New Australian oil find

[mr friendly guy]

linky

$20 trillion shale oil find surrounding Coober Pedy 'can fuel Australia'


SOUTH Australia is sitting on oil potentially worth more than $20 trillion, independent reports claim - enough to turn Australia into a self-sufficient fuel producer.
Brisbane company Linc Energy yesterday released two reports, based on drilling and seismic exploration, estimating the amount of oil in the as yet untapped Arckaringa Basin surrounding Coober Pedy ranging from 3.5 billion to 233 billion barrels of oil.

At the higher end, this would be "several times bigger than all of the oil in Australia", Linc managing director Peter Bond said.

This has the potential to turn Australia from an oil importer to an oil exporter.

"If it comes in the way the reports are suggesting, it could well and truly bring Australia back to (oil) self-sufficiency," Mr Bond said.

State Mineral Resources Development Minister Tom Koutsantonis said there were exciting times ahead for SA's resources industry.

"Shale gas and shale oil will be a key part to securing Australia's energy security now and into the future," he said.


Linc has hired Barclays Bank to find an investment partner for the next stage of the project, costing $150-$300 million.

The company aims to drill up to six horizontal wells to further confirm its figures, but Mr Bond is confident the region will be home to oil production.

The need to build another oil and gas hub, like the Santos production facility at Moomba, depends on the size of the discovery.

"If it really takes off, that's when you start to look at Moomba-type pipelines."

Mr Bond said there was the potential for a US-style "shale oil" boom in SA.

The Wall Street Journal reported last week the US could pass Saudi Arabia as the world's largest oil producer this year, thanks to the shale oil explosion.

Shale oil extraction involves using new technologies to drill vertically and then horizontally for distances of more than one kilometre through shale rocks that contain oil.

The process was once prohibitively expensive but advances have created a new oil boom in the US.

Mr Koutsantonis said: "We have seen the hugely positive impact shale projects like Bakken and Eagle Ford have had on the US economy.

"There is still a long way to go, but investment in unconventional liquid projects in South Australia will accelerate as more and more companies such as Linc Energy and Altona prove up their resources."

Mr Bond said the potential in SA was "massive", but even at the lower end of estimates - about 3.5 billion barrels - it was still very large.

"If you look at the upper target, which is 103-233 billion barrels of oil, that's massive," he said.

"The opportunity of turning this into the next shale boom is very real.

"If the Arckaringa plays out the way we hope it will, and the way our independent reports have shown, it's one of the key prospective territories in the world at the moment." Mr Bond said each well could flow at 1000-2000 barrels per day.

"You put in 50 of them and that's a lot of oil," he said. "We have a very good idea that this will be an oil-producing asset."

Mr Bond said Linc had so far spent about $130 million in the Arckaringa Basin, drilling four deep wells and "a couple of dozen" shallower wells.

British company Altona Energy was scheduled to start drilling this month to discover more resources for a proposed coal to liquids and power project also in the Arckaringa Basin.

That project, which could cost up to $3 billion, would involve an open-cut coal mine and possibly a 560 megawatt power plant.

The Linc Energy reports, from consultants DeGolyer and McNaughton and Gustavson Associates, are available on the Australian Securities Exchange website.

So what would happen if we have both the least and most optimistic estimates. Do we become a self sufficient power? Does the climate get fucked up even more? Hello Dutch disease. I suppose our economy becomes stronger not just through growth, but also the Australian dollar would get stronger.

[madd0ct0r]

holy shit.

Australia, source of most of the world's resources, guarded by most of it's poisonous species.

@Mr Friendly Guy - Having uranium hasn't made Oz a world leader in nucelar power, so I guess this will all be scooped out and sold to asia, like everything else.

[Stark]

Almost forty years ago there were pretty sweet plans to actually do something with the uranium, but selling dirt is the Australian way.

How can people complain about jobs if there's secondary industry? :v

[atg]

Like many have mused over the past few years if something like this was found: What will happen is that Australian consumers will enjoy fuel prices in the cents-per-litre range like Saudi Arabia or Iran which will promote travel, tourism and transportation helping the economy overall.

lol no

It'll be sold at 'market prices' and most will be shipped raw to asian nations.

[weemadando]

I feel we should roll some discussion of the Whitehaven hoax/Jonathan Moylan into this thread.

[mr friendly guy]

I think Australia needs to be liberated and we need more democracy.

[Alferd Packer]

Like many have mused over the past few years if something like this was found: What will happen is that Australian consumers will enjoy fuel prices in the cents-per-litre range like Saudi Arabia or Iran which will promote travel, tourism and transportation helping the economy overall.

lol no

It'll be sold at 'market prices' and most will be shipped raw to asian nations.

Well does Australia import crude, or refined products like gasoline or diesel?

[mr friendly guy]

Yes we do import. Our own production is sold at world market prices obviously, although I dare say if we produce a lot, we can save on transport costs. However a lot of the cost at the bowser is due to taxes.

[Stark]

That's sure what BP wants you to think, anyway.

Even if it was refined here it probably wouldn't make much price difference, because of how made-up bowser prices are. But at least the country would have some not dirt and bananas going on.

