Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
that were previously thought to be unusable. US oil pro-
duction continued to drop until
as predicted by the
Hubbert
'
s peak model, bottoming at about
million bar-
rels per day in
, then climbing up to
million
barrels per day in
as production from oil shale
picked up speed. This trend continues which builds up
reserves worldwide through technology advances as well
as through the more normal discovery.
The oil industry breaks supply down into several types.
What we pour into our gas tanks or into our engines is a
product of an oil re
nery where the raw oil has been
treated to change its characteristics. What treatment is
required and how expensive it is in both energy and
money depends on the type of oil. The
rst breakdown
made in the industry is into conventional and unconven-
tional oil. Conventional oil includes what is called light
sweet crude like that from the North Sea or Texas, sour
crude like much of the oil from the Middle East, and some
of the heavy oils. Light sweet crude requires the least
treatment. Sour crude has high sulfur content and
requires more re
ning. The boundary between conven-
tional heavy oil and unconventional heavy oil is a fuzzy
one that is loosely de
ned by what has to be done to get it
to
flows by itself it is conventional. If it
has to be heated or treated somehow it is unconventional.
Figure
flow in a pipe. If it
.
gives the IEA estimate of reserves as of the year
[
].
figure shows the size of the reserves and the cost of
production from a particular type of reserve. Since the
costs are given in
The
dollars, the numbers have to be
adjusted for in
ation and for the decline in the dollar
relative to other currencies to get them to current levels.
