I still remember a time when they said oil sands were worthless, because of all the processing needed to extract it!! I'm not even that old, just 40!!!!!
Retail prices vary over time...at 50 dollars a gallon many inconvenient deposit s become profitable to do . Also consider the machines to fetch the oil are expensive to make exspecially the first time...s...
I've always argued that we should recycle plastics, if for no other reason at all, just to help keep the price of gas low. Obviously, there are a hell of a lot of reasons to recycle, but some people just don't care if we render the earth uninhabitable... but some of those people do care if gas is expensive, so remind them that every bit of oil used to make plastic increases the demand for more oil while simultaneously decreasing the supply, which ends up increasing the price of gas.
@@Aeturnalis if we go only by prices then I don't think that will work out. As far as I know recycling isn't that easy and doesn't create as well of a quality. And overall, I don't think enough is used for non fuel purposes that it could decrease the price significantly
As an energy expert, I appreciate you giving a very good and complete introduction to oil and natural gas exploration for everyone out there. Hopefully it will help everyone understand what a precious resource these fossil fuels are.
As a doctor of petroleum engineering I congratulate you on the job you've done with this video. I'm used to hearing horribly mangled explanations of this topic and you've done quite a good overview with practically no mistakes, while remaining admirably apolitical. (As a PhD I am obligated to provide corrections - (1) a reservoir seal would much more likely be a shale layer, rather than granite or marble, and (2) the first syllable of bitumen should be stressed, not the second.)
I did offshore seismic exploration in the early 80's and we combined seismic with gravity and magnetic instrumentation back then. I'd really like to see some of the advancements they have made over the last 30 years. I got put out of work when crude oil sunk below $20 a barrel and now it is $108.
Hey Hank, a follow-up video on renewable energy sources, and a proper look at whether or not they're economically viable right now would be nice. Lots of people say that renewable is the way forward when they're dead set against fracking, but I can't help but feel that converting the world to run purely on these sources is a lot more complicated than simply putting up a few hydroelec dams.
My uncle is a physicist at Lancaster university (head of the department too). He's being commissioned by BP to work on an oil extraction method involving nano-technology. Basically, the nano thingys are injected into the oil move to the edges of the well. They then harden to form a kinda bag. This method means that they can extract 100% of the oil in an single well.
+Angela Lott i'm using wind energy, hydro is bad for fishes :) greetings from Denmark, btw if we have good wind we can produce op to 140% of what we use just by wind :)
+Angela Lott But you still have a car or cosmetics or plastics or medication or clothes or cleaning products or sticky tape or shoes. The list actually goes on for a long long time.
I'm super stoked you talked about SAGD!! I'm from Alberta and as far as oil extraction goes, SAGD is the best method we have so far. It has one of the lowest steam to oil ratios and a large percentage of the steam and water is reused. Loved this video!!! DFTBA
One thing we learned in material class in engineering school was that even though plastic is made from oil, the oil usage is only 2 kg for one liter PP-plastic, while it is 4,5 kg oil for one liter of regular low-strength steel and it is 15 kg oil for one liter of new aluminum. Recycled aluminum is only about 1,5 kg though, so more recycling gets the oil (energy) usage for aluminum down and also the price of it.
draygoes We'll always need *some*, if nothing else, in the form of machine oil for lubrication. Half of all trips made in the U.S, are 3 miles or less. Easy to bike or walk. But 75% of all trips under 1 mile in the U.S. are made by car. There really should be half as many cars on the road at any given time. But walking two blocks makes too much sense for most people to go for it.
Kevin15047 This may be true in cities but not everyone lives or travels to places where a bike is practical. The nearest town to where I live is 15 minutes away by car and the nearest city is 30. Some of the places i have to travel to are 2 hours away by car and from there I still have to travel over terrain where a bike would be impractical
GaaradancepartyX Notice I did say "half as many", not "none". Cars will always have their place. But unless you're disabled, that place is not two blocks away. 7 miles (one way) is about my limit. Beyond that, I drive. I could go further, but...
You're actually not that wrong. Researchers have been able to produce crude oil using algae with high pressures and temperatures. Albeit, not at any sort of economic price point yet. No dinos needed :) www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/scientists-turn-algae-into-crude-oil-in-less-than-an-hour-180948282/?no-ist
As a petroleum engineer, I found this surprisingly accurate. Most of these types of videos on oil are filled with "untruths". I would like to mention that "fracking" (short for high pressure fracture stimulation) is not a new technology. It has been used for 50+\- years, we are just getting much better at it.
The solution to oil is the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor. Build a couple of these that do nothing but produce hydrogen and extract CO2 from the atmosphere. Combine the two and make dimethyl ether, which can be used to replace diesel fuel. You can also use the hydrogen and CO2 to make ethanol, which can be used to replace regular gasoline. Do that and we stop spending trillions every year on oil and all of our fuel becomes carbon neutral. Problem solved and we also help solve the greenhouse gas problem.
xMckingwill Agreed bro, Thorium is very abundant on this earth so common that you could basically compare it to dirt. The problem as you stated lies in the profits, nobody is going to invest in something that eve if it was for the greater good that will not provide profitable values. It's really stupid though, we are basically at the point where we need to a radical change in the way we utilize and create energy because current methods right now are inefficient,contributes to climate change and/or is expensive.
Abraham rugato Ah but there in lies the catch. Imagine if you will that you as a corporation were to offer a completely carbon neutral fuel for both diesel vehicles as well as regular cars. Americans use over 13 BILLION gallons of fuel every single year and diesel fuel is about 40 billion gallons per year! Now I dont know about you, but to me 53 billion gallons of fuel makes for one hell of a profit! And the real kicker is that it completely does away with US oil dependency. The only reason the nuclear program was started using uranium instead of thorium was nuclear weapons. You can't make weapons out of thorium and that's why the US went with uranium. Which ever company takes this idea and runs whole hog with it will make trillions.
What would've happened to the oil if we had found an alternate form of fuel before its discovery? Would it just build up or would it decay? Or, was it inevitable that we would use it?
