A quick mental inventory check tells me a bunch of the historically militarily prominent countries still have quite large or absolutely monstrous deposits of coal. They didn't run out of coal, they switched to a better fuel.
I just wanted go on a slight tangent to point out how we went from kerosene for lamps to RP-1(basically refined kerosene) to power spaceships. What a time to be alive!
I love your videos, great episode. I’m retired now but I worked in several sectors of the Oil Industry for over 40 years, including everything from running Supertankers to Ultra Deep Water Drill Ships. It’s a fascinating field from one end to the other. When drilling exploration wells we’d often have everything from drillers, a spectrum of engineers, mechanics, logistics staff, catering staff, crane operators, navigation officers, paleontologists to whale watchers, with hundreds of people supporting us ashore. I found running tankers was personally more enjoyable.
Thanks guys; another great episode. One tiny thing. This nit may be a bit too little to pick, but I thought the description of Octane could have been expanded/clarified a bit. Yes, simple octane is an 8-chain of carbon clothed in hydrogen, but "octane" with respect to fuel quality is a little more subtle. Fractional separation and cracking were both covered, but Octane rating does not refer directly to simple 8-carbon straight-chain molecules. It’s not even a direct molecular description, rather a measure of the ability of a fuel to resist pre-combustion under pressure. In fact, the highest octane fuel is 2,2,4-trimethyl pentane (100%). It’s got 8 carbons, but in a branched structure.
Not a fundamental truth, just an accident of current technology. It was not true for all of history until WWIIish. It will also not be true sometime in the future. GREAT example of corporate FUD. Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt. Without oxygen you die- That is fundamental truth instead of propaganda.
Just another comment when you moved onto "Peak Oil", as an exploration geologist with 30 years experience I'd say we are nowhere near peak oil, we are getting close to peak demand. We are nowhere near peak oil, we are well past peak cheap oil, if you look at the migration of exploration from onshore to offshore, most specifically offshore Brazil, onshore and offshore Argentina, offshore Africa and both Arctic and Antartic (whole other question is should we) we have no idea what's there in terms of volume. Is there another Gwar out there, we can't say because we haven't looked in earnest, but in my opinion we are pretty much done with cheap oil, but at $200/bbl we are barely scratching the surface, cheers!
Peak cheap oil was in 1998 when gasoline was $1.98 per gallon in 2024 dollars. We still shouldn't be hastening the exhaustion of fossil fuel reserves. Everyone should be driving 75mpg glorified gulf carts, and coal and gas burning should be banned to save them for future conversion to liquid fuels.
This was a great presentation. Thanks. Since fossil material, kerogen?, is fundamentally carbon and hydrogen, at what point in the cooking and production of fossil energy products, does it become poisonous or carcinogenic? Can we add a few drops of West Texas crude to the Friday nite drinks?
Chemistry class is your friend. It is not a particular element that causes cancer.... It is a certain arrangement. That arrangement pulls bits out of DNA and causes a mutation. A personal example- bladder cancer is often caused by benzene ring (byproduct of smoking) settling onto the lining of the bladder, it pulls an electron out, causing a mutation. Kidneys pull the byproducts out for elimination thu urine.
Excellent primer for the uninitiated! Just a few refinements, you do not set casing with concrete, the aggregate would lead to failure of the seal, only cement. When you spoke of fracing you said it was around for 80 years but I think you need to delineate between vertical fracing a well which has been around for 80 + years and long reach multi-stage fracing made possible by horizontal drilling using downhole motors, which has only been around for 2ish decades and has issues do to its massive scale. I'm sure dad will make the same points. Suggest you use the sponge analogy for a reservoir rock, its my go to when explaining.Once again, an excellent summary, keep up the great work!! Cheers.
And you're family is right, we don't really care about the product itself, we care about the jobs, the paychecks, the industry. There is a potential wave of exploration that is happening right now which is looking for geologic Hydrogen. How much is there? No onee knows but if you take the O&G industry and point it at a new source of revenue using the skills we already have, we're going to find it if its there. Imagine the irony that the petroleum industry becomes the largest producer on H2 without the massive carbon footprint when the product is burned!
