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Russia Discovers Massive Arctic Oil Field Which May Be Larger Than Gulf Of Mexico
In a dramatic stroke of luck for the Kremlin, this morning there is hardly a person in the world who is happier than Russian president Vladimir Putin because overnight state-run run OAO Rosneft announced it has discovered what may be a treasure trove of black oil, one which could boost Russia's coffers by hundreds of billions if not more, when a vast pool of crude was discovered in the Kara Sea region of the Arctic Ocean, showing the region has the potential to become one of the world’s most important crude-producing areas, arguably bigger than the Gulf Of Mexico. The announcement was made by Igor Sechin, Rosneft’s chief executive officer, who spent two days sailing on a Russian research ship to the drilling rig where the find was unveiled today.
The oil production platform at the Sakhalin-I field in Russia,
partly owned by ONGC Videsh Ltd., Rosneft Oil Co., Exxon Mobil
Corp. and Japan's Sakhalin Oil and Gas Development Co. on June 9, 2009.
Well, one person who may have been as happy as Putin is the CEO of Exxon Mobil, since the well was discovered with the help of America's biggest energy company (and second largest by market cap after AAPL). Then again, maybe not: as Bloomberg explains "the well was drilled before the Oct. 10 deadline Exxon was granted by the U.S. government under sanctions barring American companies from working in Russia’s Arctic offshore. Rosneft and Exxon won’t be able to do more drilling, putting the exploration and development of the area on hold despite the find announced today."
Which means instead of generating billions in E&P revenue, XOM could end up with, well, nothing. And that would be quite a shock to the US company because the unveiled Arctic field may hold about 1 billion barrels of oil and similar geology nearby means the surrounding area may hold more than the U.S. part of the Gulf or Mexico, he said.
For a sense of how big the spoils are we go to another piece by Bloomberg, which tells us that "Universitetskaya, the geological structure being drilled, is the size of the city of Moscow and large enough to contain more than 9 billion barrels, a trove worth more than $900 billion at today’s prices."
The only way to reach the prospect is a four-day voyage from Murmansk, the largest city north of the Arctic circle. Everything will have to shipped in — workers, supplies, equipment — for a few months of drilling, then evacuated before winter renders the sea icebound. Even in the short Arctic summer, a flotilla is needed to keep drifting ice from the rig.
Sadly, said bonanza may be non-recourse to Exxon after Obama made it quite clear that all western companies will have to wind down operations in Russia or else feel the wrath of the DOJ against sanctions breakers. Which leaves XOM two options: ignore Obama's orders (something which many have been doing of late), or throw in the towel on what may be the largest oil discovery in years.
And while the Exxon C-suite contemplates its choices, here is some more on today's finding from Bloomberg:
“It exceeded our expectations,” Sechin said in an interview. This discovery is of “exceptional significance in showing the presence of hydrocarbons in the Arctic.”
The development of Arctic oil reserves, an undertaking that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars and take decades, is one of Putin’s grandest ambitions. As Russia’s existing fields in Siberia run dry, the country needs to develop new reserves as it vies with the U.S. to be the world’s largest oil and gas producer.
Output from the Kara Sea field could begin within five to seven years, Sechin said, adding the field discovered today would be named “Victory.”
Duh.
The Kara Sea well -- the most expensive in Russian history -- targeted a subsea structure named Universitetskaya and its success has been seen as pivotal to that strategy. The start of drilling, which reached a depth of more than 2,000 meters (6,500 feet), was marked with a ceremony involving Putin and Sechin.
The importance of Arctic drilling was one reason that offshore oil exploration was included in the most recent round of U.S. sanctions. Exxon and Rosneft have a venture to explore millions of acres of the Arctic Ocean.
But what's worse for Exxon is that now that the hard work is done, Rosneft may not need its Western partner much longer:
“Once the well is plugged, there will be a lot of work to do in interpreting the results and this is probably something that Rosneft can do,” Julian Lee, an oil strategist at Bloomberg First Word in London, said before today’s announcement. “Both parties are probably hoping that by the time they are ready to start the next well the sanctions will have been lifted.”
And here is why there is nothing Exxon would like more than to put all the western sanctions against Moscow in the rearview mirror: "The stakes are high for Exxon, whose $408 billion market valuation makes it the world’s largest energy producer. Russia represents the second-biggest exploration prospect worldwide. The Irving, Texas-based company holds drilling rights across 11.4 million acres in Russia, only eclipsed by its 15.1 million U.S. acres."