In the day before oil was discovered, we were using alternative energy. Water wheels were powering textile factories and windmill were powering grinders to turn wheat into flour. However, the factories have to be near a river or areas that have lots of wind and that was impractical. Now, if electricity was invented before the discovery of oil, it is possible alternate energy would have dominated the electrical grid. However, one thing cause the surge for oil and it wasn't the need for electricity. It was the automobile boom. At that time, battery and electric motor was invented and used on automobile but the battery do not hold enough charge to travel far. Oil was used due to convenience and cost. So, to answer your question, it was inevitable.
Before the discovery of oil we were using coal for energy. It is still the main source of energy for industries, but as gasoline and diesel oil have high energy densities, they are extremely useful to power mobile applications that need to carry their own fuel. Even if we never used oil for energy, in the petrochemical industry (plastics, solvents and other chemical products) it is much harder to replace. When the extraction cost of oil makes it unusable in every other application, we will still extract and refine it for the petrochemical industry.
Why Mr. Green, I believe you hit the nail on the head with this one. "Everyone knows we have to start exploring technologies that don't use oil" bravo...nice vid as always.
It still doesn't run the vehicles that perform maintenance. And most places that use renewable energy only get a fraction of their energy from renewable sources.
@@ConstantChaos1 Nice. Link some evidence that your electric car is manufactured at a plant that isn't powered by fossil fuels and isn't charged at a station that is powered by a plant that uses fossil fuels. Also link me this plastic that isn't made from oil byproducts that's used in your electric car. I'll be super impressed.
I love how so many people forget that over 90% of plastics - including the PCBs* in our electronics - are made of oil. Heck, we've got beds and clothes made of oil. Things to cook with and store food in. Plastic parts in most toys and all transportation means of ours use oil. It's not just for fuel. (*PCB stands for Printed Circuit Board).
Fossil fuel is only good for so long. I believe that it was just to start us (humanity) off. Alternative energy and nuclear power plants are way more sustainable than oil and coal, with nuclear being the more scalable and cheaper alternative fuel. Though I'd still take a gasoline/diesel car over electric any day. Use electric for vehicles that travel thousands of miles each day, not for those that do 50 miles/wk at most. And for the sake of everything green, develop public transportation and make the damn NJ/NY trains run on time and fast (probably adding several lines tbh). If taking the train is cheaper than driving (time and expense-wise), more people will use them. Only rural dwellers will have to drive if public transportation in the suburbs improves. I'd take the bus to my college if it weren't 2 fkn hours long!
***** The most efficient coal-burning power plant on earth, (when using 'sulphur-scrubbing' which provides a by product which is used as a soil conditioner), is 43%. Just let that figure sink in. Then consider that the highest thermal efficiency of an internal combustion engine is 42%. Scary innit? Average thermal efficiency of a petrol (gas if you're American) engine is 34%.
You have it in a nutshell, when you describe the heat generated by internal combustion as 'waste'. It is only wasted because there is no practical use for it, other than making radiators in cars necessary.
1 pound of uranium produces as much energy as 18,000 pounds of coal. produces a hell of a lot less waste to energy ratio and costs 100$ per pound where as 18,000 pounds of coal costs 410 dollars... without shipping costs...
At that cost, with 1 ton of uranium providing energy for 50k homes, it takes $680K of coal to provide what $200k of uranium can do which can save up to $10 per person on their electrical bills. It gets better though, cause due to pollution regulations the end cost of a coal plants energy and a nuclear plant is: coal = $90/MWh Nuclear = $65/MWh With your average home using 2.5 MWh a month... Nuclear all the way!
I believe that once they get to a certain depth, they withdraw the drill from the hold, then insert a wedge into the hole, then push another drill on a flexible shaft down the hole. The wedge pushes the drill bit sideways.
It's all about the money! We've build everything around us from oil, and we now very dependent on it! 1:49 Like Hank said, "Obviously, were dealing with a finite resource, here. So, there will come a day when it will run out!" The main problem that we will face within the next 5 years: the transportation of the oil! Where the oil comes from is getting more and more unstable because of religion and war/violence (see the Middle East....) Once the oil runs dry, new technologies will have to rise to take it's place (they do already exist, or so I've been told).
Hank you are wrong! I am not using fossil fuels to power my computer. The electricity that powers my computer is generated via hydroelectric dams operated by Manitoba Hydro.
to make and maintain those dams require energy which comes from fossil fuels. hell, the guy getting to work to operate the dam drives a car if not a Ford F150 like most western Canadians love to do
Don't worry, we were stepping back to 1880s, by using steam engine(which biofuel than no longer required fossil fuel like coal) for energy and letting electricity go wild.
it's a tool for the accelerated dissemination of knowledge, what is lacking is the understanding of the general public to appreciate that.I try my best to explain things in the clear (as should my peers I hope) but sometimes that requires over simplification, which blurrs the knowledge we are trying to impart making it meaningless. This grates across my nerves because it's teaching mis-truthes. No-one can force anyone to learn, including the learning the language needed to understand the lesson.
We don't need oil anymore - except for greasing and even THEN, there are viable alternatives. The only reason oil is still being widely used is due to both stagnation and fear of oil companies losing business. We have so much viable alternatives that oil use could be lowered to 10 million barrels in 5 years If they were used. But of course, the desire for money is stronger.... I wish they would listen and stop letting their psycho money loving tendancies control them.
Mark Tan But the reason behind their expensiveness is due to stagnation in research of them. They need to be further developed. Also; the alternatives are costly when they are first built; but save an extreme amount of money in the long-term. Heck; If we simply all used alternative energy saving light bulbs in all our homes that alone would save billions in a number of years. Yet; Instead homes are still being built with old-out of date light bulbs and electrical wiring. You cannot say that there is no way to make the situation better. All the counter-arguments are from the very companies I spoke about in my comment. They want to justify their actions. so "we're doing our best; alternatives are just expensive" is a flimsy excuse.
Well then, following the idea that we should "be the change we want to see in this world", I hope you can make a difference there! After all, the world you described sounds good....
Mohammad Al-Zawahreh There're limitation to alternate energy, some countries doesn't have enough rivers to power hydroelectric dam, some countries are too small or too cloudy for large-scale solar plants, and not every countries have enough space to put on enough wind farms. To me, the best temporary solution is nuclear power and biofuel. And no, it's not just about oil company, they could continue to make profits out of green energy if they wished, while we can replace fossil power plants practically, we still have trouble trying to create efficient solar car for example, we still need oil to produce some products, which will take time to replace.
