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The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

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Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#231

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yea you are correct, but are there any US Oil and gas producers horizontally drilling wells but not hydraulic fracturing the well?

I work in this industry. To answer your question, yes, there are oil and gas producers horizontally drilling wells, but not fracking them. This is actually quite common in offshore (Gulf of Mexico) environments. Your offshore pad is in a fixed location, and you often drill horizontally to get to the target. These wells are productive enough that you don't need to hydraulically fracture them.

> These wells are productive enough that you don't need to hydraulically fracture them.

Yet. You left off the "yet".

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#232
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

consider the expansion of plug in hybrids, similar to the Volt, Clarity, Prius, and Kona, all extend the viability of the petrol engine. In many cases it moves into the roll of a range extender because its weight combined with fuel is drastically less than what battery technology can accomplish; an example is the Model 3 which has nearly 1100 lbs of batteries for 310 miles. engines directly? variable valve timing wil…

Without abandoning piston engines entirely and going to turbines or something, modern auto engines are approaching maximum practical thermal efficiency for the conditions under which they must operate (being primarily horsepower-oriented rather than torque-oriented). You can get maybe 50% better if you're powering an oil tanker rather than a car, but you're not powering an oil tanker, but rather something that has to…

We still have to see how HPPI and turning off two cylinders out of four at low speed improves fuel consumption. There are also alternative fuel options for ICE vehicles such as LPG for petrol powered vehicles and DME for diesel vehicles. Current diesels already do 65 mpg which is a big deal compared to 36 mpg. DME can be produced locally out of syngas from industrial processes or biomass.

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#233
post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I work in this industry. To answer your question, yes, there are oil and gas producers horizontally drilling wells, but not fracking them. This is actually quite common in offshore (Gulf of Mexico) environments. Your offshore pad is in a fixed location, and you often drill horizontally to get to the target. These wells are productive enough that you don't need to hydraulically fracture them.

curious, would fracking be used years or decades down the line to extend well life?

typically yes. Once the production rate start to fall, "fracking" can be used to raise it again.

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#234
I am going to side track the discussion a bit, what are the implication of this to Petrol Dollar as the world's reserve currency?

One of the reason US dollar is being used as reserved is its absolute influence / Protection in Oil and OPEC. Now US is producing more Oil than anyone else, China is buying more from and start to settle those deals in RMM, what happen next?

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#235
post #152
post #94

Earlier quoted context omitted.

China. Only they have all the rare earthes needed for those batteries.

Batteries don’t use rare earths, nor does China have a monopoly on them. There are mines for example in Nevada. They were closed though when China flooded the markets with cheap rare earths. But they can be reopened.

"Rather than worrying about a lack of lithium, there could be shortages of rare earth materials, should the EV replace the conventional car. One such material is the permanent magnet for the electric motors. Permanent magnets make one of the most energy-efficient motors. China controls about 95 percent of the global market for rare earth metals and expects to use most of these resources for its own production" - https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/availability_of_...

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#236
post #217

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Would the price fall close to the cost of extraction My guess is we'll see the price fall closer to the extraction price, but less than where these petrostates can sustain themselves. So we'll see a succession of petrostate collapses, each one taking supply offline and popping the price back up. Would be an interesting time to trade crude.

I'm scared about a Saudi collapse. I can imagine that regime, which is already very radical, becoming much more so if the profits from extraction run out.

Through the history, loss of oil tax income - reliably made authoritarian governments less aggressive and more democratic.

Consider examples of USSR/Russia, Venezuela, Iran ...

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#237
post #183

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It sounds good until you want to rent a gas vehicle on the same holiday weekend as everyone else and there are none available.

Luckily, the value of gas vehicles will be driven down with EV sales to the point where everyone could have a spare gas vehicle if they wanted one.

Parking lots are a scare resource. At least for me.

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#238
post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Personally, about 1800 miles. I'm sure there are others who might need more. I take a yearly drive to utah (~1400 miles each way, straight through only stopping for fuel). I'll have an ICE vehicle until range is sufficient to get me there plus a few hundred miles for exploring/getting back to a city where I can charge.

Why not rent a gas car for the one day a year you need that distance? That's sort of where I'm ending up. Not w/ electric vehicles, but with bicycling. I bike commute year-round & use it for most of my travel, but for the rare case when I need to use my car for longer trips it's nice to have. However, paying the cost of upkeep & monthly insurance for something I use so infrequently is starting to make less sense.

Oh where to start. Ignoring the fact that I've rarely had a good experience renting:

Space - Rear seats have been unbolted/removed in my SUV and a roof rack added for the climbing/camping/canyoneering/safety gear I bring. Perhaps there are rental places with roof racks, I've yet to see one.

Cost - Most rental places I've checked charge > $0.50 per mile if you are out of state or over a couple hundred miles (if they allow it at all). On a 3000+ mile trip I'd have $1500 in mileage fees. Don't be fooled when they say unlimited mileage - its like unlimited data for cell phones. If anyone has experience to the contrary where it isn't prohibitively expensive for a trip this length I'd love to hear it (keeping in mind I go down rough dirt roads so SUV/truck, not passenger car).

Comfort - Custom stereo and other things that you can have in your own car but not a rental. Also my car is modified so passenger seat can lay flat allowing one person to sleep while another drives, greatly reducing travel time.

Safety - I'm very familiar with the capabilities of my vehicle when I go down some of the rougher roads, or have to get through sand. Also how far I can push when the gas tank gets low.

I'm not opposed to the idea, it's just a hard sell. I'd love to have an electric car for commuting to work and just rent a few times a year that I need something bigger.

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#239

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except for the hassle of renting a vehicle. And, what do you do in a natural disaster?

100 miles is enough range to get out of the way of worst effects of most natural disasters, and plenty of people get by without a car at all.

100 miles into a rural area isn't equipped to support a million people driven off the seaboard.

My sister lives in the hillbilly sticks of the Virginia/North Carolina border, about 100 miles inland. She has to drive 45 minutes to get to a doctor. That area isn't going to take thousands of refugees for a week or two. Can't feed them or provide sufficient sanitation. That's how you get cholera.

Re: The United States Is Now the Largest Global Crude Oil Producer

#240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100 miles would not be sufficient to get out of the path of Hurricane Florence currently on the US eastern seaboard (although Tesla has done of the honors of lifting any restrictions on their software range limited models, as well as providing free SuperCharging to get folks to safety [1]). [1] https://electrek.co/2018/09/12/tesla-releasing-more-battery-...

It's enough to get far enough inland that it's no longer that dangerous, which is why I said "worst effects." I've never heard of an evacuation order 100 miles inland.

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