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Field With 155,238,095,238,095,250,000 Barrels Of Oil Discovered, But There Is A Catch

Tyler Durden's picture




 

Good news for all those who have nightmares about the prospect of peak oil: scientists have discovered an oil field which has a gargantuan 155 quintillion barrels of oil, or about 200 times more hydrocrabons than there is water on earth. There is however, a catch: the field is located some 1,300 light years away. From Rigzone.

The scientists work at the Max Planck Institute in Germany, and using the 30m-telescope of the Institute for Radio Astronomy they discovered a vast cloud of hydrocarbons within the Horse Head Nebula galaxy in the Orion constellation.

 

Upon discovery of the cloud IRAM astronomer Viviana Guzman declared that, "the nebula contains 200 times more hydrocarbons than the total amount of water on Earth!"

 

Just for those of you curious as to exactly how many barrels of oil that roughly equates to, here you go: one hundred and fifty-five quintillion, two hundred and thirty-eight quadrillion, ninety-five trillion, two hundred and thirty-eight billion, ninety-five million, two hundred and fifty thousand, or 155,238,095,238,095,250,000 barrels.

Alas, this means that even if a ship left today to reclaim any of this massive stash which at last check has not been claimed by any terrestrial E&P corporation, it would come back some time in the year 4612. So while oil on earth may well end, hopes of the fracking renaissance notwithstanding, then solar and geothermal better last well into the 47th century, at which point all the crude the world may need will be made available.

Does this also mean a return of the old abiogenic hypothesis?

Now like me you might be wondering how oil, which is supposedly produced from organic matter buried millions of years ago, could possibly exist in space. Well it turns out that these hydrocarbons were likely created by the fragmentation of giant carbonaceous molecules called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which are produced during the death of a star.

 

There is even a theory that molecules such as these could have served as the first organic compounds for creating life.

Either way, don't expect the market to start discounting this rather dramatic increase in discovered oil just yet, and definitely don't expect gas at the pump to move even remotely lower on this news.

The good news, for all the Keynesians out there, is that the idea to build the Death Star, as proposed first on Zero Hedge, may finally get some life, especially if the Death Star is provided with some exploration and production capacity. And what self-respecting Keynesian wouldn't salivate at the prospect of injecting $852 quadrillion of debt growth into the economy at this time?

h/t @GreekFire23

 

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Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:04 | 3083629 The Joker
The Joker's picture

Now that's a sick joke.  I like it.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:06 | 3083633 grunk
grunk's picture

We could get there if we stacked all the Bernanke bucks.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:07 | 3083644 michiganmaven
michiganmaven's picture

Who needs fracking.. build space ships !

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:12 | 3083659 B2u
B2u's picture

Don't fight the Borg...er, government.  Resistance is futile.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WZEJ4OJTgg8

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:13 | 3083661 Volaille de Bresse
Volaille de Bresse's picture

I'm sure there's AL-QAEDA there... Send the (frozen) troops!

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:40 | 3083781 A Nanny Moose
A Nanny Moose's picture

The Frozen Chosen.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:14 | 3083668 Watts_D_Matter
Watts_D_Matter's picture

Must be a dinosaur grave yard....

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 18:12 | 3084281 cougar_w
cougar_w's picture

Starosaurus gasofartus, in fact. Archeologists now think they might have roamed the galaxy in actual herds, much like elephants do.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:15 | 3083676 Mercury
Mercury's picture

The Emperor is well aware of a huge hydrocarbon windfall in our own backyard and he's doing all he can to pretend it isn't there so I think it's safe to say that this stuff in the Horse Head Nebula Galaxy will remain unmolested.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:59 | 3083871 knukles
knukles's picture

While collecting additional campaign donations from Exxon to squash the news.

(gonna be some serious medieval head rollin' shit at NASA, motherfuckers)

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:18 | 3083686 barbecue
barbecue's picture

So this would count as non-OPEC reserves, right?

