06/26/09 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania The oil resources off Brazil are in the same scope as those of Saudi Arabia. The oil potential is huge. Beyond huge. It’s a game changer for the world of energy. No, the Brazilian resource doesn’t mean that Peak Oil is history. But it does mean that history is about to change. Indeed, the angel of history is favoring the nation of Brazil.
The problem with the oil offshore Brazil is that the hydrocarbons are far out — up to 200 miles into the open ocean. They’re under one-two miles of seawater, and then buried under three-four miles of rock and salt. It won’t be easy to define the resource, or to extract it. Still, the investment opportunities are there.
One of the strongest investment sectors of the next 20 or 30 years will be drilling for oil and natural gas offshore, in the deep water of the world. Offshore Brazil is right on the cusp of a monumental oil boom. That deep-water offshore boom will eventually migrate to offshore West Africa, even more than the relatively near-shore development of the past 30 years. Eventually, the deep-water development will move into the Arctic Ocean.
Byron King makes the point that off-shore oil is the next big thing. The British knew that I suspect when they fought Argentinia, for the tiny group of Islands called – Malvinas, or The Falkland Islands back in 1983.
According to reports, there’s 60 BILLION barrels there, and, four small companies are currently establishing the veracity of those claims. Borders and Southern, Rockhopper Oil and others have already done some preliminary work, and found large deposits, though the exact amounts have not been disclosed/determined?
BUT the islands will get developed, and investments there will make the islanders the richest 2-3,000 inhabitants in the WORLD…
W. Stirrup
Hopefully, Mr. Kings and Mr. Stirrups offshore claims will allow for enough oil to be discovered to take care of “peak oil” risk. Since Obama’s ridiculous energy program of wind and solar will do next to nothing for us in the energy area.
Most of these fields are unexplored, and early projections tend to be way over blown. Until you actually start producing oil and measure initial production and depletion rates you don’t know what you have. Ultra deep wells are turning out to have lower production rates and much quicker depletion rates that expected.
To be “the next Saudi Arabia”, they would have to produce 8-10 Mb/d which is essentially impossible. There will only ever be one Saudi Arabia, and they are in decline.
Very little is known about these reservoirs. Its still far too early to say they will ever be commercially viable – why? It’s heavy, it’s sour, and its very difficult to make it flow through miles of cold pipe. The oil business uses the easy oil first. We’re now looking for oil that is, for all intents, on the moon.
Peak oil is real, it’s easily seen in the production data and these fields will not change the fact that the world needs a new energy source and soon.