[J]

If it sounds too good to be true...
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-24/m ... sa/4481982

Excerpt:

Brisbane company Linc Energy says independent studies have confirmed a major shale oil source in South Australia's far north, which officials have estimated could be worth $20 trillion.

The company says US-consultants have carried out drilling and geological and seismic surveys around Coober Pedy.

Linc Energy holds rights over more than 65,000 square kilometres of land in the Arckaringa Basin and started explorations in 2008.

In a statement to the Stock Exchange, the company said reports from US-based consultants indicate underlying rock formations "are rich in oil and gas-prone kerogen".

The company says up to 233 billion barrels of oil are estimated to be trapped in the shale.

Chief executive Peter Bond says even if the amount of retrievable oil is well below that, the discovery is still "bigger than the Cooper Basin and Bass Strait combined".

Kerogen. Better known as oil shale, not be confused with shale oil. Recall that the US has over a trillion barrels worth of oil shale in the Green River rock formation. It's been sitting there for many decades because there's no viable way to extract the oil. Well, there is a way, but it would really expensive and likely involve lots of nuclear power and other things which make environmentalists cry.

[Slacker]

Yes, but isn't that part of Australia pretty much uninhabited anyway? To the point they could use some more intensive methods without huge knock-off effects?
I genuinely don't know, my knowledge of Australian geography is spotty best.

[mr friendly guy]

Coober Pedy isn't a big town last time I checked. Its just where people go look for opals.

[Dominarch's Hope]

So Ozzies, would you like to reconsider that base proposal? After all, China is going to be real interested in this.

[hongi]

So Ozzies, would you like to reconsider that base proposal?

No.

And it's Aussies.

[Alkaloid]

Just let him spell it like that man. That type of yank has some sort of mental collapse when they see English words pronounced correctly.

[J]

Yes, but isn't that part of Australia pretty much uninhabited anyway? To the point they could use some more intensive methods without huge knock-off effects?
I genuinely don't know, my knowledge of Australian geography is spotty best.

There's three basic ways of extracting oil from oil shale
1) Mine it like coal and cook the shale to extract the oil once the rock is on the surface. This is really messy, with the additional problem of waste disposal. Oil shale has a rather interesting property, the rock expands after it's cooked so it won't all fit back in the hole where it came from.

2) Drill holes into the shale formation, add air, and set it on fire. Yes, set it on fire. The heat cooks the remaining oil shale into oil & gas which can then be pumped out of the ground. Some oil is of course lost in the burn and results can be unpredictable.

3) Drill holes into the oil shale and insert giant electric heaters, turn on the power and wait a few years for the shale to cook into oil & gas. Pump out oil & gas. and to keep the oil from contaminating groundwater, a giant "freeze wall" of ice is built underground by running miles of refrigerated pipe around the mining area, adding water, and freezing it into ice.

Method #1 is an environmental disaster, it combines the worst of coal and oil sands mining and adds massive energy consumption to the mix. #2 is unpredictable, sometimes it works, sometimes everything goes up in flames, and other times there's too much gas, poor quality oil, or some other poor result.

Which leaves #3. Shell conducted a small scale test around 5-7 years ago I think, results were encouraging but everything just kinda vanished. On a commercial scale it would require the full electrical output of several large nuclear power plants, a zillion holes in the ground, lots of water and some truly giant refrigeration plants.

So in summary, it's not happening in our current social & political environment.

[Dominarch's Hope]

Just let him spell it like that man. That type of yank has some sort of mental collapse when they see English words pronounced correctly.

Putting colorful spins on language is wrong? Its a pun, referring to how nice and fun Oz is portrayed and how horrifically dangerous Australia is.

Besides, is it economical to exploit now or not? Thats the main question. Edit. Nvm.

[Stark]

Australia actually not dangerous. You shouldn't base your learning on ignorant internet 'memes'.

And I think its pretty clear the answer is 'not in the least', even putting aside's Australia's allergy to actually producing anything for export.

[Dominarch's Hope]

Youre just trying to trick me into strolling the Outback. Im not falling for it.

[hongi]

That 'joke' is getting real annoying real fast. I really wish it wasn't all that people knew about our country.

[weemadando]

Easier to just have a stereotype than to actually have to learn something.

[Ford Prefect]

So Ozzies, would you like to reconsider that base proposal? After all, China is going to be real interested in this.

Actual historical precedent suggests we should be more wary of America :v

[Dominarch's Hope]

So Ozzies, would you like to reconsider that base proposal? After all, China is going to be real interested in this.

Actual historical precedent suggests we should be more wary of America :v

Why would you be afraid of a fellow Democracy, brah? Its just basing rights. Nothing wrong with that, and we even speak the same language! And give it time, the same culture, but thats gonna happen anyways....


Just give in. You having nothing to fear.

[mr friendly guy]

Because its the democratic country invading others and getting us dragged into their wars? You aren't smoking Francis Fukuyama's crap are you about democracies getting on soooo well with each other right?

[Vendetta]

Why would you be afraid of a fellow Democracy, brah? Its just basing rights. Nothing wrong with that, and we even speak the same language! And give it time, the same culture, but thats gonna happen anyways....

Dude, no-one wants the same culture as you.