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:18 | 3083687 Bunga Bunga
Bunga Bunga's picture

What will be the EROEI? 1e-17?

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:19 | 3083694 Yen Cross
Yen Cross's picture

 If there is in fact, the crude reserves mentioned above, then the search for life is over... Now we can can focus on on things like fusion reactors, and balancing budgets...

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:53 | 3083838 FoeHammer
FoeHammer's picture

But those things aren't on the tee vee.

Fri, 12/21/2012 - 06:57 | 3086115 Element
Element's picture

mutually exclusive

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:22 | 3083701 ZeroAvatar
ZeroAvatar's picture

On THAT planet, they worry about 'water' spills.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:24 | 3083721 aerojet
aerojet's picture

It's not on a planet, is it?  It was in a nebula, which means you just pull up and fill your tanks.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 18:07 | 3084271 Sokhmate
Sokhmate's picture

you just drive thru to fill up.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:21 | 3083703 Piranhanoia
Piranhanoia's picture

We are gong to need a bigger pump.  Go long Intergalactic Pump & Pipe Ltd.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:24 | 3083714 aerojet
aerojet's picture

Anything out in space, even nearby asteroids or the moon would be outrageously expensive to go out and mine and return materials from.  What it does tell us that none of these materials are really "rare" in the universe.  And eventually we are going to find out that life, even intelligent life, is not at all rare or unusual, either. 

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:28 | 3083735 AnAnonymous
AnAnonymous's picture

The universe is peopled with 'american' life.

Any sentient, if a bit advanced, will have adopted 'americanism'.

That is the way it is.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 16:42 | 3084031 akak
akak's picture

The universe is soiled with Chinese citizenism lies.

Any hygenic sentient, if a bit advanced, will have spurned Chinese citizenism hypocritizens.

That is the way shit is.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 16:49 | 3084047 Ralph Spoilsport
Ralph Spoilsport's picture

Chinese shitizens will pioneer the forward way to cosmic fertilization. This too is chinese lingoism.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:33 | 3083754 honestann
honestann's picture

Yes and no.  To bring resources back to earth is almost always misguided.  However, to move into outer space is the only salvation for mankind.  Not that mankind deserves salvation of any kind.  Well, an extremely few of us do.  :-)

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 18:48 | 3084383 blunderdog
blunderdog's picture

You're gonna tell us when you and yours get your spaceship ready for launch, right? We'll have a sendoff party.

Fri, 12/21/2012 - 21:30 | 3084692 honestann
honestann's picture

No, we intend to leave without announcment, and not make any announcements once we're gone.  To hell with mankind.

We have nothing to sell and nobody to convince.  We don't give a rats butt what people think.  We prefer nobody even know we vanished.  Safer that way.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:26 | 3083726 Forgiven
Forgiven's picture

All mine bitchez!

 

Ben

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:27 | 3083730 AnAnonymous
AnAnonymous's picture

The reference to Keynesians is lost.

What that subset of 'americans' has to do with pioneering space?

'Americans' were the settler type way before Keynes was born.

Pioneering the space frontier, push up the frontier, space as the next territory to settle, all this is 'american' lingo.

Out to Space, up to the Stars, that is 'american' way of doing this.

Time to give back what is 'american' to 'Americans' and not only to that subset of 'americans' known as Keynesians...

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:43 | 3083794 Dr. Engali
Dr. Engali's picture

Maybe you should read a little bit then you will understand the Keynesian reference.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 16:26 | 3083983 AnAnonymous
AnAnonymous's picture

The 'american' reference is better. They are the original brand in pioneering space to develop it.