And also where your sun ascendant line is I believe can represent your physical body. My sun ascendent line goes over Hiroshima positive ion situation overload and I'm trying to figure out if nuclear waste mess has anything to do with that and the splitting apart of atoms perhaps for nuclear energy and the steam produced from those powerplants
While this is an interesting discussion and while fossil fuels have been very important in improving human prosperity, fossil fuels have to be seen through a history lesson. That is because for human civilization to continue to exist, we have to transition off fossil fuels as quickly as possible. The slower we transition, the more misery we leave for our children. So, how we transition has to be central to any discussion of fossil fuels.
All of this is lovely but we are also destroying our environment with pollution and oil spills. In the end we have to move away from fossil fuels and only use them for necessary use cases.
The formation mechanism for oil is debatable. It is important. That doesn't mean it is infinite. We may be able to make artificial Oil from solar energy, but that would be a storage mechanism for sunlight, a stepped power supply. Kerosene was consumed first because it was the easiest to access, transport, process. ...
The global economy uses a significant portion of the Oil for entertainment. Having the strongest military is just the privilege to consume the last half of the supply slaughtering the rest of us.
Finally! Mark is back!
Edit after listening, great job keeping the discussion on track!
A quick mental inventory check tells me a bunch of the historically militarily prominent countries still have quite large or absolutely monstrous deposits of coal. They didn't run out of coal, they switched to a better fuel.
I just wanted go on a slight tangent to point out how we went from kerosene for lamps to RP-1(basically refined kerosene) to power spaceships. What a time to be alive!
The other advantage of oil for ships, etc. over coal is that a pound of oil has about twice the energy content of a pound of coal.
Another amazing class !
I love your videos, great episode. I’m retired now but I worked in several sectors of the Oil Industry for over 40 years, including everything from running Supertankers to Ultra Deep Water Drill Ships. It’s a fascinating field from one end to the other. When drilling exploration wells we’d often have everything from drillers, a spectrum of engineers, mechanics, logistics staff, catering staff, crane operators, navigation officers, paleontologists to whale watchers, with hundreds of people supporting us ashore. I found running tankers was personally more enjoyable.
Thanks guys; another great episode. One tiny thing. This nit may be a bit too little to pick, but I thought the description of Octane could have been expanded/clarified a bit. Yes, simple octane is an 8-chain of carbon clothed in hydrogen, but "octane" with respect to fuel quality is a little more subtle. Fractional separation and cracking were both covered, but Octane rating does not refer directly to simple 8-carbon straight-chain molecules. It’s not even a direct molecular description, rather a measure of the ability of a fuel to resist pre-combustion under pressure. In fact, the highest octane fuel is 2,2,4-trimethyl pentane (100%). It’s got 8 carbons, but in a branched structure.
Is there a Mark Nelson fan-boy club? I'd like to join!
Don't have to think to much , oil is what has brought us out of poverty, and is totally responsible for all of our well being .
Snicker.... not 'to much' thinking went into this gem.
The church of oil has at least one evangelist....
27:16 Happy new year!
I think there was some research to use coal powder in water for use in combustion engines, but I don't know when.
Without diesel you will starve.
Not if you’re Old Order Amish!
@@DM-ks1pj : Some Amish use tractors. An easy search to confirm. There's even videos of it.
Not a fundamental truth, just an accident of current technology.
It was not true for all of history until WWIIish.
It will also not be true sometime in the future.
GREAT example of corporate FUD.
Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt.
Without oxygen you die-
That is fundamental truth instead of propaganda.
Great, informative stuff
As ever, fascinating details.
Not a fan of abiotic oil theory then? It's more efficient to make a mess then clean it up, than to never make the mess.
Why no timestamps?
Sick Nate Hagen's reference 🤘
Just another comment when you moved onto "Peak Oil", as an exploration geologist with 30 years experience I'd say we are nowhere near peak oil, we are getting close to peak demand. We are nowhere near peak oil, we are well past peak cheap oil, if you look at the migration of exploration from onshore to offshore, most specifically offshore Brazil, onshore and offshore Argentina, offshore Africa and both Arctic and Antartic (whole other question is should we) we have no idea what's there in terms of volume. Is there another Gwar out there, we can't say because we haven't looked in earnest, but in my opinion we are pretty much done with cheap oil, but at $200/bbl we are barely scratching the surface, cheers!