6:30 you can also use horizontal drilling to recover oil from underneath elementary schools it's an exceeeelent technique :P if puns were baseball that would be a Homer xD
I understand what you are saying xertris, but 'renewable' means it can be made as fast or faster then we can use it (or at least within reasonable time). It may be an ongoing process but we use it much faster then it can be made. Hence we can run out, hence not renewable.
ReMo79 Anonim wants you to complete your sentence, and say why for example is oil fracking bad for the economy, environment, other oil companies, oil prices, cars, workers health, global worming, job creation, or land prices etc. and why is it because you could afford higher gas prices and hate the traffic jams, you work in the green energy business, own some land where there is sand oil next to you, you love penguins and you hate seeing them dying, it would affect your drinking water, or you just dont trust oil companies etc.
Dude it's not good because 1. setting explosive underground charges that can cause seismic action and possibly contaminate ground water. 2. It can cause gasses to escape into the air and make people sick miles away. 3. The corporate giant's don't give a shit about the environment for as long as there's profits to be made...and this has been proven numerous times. I can keep going but I don't see the need as the things I have mentioned are bad enough. I do admit that there's positive aspects to the practice as well like jobs, cheap fuel and so on....but I think the bad out weights the good
Here in Ohio, I have my own natural gas well, and oil that many of us here lease to oil companies. I guess it’s next to winning the lottery, I haven’t had to work to pay a bill in decades.
Zenoc H. I hate to be a downer, but there is no way that will ever happen with today's technology. In fact it is unlikely ever to happen. Look up Thunderf00t's video on the solar roadways; he gives a very in depth explanation about why it is impossible.
must feel pretty good to fuck up the aquatic environment there. If you don't get the message, here it is "get off of your high horse, you're still fucking shit up even if you think you aren't"
I wish we could go back before 2012. That spike in US oil production pretty much ruined the economy in Alberta Canada. Hank is correct. It is very expensive and time consuming to get that oil out of the sand.
To know more about the cost of extracting, read some about ERoEI - Energy Return on Energy Invested. Some stuff like bitumen tar sands is down to 3:1 - so you have to use one barrel of oil in order to extract 3 barrels. So a lot of people who talk about peak oil has refined this to be "peak affordable oil" - that is a peak in the oil that so far has made classical economical growth possible. Expect a serious slide down the other side of Hubbards curve any time soon...
So, then why are we not building engines that get more than 100 miles to the gal. This technology exist, but was bought up by the oil companies and then buried in order to to keep the consumer dependent on the oil, and artificially inflate the price of oil. With the prices that are currently dropping, people don't think about this as a limited resource; however those prices are just one gun shot away from skyrocketing if a war were to break out in those oil rich countries. We need to produce our own oil, quit selling it abroad, and start producing the most efficient engines in the world. Then sell those to those countries that are holding the oil hostage. If enough autos are converted to being efficient then the demand will decrease and force the prices back to a level that's more affordable. Meanwhile we need to seriously look for alternative sources for energy. Perhaps we need to dust off the blueprints that Tesla had. Force those companies that are shelving the inventions that will increase the MPG of today's automobiles. This needs to be instigated now, before are backs are against the wall. Necessity is the mother of invention. More now than ever we need to encourage today's engineers, and steer tomorrows students towards science.
LeCookieSir Your watching it on a computer though right? That computer is made out of plastic which is a byproduct of the oil refining process. The equipment used to manufacture said computer likely used fossil fuels to generate the power. The clothes your wearing now - if they have any percentage of synthetic fibers such as polyester then that too is a by product of oil. So you may be using renewable energy to power your computer but you are still using the benefits of the oil.
I think that the extra use of oil is because of the vast distances between cities in Canada. Trucks, trains and aircrafts have to travel much more and use much more oil just to get to their destination, larger amounts of electricity are lost on the longer high tension lines, etc.
Next you should do one about how we don't need to make more fossil fuel discoveries because if we burn up only 2/3 of current oil discoveries the Global temperature will rise catastrophically.
I am thankful for fossil fuels every day. They have made my life easier, cleaner and safer. Without them life would be short, brutal and dirty. Alternatives will come about, and when viable ones do I'll be just as thankful.
TheChemistryShack true, but my main concern is that they still seem to pose many of the same ECOLOGICAL problems as oil, meaning things such as CO2 emissions and other products of the combustion process
Ian Brzostoski Yes biogas and biofuel definitely releases CO2 because combustion of their organic material inevitably produces CO2. However, it must also be taken into account that the products produced by algae (some algae produce oils and others produce methane) require carbon dioxide to live, so the process, overall, reduces carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
TheChemistryShack algae biofuel is like Nuclear fusion it's always 20 years way but never arrives. The other Biofuels need a area bigger than earth to substitute oil. Biogas production is residual. Wind is myth. Solar is the future but only if battery technology improve like never before, what isn't going to happen.
I'm actually either going to college for petroleum engineering, or going straight offshore into oil production and hopefully become the manager of the platform one day. Let's just see how it works out...
It's been a while but... There are a few definitions of acid, but basically an acid is a thing that can "donate" hydrogen ions (protons). When acids are in water, you have H3O molecules, which can give off that hydrogen as needed. Mixing acids with water gives off heat (the proton donor is becoming more stable). If you only have a small amount of water, the water gets heated up a lot, causing it to boil/vaporize, which can splatter. Yet if you pour acid into water, the heat doesn't concentrate
Forgive me, 2 parter... If it was a broadly used solution power grid draw would be far reduced, and that's only one renewable solution. Nearby Bakersfield in the mountains, there already exists a massive wind farm of which only some of the generators are constantly active. In areas which have good conditions tidal generators could be employed or even seabound wind generators, not to mention the potential for new geothermal technologies. It just takes effort to think of how it will work together.
I was always taught that the nonporous rocks would be most likely the granite and marble to cover the reservoir. Also, do you like your job a lot? My dream is to become a petroleum engineer, but I'm deciding whether just getting into production and hoping for promotions into manager or tool pusher would be a better choice in the long run.
That's where you're wrong. Here in iceland, we use water energy. Unless the cable transporting the electricity becomes unable to do so, we have to transfer to using Bio-Diesel, which (i know) is oil.