Proving just how major this finding is, and how it may have tipped the balance of power that much more in Russia's favor is the emergence of paid experts, desperate to talk down the relevance of the Russian discovery:
More drilling and geological analysis will be needed before a reliable estimate can be tallied for the size of the oil resources in the Universitetskaya area and the Russian Arctic as a whole, said Frances Hudson, a global thematic strategist who helps manage $305 billion at Standard Life Investments Ltd. in Edinburgh. Sanctions forbidding U.S. and European cooperation with Russian entities mean that country’s nascent Arctic exploration will be stillborn because Rosneft and its state-controlled sister companies don’t know how to drill in cold offshore conditions alone, she said.
“Extrapolating from a small data sample is perhaps not going to give you the best information,” Hudson said in a telephone interview. “And because of sanctions, it looks like there’s going to be less exploration rather than more.” In addition, the expense and difficulty of operating in such a remote part of the world, where hazards include icebergs and sub-zero temperatures, mean that the developing discoveries may not be economic at today’s oil prices.
Maybe. Then again perhaps the experts' time is better suited to estimating just how much longer the US shale miracle has left before the US is once again at the mercy of offshore sellers of crude.
In any event one country is sure to have a big smile on its face: China, since today's finding simply means that as Russia has to ultimately sell the final product to someone, that someone will almost certainly be the Middle Kingdom, which if the "Holy Gas Grail" deal is any indication, will be done at whatever terms Beijing chooses.
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Ya, go take your vaccines zombie.
they'll tax it
Funny you should mention ants 'cause ants (as in white ants aka termites) release billions of tons of CO2 every year, as far as global emissions go they emit more gas than any farmed animal ever could. If you have some ants then chances are you have millions.
Global temps have not increased over the last 18 years.
JuanG, shouldn't you be hanging out on the HuffPost with the rest of the AGW morons?
I see by the negative votes Zero hedgers are also climate change deniers. Yeah you know better than 95% of the worlds climate scientists
Isn't the basic premise of climate science the belief in global warming? I'm surprised that 5% of them deny it. That's sorta like finding that only 95% of christians believe in god. Surprising, but at the same time, offering little support for the premise that there is a god.
I'm old enough to remember the coming Ice Age.
I think they where expecting wooly mammoths in Central Park.
Global Warming is a new liberal Religion. And if you you don't believe, you are outcast and stoned. And these idiots who " believe" can't even see how they are being used.
Climate change deniers or fact based skeptics?
The truth, once fully examined, cannot be denied
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB1000142405270230348030457957846281...
[Emphasis mine]
Surveys of meteorologists repeatedly find a majority oppose the alleged consensus. Only 39.5% of 1,854 American Meteorological Society members who responded to a survey in 2012 said man-made global warming is dangerous.
Finally, the U.N.'s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change—which claims to speak for more than 2,500 scientists—is probably the most frequently cited source for the consensus. Its latest report claims that "human interference with the climate system is occurring, and climate change poses risks for human and natural systems." Yet relatively few have either written on or reviewed research having to do with the key question: How much of the temperature increase and other climate changes observed in the 20th century was caused by man-made greenhouse-gas emissions? The IPCC lists only 41 authors and editors of the relevant chapter of the Fifth Assessment Report addressing "anthropogenic and natural radiative forcing."
Of the various petitions on global warming circulated for signatures by scientists, the one by the Petition Project, a group of physicists and physical chemists based in La Jolla, Calif., has by far the most signatures—more than 31,000 (more than 9,000 with a Ph.D.). It was most recently published in 2009, and most signers were added or reaffirmed since 2007. The petition states that "there is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of . . . carbon dioxide, methane, or other greenhouse gases is causing or will, in the foreseeable future, cause catastrophic heating of the Earth's atmosphere and disruption of the Earth's climate."
We could go on, but the larger point is plain. There is no basis for the claim that 97% of scientists believe that man-made climate change is a dangerous problem.
Mr. Bast is president of the Heartland Institute. Dr. Spencer is a principal research scientist for the University of Alabama in Huntsville and the U.S. Science Team Leader for the Advanced Microwave Scanning Radiometer on NASA's Aqua satellite.
Well, our paychecks don't depend on supporting junk science.
Did New York City and the zio banksters invade Russia about 1917 causing the deaths of tens of millions?
The usual suspects in the Red Army. Then they install Putin and he kicks their oligarchs or at least most of them out.
Was Yeltsin the biggest buffoon sell out traitor ever or a clever Russian patriot by picking an obscure, quiet and shy KGB man who turned into a patriotic Russian bear?
.
"Today 19 Russian Orhtodox men hijacked 4 buses and drove them into Chicago's CBOE, NORAD and a big hole in southern Illinois. The Sears/Willis Tower also collapsed due to collateral damage. The big "double-occurance" check has already been mailed to Sam Zell. All the while a troupe of the Dancing Mossads danced down Michigan Avenue."
Dirty Russian Orthodoxians!
Bomb the Russian Orthodox State.
The Russian Orthodoxians hate us for our freedoms.
An American, not US subject.
Probably next and people are so mother fuckin dumb they will line up for it.
