well as novel uses for coal, and increased use of nuclear energy. The current price level also encourages oil companies to stretch their nets of oil discovery wider and deeper.

So, although the move away from petroleum and toward alternative fuels is real and probably irreversible, it is still in the early phase, and is not due to any hardship associated with the old "catastrophic peak oil" quasi-religious belief. It is basic economics combined with a desire by developed societies to move toward cleaner and ultimately more sustainable forms of energy.