Curious if Hank still feels this is all the case now; super caps, batteries, oil prices, fracking, and the move away from oil by many countries has me wondering if these predictions still hold true
marble might work as a cap rock (unpermeable lair of rock) but not granite, the best and common cap rocks are shale and anhydrite because they are flexible.
We always talk about oil in terms of electricity or autos, but what about all the other things made with plastic? When the oil runs out how will we make cell phones, tablets, laptops, refrigerators, cars, etc. I've wondered if there is anyone out there trying to build things we use with other materials rather than plastic. Even electric cars use oil (petroleum?) for part of the car.
One thing I don't understand is why it's apparently better to find oil, refine it into plastic and then make in into utensils then it is to get whatever metal the average (at least American) household has. It's more durable, I can easily reuse it and I can wash it with water (and it's gonna be a long time before we have no more water)
In the comment you were replying to... I mean that there are cases where methane is wasted, and can be used for a little extra power generation. I forget the details, but I recall some industrial plant of some form or another that got methane as a byproduct of whatever they were doing, and so instead of wasting it as an energy source (I think they might have just been burning it off), they burned it to produce some of the power they needed.
In British Columbia we are lucky that most of our electricity is generated by hydro electric dams. It's a good Province for clean electricity and here in Vancouver I can see a big wind turbine located on top of a mountain (it powers the tourist attractions on top of the mountain). So I guess electricity is one thing we are good at :)
You're welcome, from those of us at Niagara Falls supplying your hydroelectricity. For me, even though I am 20 minutes away from the largest hydroelectric generators anywhere, for some reason my town buys its electricity from the states. This makes it kind of weird when the Ontario gov't pays the US to take excess energy off our grid, which then ends up at my house back in Ontario...
Why didn't you offer a short list of things that Oil is used for outside of electricity? That would have added more to the why that you didn't really go over
I still remember a time when they said oil sands were worthless, because of all the processing needed to extract it!! I'm not even that old, just 40!!!!!
Retail prices vary over time...at 50 dollars a gallon many inconvenient deposit s become profitable to do . Also consider the machines to fetch the oil are expensive to make exspecially the first time...s...
Thank you very much for the most unbiased "oil talk" I've ever seen.
You Sir are a true scientist.
More than an energy problem, many things in everyday life a made of oil. When we run out how will we create them?
I've always argued that we should recycle plastics, if for no other reason at all, just to help keep the price of gas low. Obviously, there are a hell of a lot of reasons to recycle, but some people just don't care if we render the earth uninhabitable... but some of those people do care if gas is expensive, so remind them that every bit of oil used to make plastic increases the demand for more oil while simultaneously decreasing the supply, which ends up increasing the price of gas.
@@Aeturnalis if we go only by prices then I don't think that will work out. As far as I know recycling isn't that easy and doesn't create as well of a quality. And overall, I don't think enough is used for non fuel purposes that it could decrease the price significantly
Hemp boi hemp
When its all burnt up EARTH will be dead, will not need any oil byproducts...
As an energy expert, I appreciate you giving a very good and complete introduction to oil and natural gas exploration for everyone out there. Hopefully it will help everyone understand what a precious resource these fossil fuels are.
8:55 The cost of oil will become so expensive that it's no longer economically viable.
COVID: Laughs in $-37 a barrel oil.
Dirty.... And extremely informative!!!!!
So they use a Seismic Vibrator to search for tight oil, then repeatedly drill for it.
Ah, the things you can learn from science....
Scott Franco that's a spicy meme
Yeah... let that seismic vibrator sink in... That's nice...
i couldn't have said it better myself
What we don't do for Mother Nature to get that sweet sweet oil.
Finally someone who doesn't say peak oil is a myth...also, I like how much he moves his hands, it keeps me focused, he's like a magician.
Who says peek oil is a myth?
As a doctor of petroleum engineering I congratulate you on the job you've done with this video. I'm used to hearing horribly mangled explanations of this topic and you've done quite a good overview with practically no mistakes, while remaining admirably apolitical. (As a PhD I am obligated to provide corrections - (1) a reservoir seal would much more likely be a shale layer, rather than granite or marble, and (2) the first syllable of bitumen should be stressed, not the second.)
I did offshore seismic exploration in the early 80's and we combined seismic with gravity and magnetic instrumentation back then. I'd really like to see some of the advancements they have made over the last 30 years. I got put out of work when crude oil sunk below $20 a barrel and now it is $108.
Hank made a vibrator joke; now I've seen everything.
Saying a word and then giggling about it does not constitute a joke.
@@a2pabmb2
Bet you’re real frickin fun at parties
@@a2pabmb2 it's a subtle sort of comedy
I was shaken by this
Seismic vibrators and bio-holes...
Stubby the Baby And all that penetration.
+Stubby the Baby Boreholes. BOREholes. Not bio-holes.
+Stubby the Baby Was just about to comment the same thing
+Stubby the Baby and penetration of oil holes
+Stubby the Baby What's a bio-hole...?
jeez Hank, you sounded pretty enthusiastic about increasing oil production at 5:54 settle down
Something rarely mentioned in my experience is settling priorities and using less.
Thank you for all this hard work oil companies. I really like my electricity, plastics, and vehicles.
Our grandchildren will ask us how we drove internal combustion machines manually and we will sound so bad ass.
When I was your age we put processed decayed plants and dinosaurs in our vehicles for fuel.
"How much oil we think or fear we have left is influencing how and where we're looking for it." Boo yah social science factoids.
Hopefully they will...
This was an extremely useful, informative video. Thanks!!!
Hey Hank, a follow-up video on renewable energy sources, and a proper look at whether or not they're economically viable right now would be nice. Lots of people say that renewable is the way forward when they're dead set against fracking, but I can't help but feel that converting the world to run purely on these sources is a lot more complicated than simply putting up a few hydroelec dams.
My uncle is a physicist at Lancaster university (head of the department too). He's being commissioned by BP to work on an oil extraction method involving nano-technology. Basically, the nano thingys are injected into the oil move to the edges of the well. They then harden to form a kinda bag. This method means that they can extract 100% of the oil in an single well.
actually, the energy that powers my house comes from a hydroelectric station. But great episode hank.