Try to bomb Russia... and you'll see how American history ends !
It was sarcasm with an additional layer of implied sarcasm in that the Israeli lapdog DC US bully wouldn't dare bomb nuke armed Russia.
An American, not US subject.
"Back down or we'll invade Grenada again. Capisce?!"
Here's a little reality check for you: current PTB are too dumb to consider it sarcasm...
If they'd only nuke DC, Detroit, Chicago, and Atlanta, America might become a Got-danged garden of Eden.
You realise just how sad and depressing it is that "bringing freedom and democracy" is a euphemism for blowing up children?
they've known this for a couple of years. that's why exxon is in there. it's why obola and the SA are crazy mad. the kara sea is big news.
Maybe this is why the whole Ukrainian mess has been instigated by the USA Probably thought they could roll on over to Russia and get their greedy hands on all that oil. It didn't go their way so now they spit the dummy and take US oil drilling expertise away.
Correction: Exxon was in there. Now their CEO is probably on the phone to Obummer telling him what pillocks he and his administration are for engineering their lockout.
hope so.
Thanks, Exxon. Now beat it.
-Rosneft
Exactly. And the cocksucking western bought out corporate media insists the Russians won't be able to exploit this potential trillion dollar find without western assistance. The MSM is comedy central.
"We chartered a flight for you and your staff and crew.
Chartered from Malaysian Air and designated Flight MH-17.
No need to thank us. Have a great fall, I mean flight."
An American, not US subject.
Scary similarities between today's markets and the 2007 market top
http://www.goldsqueeze.com/technical-analysis/sp-500-vs-russell-2000-eer...
Been feeling that for a while.
I'm half expecting it to shit the bed this week.
Yeah well what about the other half of you?
That half expecting a resumption to new highs, a meandering trend upwards, a neutral by next October?
You guys who feel you must make predictions that cancel each other out are wasting bandwidth.
Why not use the time and space to hurl expletives at Lord Blankfein and rest of the Jewish Mafia instead?
Why not both?
It's probably not going to happen. The mentality is different. With banks showing weakness and the potential for bankruptcy of the banks one after one is very different from today.
People were only selling stocks because they thought it was near certainty they were going to zero. Today this is not true. They know the gov't will intervene.
It's BTFD until something big collapses which will also never happen in our lifetimes again.
The bots and the Fed control the market. It has to look good 'or else'.
See if we can step outside of so much misinformation
As of 2011, 28% of graduate students in science, engineering, and health are foreign. Most foreign born candidates for engineering graduate schools are trained in their home countries.
As of 2004, 55% of Ph.D. students in engineering in the United States are foreign born.
As of 2004, 45% of Ph.D. physicists working in the United States are foreign born.
As of 1998, 80% of total post-doctoral chemical and materials engineering in the United States are foreign-born.
As of 2004, 33% of all U.S. Ph.D.s in science and engineering are now awarded to foreign born graduate students
More than 30% American Nobel Prize winners in Medicine and Physiology between 1901 and 2005 were born outside the US
40% of foreign born engineering Phds mostly likely find employment working for Multinational corporations outside of the US.
Foreign born faculty now accounts for over 50% of faculty in engineering
60% of the top science students and 65 percent of the top math students in the United States are the children of immigrants.
In addition, foreign-born high school students make up 50 percent of the 2004 U.S. Math Olympiad’s top scorers, 38 percent of the U.S. Physics Team, and 25 percent of the Intel Science Talent Search finalists—the United States’ most prestigious awards for young scientists and mathematicians.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_born_scientists_and_engineers_in_the_United_States
Now, I wonder if I should stop laughing….
And start crying.
interesting cut to your jib
If you'd ike to change that, then do the following:
1) Stop hiring cheap asian labor and rehire the American grads who were put out into the street in favor of cheap labor. The kids will get the idea that there is a future in STEM.
2) Throw out the Indians currently infesting out universities and Fortune 500 companies.
3) Stop counting American non-whites in your statistics, who have statistically much lower IQs than do Americans of European heritage.
Gavrikon,
Not sure about STEM anymore. I favor in "How to live with less and more localized Solutions". Not sure if they teach these in schools. I am the wrong person to ask about these issues, and solutions.
Indians in America? Wait for the "Societal Breakdown next Decade", and these Indians will be running from America.
And your number 3? Well…., I am afraid I have some very bad news for you there, because that's the next US Civil War. And they will be on the side of the government.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand what?
Oil is abiotic and it is located in the earth core. It replenishes same as air, light etc.
What is extractable is close to the earth's surface.
Russia does NOT have the technology to to extract it, Exxon does.
Big deal
With billions on the table there are engineers that will be falling all over themselves to trade in for a Russian passport and build it.
They will get offers from CIA they can't refuse
There are other countries with prime engineering talent. China perhaps??