Infinite growth, here we go. To the stars and beyond, courtesy of 'americans', those adventurous settlers who have worked hard to advance humanity's cause.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 16:40 | 3084022 Ralph Spoilsport
Ralph Spoilsport's picture

The crustier bit of star blobbing goes beyond pioneers pushing up brand originality. Chinese shitizens advanced road fertilization as adventurousness towards future infinite growthing and resource delapidation.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 16:55 | 3084066 TheFourthStooge-ing
TheFourthStooge-ing's picture

Chinese citizenism space blobbing magic beanstalkery is something to which Smithian economical orthodoxy is incapable of holding the candle against burning brightly.

Fe fi fo fum, moon giants smell blobbing up Chinese citizenism.

To the stars and below, courtesy of hypocritical orbiting adventurous Chinese citizenism astronautical hobbos.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 18:56 | 3084413 akak
akak's picture

 

"To the stars and below, courtesy of hypocritical orbiting adventurous Chinese citizenism cosmonaughty hobbos."

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:45 | 3083803 Canucklehead
Canucklehead's picture

Enough with the "americans" already.  Take the tip and clean the table.  Be quick about it!

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:34 | 3083732 GoinFawr
GoinFawr's picture

Haha! And I stormed in here thinking I would be the first to suggest that this is what happened to all the dinosaurs; but I stayed to watch all the abiotic oilers do another unwarranted victory dance

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:31 | 3083748 honestann
honestann's picture

I hope everyone realizes it is easier to move the population of earth to those hydrocarbons than move those hydrocarbons to earth.  Also, not that it matters, this approach also makes the hydrocarbons available more than 1300 years sooner!

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 20:06 | 3084669 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

Well toots, hate to break it to, but if we ever could get there, hydrocarbons would likely be pretty passé...

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 20:14 | 3084712 honestann
honestann's picture

Of course.  Just addressing the obvious logistics.  Which is just one reason I said "not that it matters".

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:37 | 3083765 whoopsing
whoopsing's picture

Its just the universe farting around

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 18:11 | 3084279 Sokhmate
Sokhmate's picture

You're refering to the Cow Belle Galaxy.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:42 | 3083791 Ignatius J Reilly
Ignatius J Reilly's picture

Classic ZH.  absolutely hilarious.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:44 | 3083801 azzhatter
azzhatter's picture

When do we leave?

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 20:06 | 3084670 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

For you, any time would work...

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:46 | 3083808 Dapper Dan
Dapper Dan's picture

I hope that the good scientists at the Max Planck Institute in Germany can help the US Coast Guard determine what is wrong in the Gulf of Mexico. I hear the USCG is just baffled, baffled,  perplexed and dumbfounded as to what the fuck this sheen is, It's not Charlie Sheen, they are quite certain of that, but that's all they are sure of.

 

Mystery sheen in Gulf baffles Coast Guard By Robert Stanton | December 20, 2012

U.S. Coast Guard officials have collected samples of an unidentified sheen discovered near the site of the Deepwater Horizon Platform wreckage off the Louisiana coast, officials said.

The substance was found by remote-operated vehicles (ROV) in the area of the drilling rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, killing 11 offshore workers and injuring at least 16 others. The Coast Guard's ROV operations ended Saturday, said Ensign Glenn Sanchez of the Coast Guard's New Orleans command center.

The unidentified substance was seen emitting from several areas of the rig wreckage, and samples were collected for further lab analysis. The site is about 40 miles southeast of the Louisiana coast.

"The monitors of the ROV inspections at the scene reported that it (sheen) was inconsistent with oil," Sanchez said. "We don't know what it is. Samples were taken, and we're trying to identify that."

No apparent source of the surface sheen has been determined, Capt. Duke Walker, federal on-scene coordinator for Deepwater Horizon, stated in a press release.

http://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/houston/article/Mystery-sheen-in-Gulf-baffles-Coast-Guard-4135052.php

Capt. Duke Walker,  I wish I had a cool name, although it does sound like a made up name, kind of like naming a medical examiner Carver!

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 18:07 | 3084267 Jam Akin
Jam Akin's picture

It is probably not afro sheen either.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 20:07 | 3084671 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

Or Martin for that matter...