0:43 I had the same reaction, I live in France so mostly nuclear power
The plastics in your phone or computer. Your using oil but nice try
Seeing this in 2022, seems like a really good time to invest in renewables.
I am using hydo power. My whole province uses water power!!! GO CANADA! ^_^
+Angela Lott Vancouver? Victoria here
+Angela Lott i'm using wind energy, hydro is bad for fishes :) greetings from Denmark, btw if we have good wind we can produce op to 140% of what we use just by wind :)
+Armands Gulbis Greetings from a natural gas powered computer here in Ohio!
+Angela Lott Good job! If I lived in Canada, I would have more snow days. Woo!
+Angela Lott
But you still have a car or cosmetics or plastics or medication or clothes or cleaning products or sticky tape or shoes. The list actually goes on for a long long time.
I'm super stoked you talked about SAGD!! I'm from Alberta and as far as oil extraction goes, SAGD is the best method we have so far. It has one of the lowest steam to oil ratios and a large percentage of the steam and water is reused. Loved this video!!! DFTBA
One thing we learned in material class in engineering school was that even though plastic is made from oil, the oil usage is only 2 kg for one liter PP-plastic, while it is 4,5 kg oil for one liter of regular low-strength steel and it is 15 kg oil for one liter of new aluminum.
Recycled aluminum is only about 1,5 kg though, so more recycling gets the oil (energy) usage for aluminum down and also the price of it.
The best use for oil is lubricating bike chains.
Best use is no use at all.
draygoes We'll always need *some*, if nothing else, in the form of machine oil for lubrication. Half of all trips made in the U.S, are 3 miles or less. Easy to bike or walk. But 75% of all trips under 1 mile in the U.S. are made by car. There really should be half as many cars on the road at any given time. But walking two blocks makes too much sense for most people to go for it.
Kevin15047 This may be true in cities but not everyone lives or travels to places where a bike is practical. The nearest town to where I live is 15 minutes away by car and the nearest city is 30. Some of the places i have to travel to are 2 hours away by car and from there I still have to travel over terrain where a bike would be impractical
GaaradancepartyX Notice I did say "half as many", not "none". Cars will always have their place. But unless you're disabled, that place is not two blocks away. 7 miles (one way) is about my limit. Beyond that, I drive. I could go further, but...
Kevin15047
Let's put some dinosaurs in the microwave and make some oil
(That was joke I know that won't work shut up)
***** Pretty much
Vusatunell
wich sux.
Vusatunell
*****
sometimes people won't even noitece the disclaimer or what ever and jump directly into shouting random shit.
Not funny, that is how my parents died
You're actually not that wrong. Researchers have been able to produce crude oil using algae with high pressures and temperatures. Albeit, not at any sort of economic price point yet. No dinos needed :)
www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/scientists-turn-algae-into-crude-oil-in-less-than-an-hour-180948282/?no-ist
LOL, the giant seismic vibrators penetrate. LOL
I have worked on oilfields in alberta that use the seam assisted method. Its by far the most ecologically friendly way to extract the stuff.
As a petroleum engineer, I found this surprisingly accurate. Most of these types of videos on oil are filled with "untruths". I would like to mention that "fracking" (short for high pressure fracture stimulation) is not a new technology. It has been used for 50+\- years, we are just getting much better at it.
The solution to oil is the Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactor. Build a couple of these that do nothing but produce hydrogen and extract CO2 from the atmosphere. Combine the two and make dimethyl ether, which can be used to replace diesel fuel. You can also use the hydrogen and CO2 to make ethanol, which can be used to replace regular gasoline. Do that and we stop spending trillions every year on oil and all of our fuel becomes carbon neutral. Problem solved and we also help solve the greenhouse gas problem.
its a great idea but the biggest problem is not many people would fund research for a project like that cuz like in my post its not a profitable.
xMckingwill Agreed bro, Thorium is very abundant on this earth so common that you could basically compare it to dirt. The problem as you stated lies in the profits, nobody is going to invest in something that eve if it was for the greater good that will not provide profitable values. It's really stupid though, we are basically at the point where we need to a radical change in the way we utilize and create energy because current methods right now are inefficient,contributes to climate change and/or is expensive.
Abraham rugato Ah but there in lies the catch. Imagine if you will that you as a corporation were to offer a completely carbon neutral fuel for both diesel vehicles as well as regular cars. Americans use over 13 BILLION gallons of fuel every single year and diesel fuel is about 40 billion gallons per year! Now I dont know about you, but to me 53 billion gallons of fuel makes for one hell of a profit! And the real kicker is that it completely does away with US oil dependency. The only reason the nuclear program was started using uranium instead of thorium was nuclear weapons. You can't make weapons out of thorium and that's why the US went with uranium.
Which ever company takes this idea and runs whole hog with it will make trillions.
l
what about plastics?
What would've happened to the oil if we had found an alternate form of fuel before its discovery? Would it just build up or would it decay? Or, was it inevitable that we would use it?
In the day before oil was discovered, we were using alternative energy. Water wheels were powering textile factories and windmill were powering grinders to turn wheat into flour. However, the factories have to be near a river or areas that have lots of wind and that was impractical. Now, if electricity was invented before the discovery of oil, it is possible alternate energy would have dominated the electrical grid. However, one thing cause the surge for oil and it wasn't the need for electricity. It was the automobile boom. At that time, battery and electric motor was invented and used on automobile but the battery do not hold enough charge to travel far. Oil was used due to convenience and cost. So, to answer your question, it was inevitable.
Oyamada13 Thanks for the clarification!
Before the discovery of oil we were using coal for energy. It is still the main source of energy for industries, but as gasoline and diesel oil have high energy densities, they are extremely useful to power mobile applications that need to carry their own fuel.
Even if we never used oil for energy, in the petrochemical industry (plastics, solvents and other chemical products) it is much harder to replace. When the extraction cost of oil makes it unusable in every other application, we will still extract and refine it for the petrochemical industry.
You don't need fuel if you're not alive to see it.
yeah, the bakken! love a good ND shoutout.
Why Mr. Green, I believe you hit the nail on the head with this one.
"Everyone knows we have to start exploring technologies that don't use oil"
bravo...nice vid as always.