China does not have the technology to even extract their own shale oil already discovered
Norway. They do this kind of thing all the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rku7bJdYuPY
North Atlantic Drilling a Norwegian company did the drilling for the russians with their West Alpha rigg ;)
Yepp, North Atlantic Drilling a Norwegian company did the drilling for the russians with their West Alpha rigg , hehe.
And so does Total SA. Good enough reason for France to re-consider their current relationship with Russia.
Cargo with Total's equipment on way to Russia may suddenly explode on air
I strongly recommend that you try to understand to how the real world works
"Cargo with Total's equipment on way to Russia may suddenly explode on air"
Do you think they're amateurs? They KNOW what kind of scum the Muricans can be... and when they were named ELF they were killing African leaders long before you were born.
I am trying to explain how the world works
You just supported my point
Keep fantasing about Russia's inability to recover the oil. Guaranteed that a western company, working through asian proxies, WILL transfer the tech for billions in upside. This is how the REAL world works.
BTW, shouldn't you be jumping in Kiev, this time to keep warm as Russia shuts off your gas, LOL?
Living quite comfortably in Toronto, Canada
Yes, you are part of the Canadian Ukie troll brigade, a keyboard warrior with coke and cum stains on your t-shirt. Instead of getting off your fat perogi ass, and taking up arms with your Ukie losers, you make snarky remarks.This is what cowards and losers do.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2014/08/28/canada_and_russia_twee...
How much do you get paid in rubles?
Are you in Moscow or in St Petersburg?
It would appear some have taken up a competition to see who can be the most base & disgusting.
If they cannot appreciate another angle, fuck'em. Their minds are static.
Wish there was an ignore button. It would save me a lot of time weeding thru to find comments that actually contribute something, if nothing else to provoke thought.
So here is a different perspective, the Russians were pioneers when it comes to the Abiotic Theory of Oil:
http://www.rense.com/general58/biot.htm
I apologise for my vulgarity, sometimes I over react to obvious trolling.
"'falling all over themselves to trade in for a Russian passport"
falling all over themselves to trade in for a Russian wife
There, fixed it for ya.
Might want to look at how quickly depleted fields are comming back on line.
https://www.greenparty.ca/blogs/12489/2012-08-28/more-evidence-abiotic-oil
From canadian green party
Very interesting article. If oil is abiotic, then what's the worry? I'm on the fence with abiotic oil. The theory makes sense, but the predictive aspects don't seem to pan out. So, I don't know. The bottleneck seems to be economic.
Let's assume that oil is indeed abiotic. The only question then is whether or not oil is economically recoverable. What good is it if you can't get it?
Right now, the break-even threshold for unconventional oil is $70/bbl to 100/bbl, depending on how hard the oil is to recover. Most fracking operations, especially in tight oil plays are not making a profit from the oil. The profits have been made in selling the speculative investments in the wells. This is a classic financial bubble. As long as the per bbl price stays up, and the Fed prints money, the Fracking bubble stays inflated.
I'd say that if we suffer a financial implosion, we'll suffer a sudden "Peak Oil" energy shortfall. Not necesarily because we've run out of liquid hydrocarbons, but because no-one will have any capital to drill, pump, or refine unconventional oil.
When we look at only existing oil fields, this is where we see the Peak Oil scenario rear its ugly head. All existing fields, with only a few exceptions, are showing signs of final stage depletion. Essentially, what is being pumped is tar.This is especially true in Saudi Arabia, which goes a long way towards an understanding of why the criminal Saudis are eager to extirpate the Shiite politcal power in Iraq. It's where the Saudis will find their last pool of easily-accessible oil, with which they can perpetuate their alcoholic, pork eating lifestyle.
Most new discoveries are unconventonal in some way. Either the wells are super-deep, or the drilling is in extremely difficult conditions (Arctic, offshore), or the oil is in unforgiving geology (tar sands, tight oil plays like Bakken).
It costs a lot of money to get this oil. The profit margin is slim, if it exists at all. The world doesn't just need oil, it needs CHEAP OIL.
So, factor in the following trends, which we all know about here:
1. Debt overhang. We all only have so much money (except the Fed). The money that services debt is wasted, and cuts into other spending, such as energy. This bodes poorly for high oil prices, or if oil prices stay high, for economic growth. You can't have your cake and eat it too.
2. Debt can be brought down by an expansion of the economy, but that expansion requires an energy expenditure. The extra energy can only be found with more debt and/or speculative investment. This is by definition a recipie for instability, as more debt and/or speculation increases the likelihood of a sudden deflationary collapse.
3. Debt can be brought down by default, but defaults negatively impact the economy, creating deflationary dynamics, and thus will destroy the economics of unconventional oil. Any systemic default scenario will exacerbate energy shortfalls, thus creating a negative spiral of growing economic destruction. Less money means lower oil orices means less exploration means less energy means less growth means more default, means less money.