Peak cheap oil was in 1998 when gasoline was $1.98 per gallon in 2024 dollars. We still shouldn't be hastening the exhaustion of fossil fuel reserves. Everyone should be driving 75mpg glorified gulf carts, and coal and gas burning should be banned to save them for future conversion to liquid fuels.
Nice nuance on peaks Sir.
Will there be another fracking boom in ND?
I thought Lac Magantic was Bakken crude not oil sands oil.
You are correct sir. Interestingly Bakken is apparently higher volatitily and flammability c/w heavier oil sands crude.
This was a great presentation. Thanks. Since fossil material, kerogen?, is fundamentally carbon and hydrogen, at what point in the cooking and production of fossil energy products, does it become poisonous or carcinogenic? Can we add a few drops of West Texas crude to the Friday nite drinks?
Mineral oil laxative is just oil. The carcinogenic stuff is mostly light aromatics like benzene.
Chemistry class is your friend.
It is not a particular element that causes cancer....
It is a certain arrangement.
That arrangement pulls bits out of DNA and causes a mutation.
A personal example- bladder cancer is often caused by benzene ring (byproduct of smoking) settling onto the lining of the bladder, it pulls an electron out, causing a mutation. Kidneys pull the byproducts out for elimination thu urine.
The fact that we allow individuals to profit from these processes that operated for hundreds of millions of years is insane.
Wrong first oil well in Ontario was a year ahead of Drake.
Excellent primer for the uninitiated! Just a few refinements, you do not set casing with concrete, the aggregate would lead to failure of the seal, only cement. When you spoke of fracing you said it was around for 80 years but I think you need to delineate between vertical fracing a well which has been around for 80 + years and long reach multi-stage fracing made possible by horizontal drilling using downhole motors, which has only been around for 2ish decades and has issues do to its massive scale. I'm sure dad will make the same points. Suggest you use the sponge analogy for a reservoir rock, its my go to when explaining.Once again, an excellent summary, keep up the great work!! Cheers.
So oil is irreplaceable 😮
And you're family is right, we don't really care about the product itself, we care about the jobs, the paychecks, the industry. There is a potential wave of exploration that is happening right now which is looking for geologic Hydrogen. How much is there? No onee knows but if you take the O&G industry and point it at a new source of revenue using the skills we already have, we're going to find it if its there. Imagine the irony that the petroleum industry becomes the largest producer on H2 without the massive carbon footprint when the product is burned!
And also where your sun ascendant line is I believe can represent your physical body.
My sun ascendent line goes over Hiroshima positive ion situation overload and I'm trying to figure out if nuclear waste mess has anything to do with that and the splitting apart of atoms perhaps for nuclear energy and the steam produced from those powerplants
Can't tell who is the guest and who is the host 😂
Are you guys related?
While this is an interesting discussion and while fossil fuels have been very important in improving human prosperity, fossil fuels have to be seen through a history lesson. That is because for human civilization to continue to exist, we have to transition off fossil fuels as quickly as possible. The slower we transition, the more misery we leave for our children. So, how we transition has to be central to any discussion of fossil fuels.
Mark Nelson looks like your brother
Just saying
All of this is lovely but we are also destroying our environment with pollution and oil spills. In the end we have to move away from fossil fuels and only use them for necessary use cases.
The formation mechanism for oil is debatable. It is important. That doesn't mean it is infinite. We may be able to make artificial Oil from solar energy, but that would be a storage mechanism for sunlight, a stepped power supply. Kerosene was consumed first because it was the easiest to access, transport, process. ...
Coal power plant, coal combustion engine.
~2 billion years ago the development of bacteria metabolites to eat the hydrocarbons.
.
.
The global economy uses a significant portion of the Oil for entertainment. Having the strongest military is just the privilege to consume the last half of the supply slaughtering the rest of us.
Υες
If we define Civilization as Industrial Capitalism, then yes. I don’t see a justifiable reason to do so.