This explains the political situation in the Middle East
The middle east is a chaotic mess, and it's only going to get worse when they start to run out of oil and natural gas.
Can Hank keep his hands still?
No, go away.
Just wondering
+KathTea. Why did you tell him to "go away?"
Just because no.
+Gusstavv's Stuff. Shut up.
No Hank, I'm on water power. Because Norway
MrTacticalinuit
Your PC has plastic in it, which is made of oil.
It still doesn't run the vehicles that perform maintenance. And most places that use renewable energy only get a fraction of their energy from renewable sources.
Yep. Literally everything in your house was made with oil or made using oil, including your house. =/
@@inmysparetime378 you know electric cars exist yea?
@@ConstantChaos1 Nice. Link some evidence that your electric car is manufactured at a plant that isn't powered by fossil fuels and isn't charged at a station that is powered by a plant that uses fossil fuels. Also link me this plastic that isn't made from oil byproducts that's used in your electric car. I'll be super impressed.
i know the point of i just learn more easily with videos like UA-cam instead of "Goggling" it and the guys at sci show are great at explaining stuff
I love how so many people forget that over 90% of plastics - including the PCBs* in our electronics - are made of oil. Heck, we've got beds and clothes made of oil. Things to cook with and store food in. Plastic parts in most toys and all transportation means of ours use oil. It's not just for fuel.
(*PCB stands for Printed Circuit Board).
Fossil fuel is only good for so long. I believe that it was just to start us (humanity) off. Alternative energy and nuclear power plants are way more sustainable than oil and coal, with nuclear being the more scalable and cheaper alternative fuel.
Though I'd still take a gasoline/diesel car over electric any day. Use electric for vehicles that travel thousands of miles each day, not for those that do 50 miles/wk at most. And for the sake of everything green, develop public transportation and make the damn NJ/NY trains run on time and fast (probably adding several lines tbh). If taking the train is cheaper than driving (time and expense-wise), more people will use them.
Only rural dwellers will have to drive if public transportation in the suburbs improves. I'd take the bus to my college if it weren't 2 fkn hours long!
***** The most efficient coal-burning power plant on earth, (when using 'sulphur-scrubbing' which provides a by product which is used as a soil conditioner), is 43%. Just let that figure sink in. Then consider that the highest thermal efficiency of an internal combustion engine is 42%. Scary innit? Average thermal efficiency of a petrol (gas if you're American) engine is 34%.
Read it all, and read it properly, then get back to me with your reasoned argument based on extremely accurate data. Till then . . .
John Benton typical britshit to ignore arguments in favor of shitposting :^)
Der der de der der!
You have it in a nutshell, when you describe the heat generated by internal combustion as 'waste'. It is only wasted because there is no practical use for it, other than making radiators in cars necessary.
1 pound of uranium produces as much energy as 18,000 pounds of coal.
produces a hell of a lot less waste to energy ratio
and costs 100$ per pound where as 18,000 pounds of coal costs 410 dollars... without shipping costs...
eli dennison helium3. It's even cleaner
Helium
not yet usefull
At that cost, with 1 ton of uranium providing energy for 50k homes, it takes $680K of coal to provide what $200k of uranium can do which can save up to $10 per person on their electrical bills. It gets better though, cause due to pollution regulations the end cost of a coal plants energy and a nuclear plant is:
coal = $90/MWh
Nuclear = $65/MWh
With your average home using 2.5 MWh a month... Nuclear all the way!
Nuclear is def the future, but we use petroleum for a whole lot more than just fuel.
Plastics, solvents, lubricants and pharmaceuticals and much more.
Hank said that it's pretty freakin difficult. I say it's pretty FRACKIN difficult. Yeah, that was bad.
This video is highly informative, thank you. I now feel smarter.
I believe that once they get to a certain depth, they withdraw the drill from the hold, then insert a wedge into the hole, then push another drill on a flexible shaft down the hole. The wedge pushes the drill bit sideways.
It's all about the money!
We've build everything around us from oil, and we now very dependent on it!
1:49 Like Hank said, "Obviously, were dealing with a finite resource, here. So, there will come a day when it will run out!"
The main problem that we will face within the next 5 years: the transportation of the oil!
Where the oil comes from is getting more and more unstable because of religion and war/violence (see the Middle East....)
Once the oil runs dry, new technologies will have to rise to take it's place (they do already exist, or so I've been told).
Cameron Johnson Or hamsters. Lots and lots of hamsters.
Hank you are wrong! I am not using fossil fuels to power my computer. The electricity that powers my computer is generated via hydroelectric dams operated by Manitoba Hydro.
***** I know it was, I was just pointing out that his example didn't exactly apply to me or to most of the province of Manitoba.
not 100% of it.
to make and maintain those dams require energy which comes from fossil fuels. hell, the guy getting to work to operate the dam drives a car if not a Ford F150 like most western Canadians love to do
Hunnah0055 Well you got me there! Thank you for enlightening me.
Hunnah0055 The electricity created by the dam is also used to power it.
Fossil fuels for energy? What is this, the 1920ies?
The modern era and the next 50 years
Silly Ducky Only shitholes burn oil for energy.
zer00rdie
Well for electricity yes but for energy in devises like cars no.
Don't worry, we were stepping back to 1880s, by using steam engine(which biofuel than no longer required fossil fuel like coal) for energy and letting electricity go wild.
I'm still confused on how to pronounce '1920ies'.
Thank you . Excellent treatment of a difficult, complex problem.
it's a tool for the accelerated dissemination of knowledge, what is lacking is the understanding of the general public to appreciate that.I try my best to explain things in the clear (as should my peers I hope) but sometimes that requires over simplification, which blurrs the knowledge we are trying to impart making it meaningless. This grates across my nerves because it's teaching mis-truthes. No-one can force anyone to learn, including the learning the language needed to understand the lesson.
We don't need oil anymore - except for greasing and even THEN, there are viable alternatives. The only reason oil is still being widely used is due to both stagnation and fear of oil companies losing business.
We have so much viable alternatives that oil use could be lowered to 10 million barrels in 5 years If they were used. But of course, the desire for money is stronger.... I wish they would listen and stop letting their psycho money loving tendancies control them.
Alternatives tend to be reaaaally expensive too... mind paying twice or thrice the price for electricity then well...