4. Is there any scenario where we can get more (unconventional) oil, and at the same time, keep the economy growing, yet stable? Honestly, I cannot think of one. The reason for our civilization's phenomenal success has been the invention of a debt/usury capital system. That system gave huge returns on investment, and that incentivized the positive growth cycle. The unconscious presumption behind it all has been the low (even negative, ie cheaper than free) cost of energy. No-one has ever tried to quantify the return on energy burned. All EROEI calculations have been on the production end, not the consumption end. I would be willing to bet that historically, one dollar of fuel burned has overall resulted in at least 1.01 in economic returns. If and when this acconting drops to .99 or lower, that's when the entire edifice collapses.
I would even say that the returns have already fallen into negative territory, but unimited money-printing has managed to disguise the fact. But as we all know, this type of delusion cannot be sustained indefinitely.
COST = 1) human wages, fees, claims on land in REAL GOODS AND SERVICES 2) technology
Printing money is no problem
Getting to deep oil is the problem
1) Technology
2) Paying people working in oil extractions in REAL GOODS AND SERVICES
Isis has no problem selling oil at $40, because their costs are too low.
Which means that $40 is the real sell price of oil if costs managed properly
ekm1,
The link you supplied is rubbish.
Let me show you:
David Bergey, the “expert” article you supplied us, wrote:
1) “They have been claiming that they are running out of oil for 100 years…”
That’s false!
Earlier on, the peak had been discussed and extensively debated since the time when, in 1956, the geologist Marion King Hubbert had predicted it. When it arrived, however, the peak was not noticed, not discussed, not understood. It was a non-event, if there ever was one, at least in terms of public perception. The same was true for other important peaks: the British coal peak in the 1920s, the oil peak of the Soviet Union in 1988.
http://cassandralegacy.blogspot.it/2014/09/the-greatest-peak-oil-novel-ever-written.html
2) Then, this idiot Bergey wrote: “For Canadian tar sands it is 173 Billion barrels. Therefore… can become “proven oil reserves”
Really? So then, tell us how will the Canadians burn that sand, into oil?
“Canada requires 200 Tcf of natural gas to burn its tar sands. But Canada’s total reserve: 58 Tcf.” — Roland Horne
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTsYjRqPmNA#t=46m35s%E2%80%9D
3) Bergey: “USA, it is 3 Trillion Barrels, if all oil shale’s are included, (1000 times proven reserves).”
Again, shale is not oil. Then, 3 trillion barrels? Does anyone that follows oil believe this garbage? Because, if you do, I have a “Noah’s Arch” for sale in my back yard.
http://peakoilbarrel.com/
4) Again, Bergey, with his best bullsh!t: “80 oil and gas fields in the Caspian district developed by applying the perspective of the abiotic…”
Abiotic = Oil fields that never depletes
Applying the perspective: What does it mean?
Anyway, Bergey writes that are 80 "applying the perspective" abiotic oil fields in Russia.
Below is Jean Laherrere on Russia abiotic oil. And The Oil Drum.
http://www.fromthewilderness.com/free/ww3/011205_no_free_pt2.shtml
http://www.theoildrum.com/node/727
Then, Bergey goes into the “Chemical nature of Crude Oil”, I believe, to give him credibility for the nonsense he wrote.
ekm, i attended a math conference in russia in the early 70's, along with a 1000 others. there were two typewriters, one elevator to register everyone and get us settled. on the flight in the plane didn't have seat cushions---BUT the russian minds at the conference were outstanding. it was obvious to most present it had been on the basis of these minds that russia had been able to tape and glue their way into space. entirely on the quaility of their magnificient minds. never underestimate the russian ability to think, study and invent. russians will figure out the technology required. rosneft has been buying various companies i am sure with this necessity in mind. as well, exxon, BP, shell and statoil need rosneft and the kara sea. it's not over, it's early days.
I never said russians are stupid
Going from theory to practice takes a lot of testing and trials and errors.
Will they figure it out?
Yes they will.
When?
USA will do its best to prevent them from obtaining materials necessary to figure things out
What materials would those be?
Schlumberger already has training facilities in Russia. There will be very little difficulties getting the processes started.
How is it you believe the CIA has control and can influence everyone, everywhere around the world? If they had this kind of control we would all be living in much different world.
Just asking, I don't discount everything you say ekm, I think you bring some great points to a lot of discussions, however I believe you are over estimating the ablilities of the CIA and Western influence here....Lots of money and brains in the East, we just are not exposed to it, and are programed to think they are inferior in everyway... anyway keep posting your thoughts, at minimum they make people think.
