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Permalink Reply by greg on September 21, 2015 at 6:01pm

Awesome conversation on this subject!  A matter of physics.  Gas flows very freely, little weight (mass).  Doesn't take much pressure to move.  Oil, thicker and has weight (mass again).  Try to move it through too much pipe, no flow.  In other words, when the resistance to flow and the weigh of the oil equal the pressure, it stays put.  It won't flow.  With water at about 0.33 lbs per foot of depth, oil being lighter at, lets say, 0.3 lbs per foot, a well 10,000 feet deep and with 10,000 psi will push the 3,000 lbs of the weigh of the oil (10,000 ft X 0.3 lbs) to the surface if the pipe is large enough to overcome the resistance to flow.  Trouble is, the oil is shallow and the pressure not high enough to overcome the weight, let alone the resistance to flow.   Ok, use artificial lift. That is exactly what GE is working on in a research lab out in TX or OK, somewhere...  Conventional lift on a horizontal?  Sucker rod scraping on the side of a 90 degree turn?  Good luck!  A couple of things I can think of might help.  Ultrasonic vibrations make liquids flow with less resistance.  This might work where the pressure is greater than the weight but the oil won't flow due to the resistance.  But, if the drillers can connect a vertical to the horizontal at a point not higher than the average horizontal depth, AND use ultra sound, they could use a conventional artificial lift successfully.  They will figure it out.  I have no doubt about that!

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Permalink Reply by Joseph-Ohio on September 21, 2015 at 7:10pm

Thanks for your contribution Greg.

Lower the viscosity any way you can to get the oil to flow.

Steam assisted gravity return and pump jacks.

Dilute raw production with lighter oil / gases.

Etc. - anything that works.

That is - once / when a market to sell production is created.

Open the market and work with trade agreements with allied foreign partners / customers.

Pass things like Keystone XL.

Get some leadership to work for our country / citizenry and not worry about protecting the OPEC and SA production which does nothing to serve our interests domestically. That gig has gotten too old - nothing in it for us except expense.

JMHO

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Permalink Reply by Depolarized Farmer on September 25, 2015 at 7:34am

Pressure is only part of the story.  As you proceed down the API scale toward the oiler end of the spectrum, the CH molecules simply become larger than the pore spaces through which they need to travel.  At the molecular level, if the rock is too tight, no amount of pressure will move a square peg thru a round hole.

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Permalink Reply by Joseph-Ohio on September 26, 2015 at 8:09am

Fracturing opens the shale to drain doesn't it ?

That's the main reason for it as I understand things.

Also I agree with you in that pressure isn't all there is to it.

True, the deeper the strata the more geo-pressure but lower pressures have been dealt with successfully from the beginning - don't you agree DPF ?

Shallow is easier to develop than deeper as you get to the right depth quicker (because it's shallower).

Key still seems to me to be if the resource is present or not.

If it's there they'll get it when they want it.

JMHO

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Permalink Reply by Joseph-Ohio on September 26, 2015 at 1:00pm

Depolarized Farmer,

Personally, I don't think that 5500 feet deep is all that shallow.

Also, we've all been advised that the Utica Point Pleasant is 'the source' for the easy oil already harvested over the last 150+ years (in our near geography) as I've read. How did that oil escape the tight molecules I wonder ?

If it's there (and we've all been advised that it is) they'll get it when they want it - hoping for sooner than later myself !

Also hoping to be paid for it without a fight when they harvest.

Good luck - we need it - seems to me.

JMHO

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Permalink Reply by Joseph-Ohio on September 21, 2015 at 9:55pm

Variables.

Geology (differing from Utica / Marcellus) ?

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Permalink Reply by Joseph-Ohio on September 21, 2015 at 6:40pm

Considering the resource is there we're hoping for speedy change (politics / market).

Also when I cite 'market' as a variable I mean (right now) there's a world wide oil glut, and we can't even compete in it, because we can't sell our crude to foreign markets.

Why develop it if there's no place / not enough places to sell it ?

Variables (all variables) rule.

Thanks again for all your efforts and time spent JJI,PG,CPG

JMHO

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Permalink Reply by White Tiger on September 22, 2015 at 12:11am

Thank you for the info.

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Permalink Reply by John J Interval, P.G, C.P.G. on September 22, 2015 at 7:39am

Your welcome Ty.

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Permalink Reply by George on September 22, 2015 at 6:56am

John,

According to your findings what cities outline the western border line
across Trumbull Co. that encompasses the red zone?

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Permalink Reply by John J Interval, P.G, C.P.G. on September 22, 2015 at 7:43am

Hi George, I'm working right now but that information should be on the maps I put out. The idea is to be on or East of the .6 psi line.

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Permalink Reply by Billy Park Whyde on September 22, 2015 at 2:04pm

Let me throw this at you

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