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:54 | 3083843 Tombstone
Tombstone's picture

And in the year 4612,  when the ship returns, those brave travelers will discover that the earth is covered with windmills and solar panels and thus be sent back into space.  The Kommies have an answer for everything.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 20:07 | 3084204 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

It gets covered by 2040 or else the ship returns to the equivalent of a crisped marshmalllow...

 

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 15:55 | 3083850 atomicwasted
atomicwasted's picture

I guess that's where Nostromo was en route from when it encountered LV426.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 16:07 | 3083885 web bot
web bot's picture

.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 16:14 | 3083887 IamtheREALmario
IamtheREALmario's picture

Maybe we should just move the deathstar that we already have orbiting earth?!?

... there are those whose oral traditions recount a time before it was put into orbit.

Oh, and by the way, it is more likely that oil is produced by the earth through the absorption of energy and continental drift is caused by expansion, than any other peer reviewed explanation. 

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 16:42 | 3084028 Ralph Spoilsport
Ralph Spoilsport's picture

Another fan of Clif High speaks da troot.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 16:17 | 3083945 U4 eee aaa
U4 eee aaa's picture

Oh look, oil went down a penny

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 16:23 | 3083971 waterwitch
waterwitch's picture

Amazing to see all the talk about this being 'oil' and no mention that this is potential evidence of the existence of  LIFE outside of Earth.   Goes to show where the priorities lie.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 16:52 | 3084055 francis_sawyer
francis_sawyer's picture

According to the jews... A "Goyim" life isn't really worth anything at all... [Which doesn't discount your comment]...

~~~

"Goes to show where the priorities are"...

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 16:47 | 3084043 optimator
optimator's picture

When they discover how to get over 186,000 miles per second they won't need all those hydrocarbons.  If they can't get there faster than that they'll have to check in at the Goldie Sachs desk which beat them there!

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 16:54 | 3084059 francis_sawyer
francis_sawyer's picture

Blame Einstein... He still has everyone hogtied thinking 186k/mps is the barrier...

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 17:50 | 3084217 Flakmeister
Flakmeister's picture

Look up the properties of the Lorentz group and the results of Michealson-Morley experiment....

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 18:37 | 3084342 Dapper Dan
Dapper Dan's picture

I know i'm hog tied,

If information could travel faster than the speed of light in one reference frame, causality would be violated: in some other reference frames, the information would be received before it had been sent, so the 'cause' could be observed after the 'effect'. Due to special relativity's time dilation, the ratio between an external observer's perceived time and the time perceived by an observer moving closer and closer to the speed of light approaches zero. If something could move faster than light, this ratio would not be a real number. Such a violation of causality has never been observed.

http://physicsdaily.com/physics/Speed_of_light

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 18:48 | 3084379 francis_sawyer
francis_sawyer's picture

So your argument boils down to your faith in REAL NUMBERS... [or ~ more precisely their rigidity or fluidity in an alternate dimensional perspective]...

~~~

In more practical terms... If you believe your perspective to be correct, you won't mind laying 14.5 points this weekend with the New England Patriots... If you're not so sure... Take the crappy Jaguars & the points...

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 19:43 | 3084589 Dapper Dan
Dapper Dan's picture

Funny you should mention points,

http://www.sportsbookgurus.com/news/end-of-the-world-betting-odds-hard-to-justify-as-entertainment

It is interesting to find that the end of the world is a topic even online sportsbooks are entertaining. There are actually entertainment betting odds listed on whether or not the end of the world, better referred to as doom’s day, will take place in 2012. My question to those sportsbooks would have to be somewhere along the lines of why would anyone not choose “no,” seeing as how if it was to happen on the date which they predict, no one would be around to collect their winnings.

Intertops Online Sportsbook actually listed entertainment betting odds on if the world would end in December of 2012 and online bettors can get in on the action by placing a wager. There are also several other crazy options listed for this bet. The only stipulation is that bets are placed before January 1st, 2012.