Ccanuck
I may be over estimating or under estimating. I don't know. I can only observe what information is being offered to us to comb from
My point is that it is not easy to obtain technology, it is extremely difficult and blood is being shed daily to obtain/steal technology.
What materials? What technology?
Russia already has the materials and technology processes started, what are they missing to extract this oil?
What can the west withhold to stop the Russians from extraction?
What have you observed that leads you to believe that the CIA can influence the Russian Federation as is currently exsists?
If that were the case, then Exxon wouldn't be there
Extraction technology I'm talking about
Materials which are used for those equipment have a technology on its own
Russia does not have it, otherwise they wouldn't invide Exxon to export technology in exchange for future oil flow income
Does Exxon or the USA own the technology used for extraction?
Exxon is there because they offer a rig and cunstruction in remote areas, do you know of companies like Schlumberger?
They call it the BP oil spill in the GOM, but Schlumberger was the oil field service company that provided the technology and labour to the extraction process. Schlumberger has well established training and production facilities in Russia, information and technology that cannot be taken back from Russian minds. Its there, just being operated by non Russian companies for now. There is no missing link for the Russians to be able to extract this oil even if all these companies were to leave. Just have to organize russian companies to take over current ops. This only requires investment, do you think there is nobody willing to invest, outside of western influence?
They invite Exxon because it suits their needs for now, not because its impossible without them.
If russia could retain schulmberger's knowledge and equipment then russia could do the same thing with exxon
You think Schlumberger and Exxon are that stupid to risk to be expropriated by Putin in an instant?
There is no difference between large business and US government.
The materials and technology are there. The only thing that makes them the "property" of Exxon and Schlumberger and "USA gov" are patent laws.
Do you think the Russians have allowed only Western minds to control these operations? Then why are there established training facilities there?....to train Russians... already done, materials in place, nothing stopping them from doing it themselves now, other than respect of patent laws, business co-operation, and mutual profitablity.
Do you think Russia would care about these patent laws if the companies pull out? Does China respect these patent laws?
You cannot take information and learned technology out of a mind.
The Russians play in this system as part of global co-operation, if the rules change, i.e sanctions, the Russians and the countires that work with them will not give two shits about Western patent laws, and will extract the oil with new investment, there is no missing technology. This does not require any further trials, testing or devolpment, because the russians don't know how; just investment in New Russian Oil Services Companies.
Again what specific technology and materials can be withheld from Russians to make the extraction impossible for them?
I don't know anything. If I knew, I'd keep it for myself and make money out of that information.
Why would I publish it?
I only observe
Anybody who actually knows stuff, won't publish it. Nobody is that stupid
I am simply obaserving and analysing whatever information is provided to us.
So, if exxon and schlumberger have basically given up all that knowledge to Putin, then they are idiotic and won't exist soon. Retaining knowledge is their survival.
Just beling logical here.
Are they that stupid?
I don't think so. I think they have made sure that major portions of that knowledge has stayed with their own western engineers, otherwise they will vanish soon as businesses if technology is stolen so easily
Go have look at Sclumbereger's web-site...tons of info, lots of technology published...it is protected by patent, that's why other companies can't use it. They have to share the information with engineers and designers in order to build it, it's not secret once its being used. The information is out there, in Russia too, its just protected by law.
I think you are refering to the development newer more effieceint technologies, they are not disclosed until patents are obtained. There is lots of deep-sea drilling happening everywhere, technology shared in order to extract oil from over a million wells in the world.
Are you so confident in your interpreation?
If that were the case, exxon and schulmberger will die soon
Maybe you don't understand how this system works ekm, you can't keep things secret if you want your technology out there working in the oilfield industries. You can protect your "ownership" of it. Exxon and Schlumberger do not sell the rights of the use of their technology to any others therefore they control it always. They will not die as long as they control how the tech is used, they can train millions of people how to use it, under their name. However its not hidden, or secret that Russians are incapable of using.
Look into the history of how mobile phones, and patented technology was shared to build compatible systems. Oilfield technology can be similar. How does Blackberry survive? Because they have not sold the rights to some very sought after patents, only they can produce for use in their phones.
I'm not using any special interpretation here, its how things get built in the oil and gas extraction industries.
Schlumberger is the world's largest oilfield service company because they train and teach people how it works and how to use it under their control and company name, they train Russians, Nigerians, Saudi's, Canadians, Americans, Mexicans...etc..etc. They share old technology and sell rights of use once the biggest profits have been made, this is done to have continued demand for their tooling and manufacture they let others use it for continued profitability and growth of a product.
What is the difference between Halliburton and Schlumberger? SLB is 2 to 3 times the size of Halliburton. How does Halliburton survive? or hundreds of other oilfield service companies survive and grow?
Exxon provides exploration and rig building, obtains drilling rights, and deals with the politics, oilfiled service provides the technlogy and labor for extraction services on the exxon, BP, Shell, rigs.