Mark Tan But the reason behind their expensiveness is due to stagnation in research of them. They need to be further developed. Also; the alternatives are costly when they are first built; but save an extreme amount of money in the long-term.
Heck; If we simply all used alternative energy saving light bulbs in all our homes that alone would save billions in a number of years.
Yet; Instead homes are still being built with old-out of date light bulbs and electrical wiring.
You cannot say that there is no way to make the situation better. All the counter-arguments are from the very companies I spoke about in my comment. They want to justify their actions. so "we're doing our best; alternatives are just expensive" is a flimsy excuse.
Well then, following the idea that we should "be the change we want to see in this world", I hope you can make a difference there! After all, the world you described sounds good....
Mohammad Al-Zawahreh There're limitation to alternate energy, some countries doesn't have enough rivers to power hydroelectric dam, some countries are too small or too cloudy for large-scale solar plants, and not every countries have enough space to put on enough wind farms. To me, the best temporary solution is nuclear power and biofuel.
And no, it's not just about oil company, they could continue to make profits out of green energy if they wished, while we can replace fossil power plants practically, we still have trouble trying to create efficient solar car for example, we still need oil to produce some products, which will take time to replace.
Mickey G I understand.
So why dont we put bones in pressure cookers to make oil.
not that easy.
Please please please please please please please please please please please please tell me you are joking
lol jocking.
You'd need a hella huge pressure cooker
Logan Collins and 15 million years...
6:30 you can also use horizontal drilling to recover oil from underneath elementary schools it's an exceeeelent technique :P if puns were baseball that would be a Homer xD
I understand what you are saying xertris, but 'renewable' means it can be made as fast or faster then we can use it (or at least within reasonable time). It may be an ongoing process but we use it much faster then it can be made. Hence we can run out, hence not renewable.
I actually helped engineer the perforating system used in getting the horizontal wells to pressurize.
This is what wars are fought over.
i hope they have ornithopters to protect the thumper trucks, i didnt see any. surely this is against OH&S
see > Dune
not behind , under. The predator you speak of is known as Shai-Hulud
drzdeano Why would you want to be protected from a giant vibrator?
Fracking is bad!!
Unfounded comment.
Where is your evidence and what is exactly "bad"
Obviously you don't know what fracking is...do some research
ReMo79 Anonim wants you to complete your sentence, and say why
for example is oil fracking bad for the economy, environment, other oil companies, oil prices, cars, workers health, global worming, job creation, or land prices etc.
and why is it because you could afford higher gas prices and hate the traffic jams, you work in the green energy business, own some land where there is sand oil next to you, you love penguins and you hate seeing them dying, it would affect your drinking water, or you just dont trust oil companies etc.
Dude it's not good because 1. setting explosive underground charges that can cause seismic action and possibly contaminate ground water. 2. It can cause gasses to escape into the air and make people sick miles away. 3. The corporate giant's don't give a shit about the environment for as long as there's profits to be made...and this has been proven numerous times. I can keep going but I don't see the need as the things I have mentioned are bad enough. I do admit that there's positive aspects to the practice as well like jobs, cheap fuel and so on....but I think the bad out weights the good
Fracking is the technique and it can be used for several things. It can be used for oil, natural gas and even water.
Here in Ohio, I have my own natural gas well, and oil that many of us here lease to oil companies. I guess it’s next to winning the lottery, I haven’t had to work to pay a bill in decades.
So... Ummm solar freaking highways!!!!!!
Yea, I read about the couple who created prototype solar powered roads. I feel it will be the future and boost the purchasing of electric cars.
Zenoc H. I hate to be a downer, but there is no way that will ever happen with today's technology. In fact it is unlikely ever to happen. Look up Thunderf00t's video on the solar roadways; he gives a very in depth explanation about why it is impossible.
Patrick Todd Not cost effective at the moment.
lol most of my energy is hydro :p
are you from switzerland?
+Chris Gafencu Oregon
must feel pretty good to fuck up the aquatic environment there.
If you don't get the message, here it is "get off of your high horse, you're still fucking shit up even if you think you aren't"
+無理だぞ We hate beavers in Oregon. I hate OSU and the OSU Beavers. Their games suck. Ducks are also unwanted.
Alpha Beta most of my dank is hydro too.
Here in France most of the energy comes from nuclear plants, and hydraulic fracturing is forbidden by law.
I wish we could go back before 2012.
That spike in US oil production pretty much ruined the economy in Alberta Canada.
Hank is correct.
It is very expensive and time consuming to get that oil out of the sand.
To know more about the cost of extracting, read some about ERoEI - Energy Return on Energy Invested. Some stuff like bitumen tar sands is down to 3:1 - so you have to use one barrel of oil in order to extract 3 barrels. So a lot of people who talk about peak oil has refined this to be "peak affordable oil" - that is a peak in the oil that so far has made classical economical growth possible. Expect a serious slide down the other side of Hubbards curve any time soon...
So, then why are we not building engines that get more than 100 miles to the gal. This technology exist, but was bought up by the oil companies and then buried in order to to keep the consumer dependent on the oil, and artificially inflate the price of oil.
With the prices that are currently dropping, people don't think about this as a limited resource; however those prices are just one gun shot away from skyrocketing if a war were to break out in those oil rich countries.
We need to produce our own oil, quit selling it abroad, and start producing the most efficient engines in the world. Then sell those to those countries that are holding the oil hostage. If enough autos are converted to being efficient then the demand will decrease and force the prices back to a level that's more affordable.
Meanwhile we need to seriously look for alternative sources for energy. Perhaps we need to dust off the blueprints that Tesla had. Force those companies that are shelving the inventions that will increase the MPG of today's automobiles. This needs to be instigated now, before are backs are against the wall. Necessity is the mother of invention. More now than ever we need to encourage today's engineers, and steer tomorrows students towards science.
i'm actually not using fuel to watch this hank. the country i live in has over 90% renewable energy so HAH!
90%?
Kevin Beunders something like that.
LeCookieSir Your watching it on a computer though right? That computer is made out of plastic which is a byproduct of the oil refining process. The equipment used to manufacture said computer likely used fossil fuels to generate the power. The clothes your wearing now - if they have any percentage of synthetic fibers such as polyester then that too is a by product of oil. So you may be using renewable energy to power your computer but you are still using the benefits of the oil.