Super Bowl Moved Foward To December 20th, 2012 +4700
New Planet Discovered In Inner Solar System By NASA in 2012 +66500
White House to Be Moved To Top of Mount Everest +91000
Green Bay, Wisconsin Officially Named South Pole by NASA in 2010 +191000
Definite Proof of Alien Life on Moon Discovered by NASA before December 31st, 2012 +200000
Mankind to be extinguished by Dec 31st 2012 +201100

For the record I'll take the Patriots. 

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 18:57 | 3084414 blunderdog
blunderdog's picture

"Information" is not, in itself, either mass or energy, though. That article appears to equate information to EMR, which is a bit sloppy.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 19:38 | 3084565 francis_sawyer
francis_sawyer's picture

Information itself could easily be characterized as a mere consensus POV applied towards a happening [which, by itself, is subject to dispute as to whether it ever existed in the first place... in space/time]...

~~~

aka THERE IS NO SPOON

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 16:56 | 3084067 docmac324
docmac324's picture

That's a lot of dinosaurs baby.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 16:58 | 3084077 Shizzmoney
Shizzmoney's picture

It's about time The Empire found Tatooine.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 17:01 | 3084090 100pcDredge
100pcDredge's picture

Engage! Uh... warp?

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 17:06 | 3084105 Ralph Spoilsport
Ralph Spoilsport's picture

In technical terms, it's Ludicrous Speed.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 17:44 | 3084199 muppet_master
muppet_master's picture

1300 light years away

.....if this is true that gazillions of barrels of oil found 1300 light years away....then yes its true...WE ARE NOT ALONE !!!

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 18:14 | 3084203 IridiumRebel
IridiumRebel's picture

Let's send Ben out to check her out..........

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 17:58 | 3084229 Cthonic
Cthonic's picture

Can we rehypothecate that?  I need a 5000 yr loan with a balloon payment...

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 18:14 | 3084284 IridiumRebel
IridiumRebel's picture

"one hundred and fifty-five quintillion, two hundred and thirty-eight quadrillion, ninety-five trillion, two hundred and thirty-eight billion, ninety-five million, two hundred and fifty thousand"

 

The national debt after Obama and Bernanke get done with us...........

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 18:21 | 3084301 ian807
ian807's picture

And with this extreme example, we demonstrate why all this "new" frakked oil isn't going to matter much. It's not the quantity of oil that matters, it's how much energy you can profitably get from it. With the exception of these first few years, frakked oil is going to be much more expensive than conventional oil and have a much lower energy return than conventional oil.

We don't have an OIL supply problem, we have an ENERGY supply problem.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 18:41 | 3084351 Zenseless
Zenseless's picture

Yes, but do they have carbon offsets?

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 19:05 | 3084447 Venerability
Venerability's picture

Shhhhhh, Tyler - Dont' tell Tiny Terror Cramer, or he'll make it his top pick.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 19:57 | 3084642 reTARD
reTARD's picture

What's the EROI on this? I bet getting this supply to the consumer (assume no refining because this stuff is pure shit) is a bitch. On the other hand, we are doing ethanol...

Also, what's the government's piece of the action? Carbon tax much?

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 19:56 | 3084644 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

time to pull the USSC Nostromo, reg # 180924609 out of drydock

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 20:00 | 3084656 The Alarmist
The Alarmist's picture

If there really is that much oil out there, it is only a matter of time before we have the USS Enterprise out there patrolling the region.

Thu, 12/20/2012 - 20:14 | 3084711 401-Kulak
401-Kulak's picture

How did the dead dinosaurs get out there?

Fri, 12/21/2012 - 04:53 | 3086055 Monk
Monk's picture

Keynesians? You mean free market capitalists.

 

Fri, 12/21/2012 - 19:46 | 3088763 tahoevalleylines
tahoevalleylines's picture

Manna finally explained...

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