One company cannot do it all. Shared technology, design and operation makes it possible. There are very few instances of secret technology in exsisting oil production processes, (and it just so happens SLB holds these few secrets) but nothing that could stop Russians from extracting deep-sea oil. Its new leading edge stuff that is kept by companies until they patent.
An expropriation attempt of equipment will be considered as declaration of war on USA
Which will give the right to USA to strike and expropriate Russian assets world wide.
The rig could even be hit by "chaotic dark forces". Putin would be stuck with major military defending the rigs.
Exxon assets or assets of any large corporation is defended by US Military, otherwise there is no point for US Military to exist
If what you say comes out true, then we are talking about a couple of more ukraines around the world.
I think the whole point of the debate was that Russia does not have the technology and know-how to extract the oil without Western Companies, I was merely showing that its not lack of intelligence and technology.
Second, how any times has American military power been used to suppress China's numerous patent violations, they rip American technology all the time. No acts of war, just long drawn out court battles that usually end up in settlement not war.
Its not just China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, Thialand...etc...etc they have been counterfieting and using patented technology for decades.
Yet still no wars to stop them, heck half the time it allowed to show inferior manufacturing and production models.
Lastly Russia has not expropriated nobody, they are happy to work with these companies, its Western interests outside of Exxon and Schlumberger that are imposing sanctions and acting like fools. Russia is happy to be a Global participant, they do not want to end current agreements. They would not need to expropriate any equipment, they could simply manufacture it in Russian factories. And say fuck it to Patent Laws.
You should analyze your position and thinking on who is doing what to whom.
Should Russia just stop drilling for oil because the USA bans companies from dealing with them?
Should Schlumberger (Originally French Company) not share technology with Russia because NATO are acting like silly bullies?
You don't believe in free markets EKM, how Un-Canadian of you.
There is no such a thing as 'free market'.
It has never existed and it will never exist.
World works like this:
Big fish eats small fish.
Big fish wars with another big fish. The winner survives.
What you said about China is true and I've always said that, but the technology transferred has not been high end one. I still think it was utterly wrong to even transfer that old technology and we are suffering due to that now.
China can't extract its own shale oil, it does not have the technology
Can you cite something to affirm this belief.
"China can't extract its own shale oil, it does not have the technology"
You also stated that about Russia's ability to drill for oil in the north. I am confident that I have shown that is not the case.
As far as China, I've read commentary on FT Alphaville some months ago. People deeply knowledgeable in the field were saying that
As far as showing Russia's capabilities to drill, we are at 50/50. Time will prove you or me correct/incorrect.
A debate proves nothing. I'm not here to win or lose debates.
Lets see what actually is going to happen.
In the meantime, this one:
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/507474.html
Ok, how about this.
http://www.chadbourne.com/ChinaMovesToRampUpShaleGasProduction_projectfinance/
http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/5/7/china-fracking-africa.html
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Natural-Gas/Its-Official-China-Embraces-Oil-Shale-and-Fracking.html
http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2014/09/china-us-fracking-shale-gas
http://www.scmp.com/business/commodities/article/1495391/sinopec-leads-chinas-shale-gas-revolution-successful-drilling
and just to add a little more:
http://rbth.com/news/2014/08/06/russia_to_get_oil_technologies_from_norway_and_switzerland_38793.html
http://www.naturalgaseurope.com/deep-sea-shale-drilling
http://www.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/materials/bp.pdf
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2014-09-18/why-sanctions-wont-stop-...
http://m.theepochtimes.com/n3/956062-new-russia-sanctions-hit-western-oil-giants/
http://barentsobserver.com/en/energy/2014/05/putin-russian-oil-companies-best-safe-arctic-drilling-23-05
http://www.russia-direct.org/content/why-kremlin-not-very-concerned-energy-sanctions
http://www.daviddarling.info/childrens_encyclopedia/Dig_a_Hole_to_China_Chapter4.html
I'm starting to think you are here just throw out Bold letter statements with no facts to back them, just beliefs and one-sided perceptions.
Facts do not exist. Decisions are made based on propaganda, not facts
All your links your provided are propaganda written to achieve a goal
So, yes, anything I say is perception and interpretation of reality.
It is in my bio clearly said.
So, is anything you say and anything anybody says.
Politics and power seeking is not science.
That is why I do not usually provide links. No point of backing up my perceptions with propaganda links to propaganda websites and propaganda media.
There is no such thing as a FACT. Whoever knows the real info, never publishes it.
Reality is self evident, doesn't need any facts.
I never win or lose a debate. I only pontificate.
Only morons waste so much of their life pontificating. Congratulations, you fully qualify !
precisely
>its just protected by law.
Thank you for giving me the best laugh I've had today... Did corporate espionage ever enter into your thinking when you wrote that?