Mike L i was talking about the power not all the other stuff
LeCookieSir It doesn't matter. You're still wrong.
Entire worlds of hydrocarbons sitting on our doorstep. We need to get off of this dirty little rock.
I think that the extra use of oil is because of the vast distances between cities in Canada. Trucks, trains and aircrafts have to travel much more and use much more oil just to get to their destination, larger amounts of electricity are lost on the longer high tension lines, etc.
Next you should do one about how we don't need to make more fossil fuel discoveries because if we burn up only 2/3 of current oil discoveries the Global temperature will rise catastrophically.
I am thankful for fossil fuels every day. They have made my life easier, cleaner and safer. Without them life would be short, brutal and dirty.
Alternatives will come about, and when viable ones do I'll be just as thankful.
viable ones have already came about, they're solar, wind, geothermal, tidal/hydro electric
Ian Brzostoski Don't forget about biomass and biogas--I think those may be the 2 most promising alternate energy sources
TheChemistryShack true, but my main concern is that they still seem to pose many of the same ECOLOGICAL problems as oil, meaning things such as CO2 emissions and other products of the combustion process
Ian Brzostoski Yes biogas and biofuel definitely releases CO2 because combustion of their organic material inevitably produces CO2. However, it must also be taken into account that the products produced by algae (some algae produce oils and others produce methane) require carbon dioxide to live, so the process, overall, reduces carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
TheChemistryShack algae biofuel is like Nuclear fusion it's always 20 years way but never arrives. The other Biofuels need a area bigger than earth to substitute oil. Biogas production is residual. Wind is myth. Solar is the future but only if battery technology improve like never before, what isn't going to happen.
I must thank you for replying so much, your helping me practice reading those captcha images :P
Greetings from April 2020, WTI Crude oil is approx $16 a barrel. Its lowest has been approx $11 a barrel.
I'm actually either going to college for petroleum engineering, or going straight offshore into oil production and hopefully become the manager of the platform one day. Let's just see how it works out...
Very good general explanation (from oil industry insider)
It's been a while but...
There are a few definitions of acid, but basically an acid is a thing that can "donate" hydrogen ions (protons). When acids are in water, you have H3O molecules, which can give off that hydrogen as needed. Mixing acids with water gives off heat (the proton donor is becoming more stable). If you only have a small amount of water, the water gets heated up a lot, causing it to boil/vaporize, which can splatter. Yet if you pour acid into water, the heat doesn't concentrate
I am really impressed by how informative and NON-political/ biased this video is. Thank you for providing facts, not opinions.
Forgive me, 2 parter... If it was a broadly used solution power grid draw would be far reduced, and that's only one renewable solution. Nearby Bakersfield in the mountains, there already exists a massive wind farm of which only some of the generators are constantly active. In areas which have good conditions tidal generators could be employed or even seabound wind generators, not to mention the potential for new geothermal technologies. It just takes effort to think of how it will work together.
Please do a video over abiogenic oil, proving or disproving it and clearing up misconceptions over it.
Cool vid now do one on how they repurpose is after it's been used. Thanks
This was a super interesting episode, one of my favourites!
How about a follow up episode to this one that objectively details the environmental impact of oil harvesting and refinement.
I was always taught that the nonporous rocks would be most likely the granite and marble to cover the reservoir. Also, do you like your job a lot? My dream is to become a petroleum engineer, but I'm deciding whether just getting into production and hoping for promotions into manager or tool pusher would be a better choice in the long run.
It would be kinda nice to pick and choose from renewable or non-renewable for a home you own... if the lights stay on
You literally did not let THAT phrase settle for a second
Oil. More than coal, gemstones, or even gold, this is the underworld's greatest gift to us.
there are few things i would like my children watch and i am happy to say scishow is one of those things
Good for you for finding an alternate source of energy. And for giving old people and cats a purpose.
That's where you're wrong.
Here in iceland, we use water energy.
Unless the cable transporting the electricity becomes unable to do so, we have to transfer to using Bio-Diesel, which (i know) is oil.
Curious if Hank still feels this is all the case now; super caps, batteries, oil prices, fracking, and the move away from oil by many countries has me wondering if these predictions still hold true
Hey, I learned something new and wasn't creeped out..well, I was creeped out in a different way. But still, win! :)
marble might work as a cap rock (unpermeable lair of rock) but not granite, the best and common cap rocks are shale and anhydrite because they are flexible.
It can be for either.
I think gas fracking tends to be in more controversial areas. I know in the UK the only controversial fracking projects are gas.
We always talk about oil in terms of electricity or autos, but what about all the other things made with plastic? When the oil runs out how will we make cell phones, tablets, laptops, refrigerators, cars, etc. I've wondered if there is anyone out there trying to build things we use with other materials rather than plastic. Even electric cars use oil (petroleum?) for part of the car.
+Darcy Kahler well, recycle old plastic i guess
2:18 and up. Most enlightening minute.
One thing I don't understand is why it's apparently better to find oil, refine it into plastic and then make in into utensils then it is to get whatever metal the average (at least American) household has. It's more durable, I can easily reuse it and I can wash it with water (and it's gonna be a long time before we have no more water)
In the comment you were replying to...
I mean that there are cases where methane is wasted, and can be used for a little extra power generation. I forget the details, but I recall some industrial plant of some form or another that got methane as a byproduct of whatever they were doing, and so instead of wasting it as an energy source (I think they might have just been burning it off), they burned it to produce some of the power they needed.
In British Columbia we are lucky that most of our electricity is generated by hydro electric dams. It's a good Province for clean electricity and here in Vancouver I can see a big wind turbine located on top of a mountain (it powers the tourist attractions on top of the mountain). So I guess electricity is one thing we are good at :)
You're welcome, from those of us at Niagara Falls supplying your hydroelectricity. For me, even though I am 20 minutes away from the largest hydroelectric generators anywhere, for some reason my town buys its electricity from the states. This makes it kind of weird when the Ontario gov't pays the US to take excess energy off our grid, which then ends up at my house back in Ontario...
Why didn't you offer a short list of things that Oil is used for outside of electricity? That would have added more to the why that you didn't really go over