F 22 Raptor, for every hour in flight requires 27 hours maintenance, at a cost of 356 $mil each. Did the US figure that out? " I don't think so"
re: Soviet science in the 1980s
Ars technica published this story a few days ago: The little known soviet mission to rescue a dead space station (1985)
www.arstechnica.com/ science/ 2014/ 09/ the-little-known-soviet-mission-to-rescue-a-dead-space-station/ -
“how two Cosmonauts battled extreme cold, darkness and limited resources to save Salyut 7"
a great story of human ingenuity!
What? No Hollywood movie about this?
Yes, Russians are masters of practical expediency and accomplishing a lot with a little. However, not the Russians, nor anybody else, can squeeze enough oil out of the ground at sufficient rate to increase net global supply into the medium-term future. This is a race to temporarily fill-in for existing field declines at best.
True.
Not enough oil extracted right now or countries above extractable oil reserves are not willing to increase rate of output to maintain control.
Hence oil wars, to secure energy supplies
What is the main thing here, peak oil? or advantage, Russia?
Somebody's trying to change the subject.
I don't think you can separate peak oil from geopolitical power struggles. Projecting power and influance requires fuel be it oil, other mineral resources, food/farmland, water, transportation infrastructure, etc.
Russians are very clever
and not scared of much
It replenishes same as air, light etc.
Not really a "science guy," eh?
That made my night. Thank you.
Exxon got the technology from ........"experience"
when you have money. time and IQ anyone can get there- Petrobras got that experience in its own backyard offshore Brazil - deep offshore - from scratch - to suggest Russians cant do that when they got to Space before the USA is silly
This well was done in a jv with XOM. Needless to say OldBlaBla fucked it up over the Ukraine.
ekm, if you wanted to destroy any credibility you've been trying so hard for so long to build up, you did it with the belief in abiotic oil.
Unicorns, skittles, and fairies await your next theories.
Now go home and get your shoe shine box.
To paraphrase Joan River's "I spit on inner beauty", ............let me say this:
"I spit on my credibility"
ekm, for me your credibility is as good as your latest comment. I upvote you or downvote you whether I agree or not (including in this thread), so your credibility swings from comment to comment! For me you have volatility even more than credibility. I will say this, though: Your refusal to be shamed or shouted out of a position is solid. I admire your sense of humour, sir. Just don't ever run for politics... that's where you are supposed to care about your polls.
Maybe you and EKM should get together and give each other mutual blowjobs. But someone tells me that it would be an autoerotic act, LOL>
Your flames are boring. Get a writer.
It's not his fault.
He wants a raise. Food is expensive now in St Petersburg or Moscow with self imposed food sanctions on Europe.
Few hundred more rubles as a professional troller would make him survive the winter.
Let him troll, no worries
Aw, I just ask that my abuse be creative! Is that really so much?
Here's Steve Martin on all the universe of types of abuse flame and insult that are out there!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urdf4g-LXk4
There is really no excuse for the lack of creativity in kids these days.
Once upon a time, in a Cold War that never grew hot, a certain submarine was tasked to retrieve a sonar buoy that was one of many that comprised the Russian version of SOSUS... Surprise, upon dissection, it was full of Texas Instrument chips. If the Russians don't have the technology, they will, as they have in the past, obtain it. Considering today, that greed is king in the West, the Russians will obtain the technology easily.
Will they obtain it? Maybe
Easily? Absolutely not. Not without blood.
Reminder: Few iranian nuke scientists were killed during last 3-4 years
"Oil is abiotic and it is located in the earth core."
You seem to have bought the premise.
Have you figured out the rate of formation yet?
Couple of days? A month? Maybe 2 million years?
Wild guess, anyone?
Earth will never ever run out of any elements of compounds.
It all comes down to whether those elements or compounds are extractable or not and whether people above those extractable reserves will allow the world to extract them, hence....................wars
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/507474.html
Western Sanctions Could Damage One-Fifth of Russia's Oil Production- By Alexander Panin
- Sep. 21 2014 20:34
- Last edited 20:36
Gazprom.ruGazprom Neft's Prirazhlomnaya oil rig last year became the first to begin pumping oil from Russia's Arctic shelf.Some 100 million tons of annual oil production — or about 20 percent Russia's total oil output — is at risk because of sanctions related to the supply of Western technology and expertise to Russia, Vagit Alekperov, the head of Russia's No. 2 oil company, said Friday.
Executives at an international business forum in Sochi said in the long run, Russian oil companies can do without the Western technology banned by the latest sanctions imposed on Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine.
But at what cost? they asked.
Earlier this month, the United States and European Union imposed sanctions on leading Russian energy companies, including Rosneft and LUKoil, preventing U.S. and EU firms from supporting their exploration or production activities in deep water, Arctic offshore or shale projects.
About a quarter of Russia's oil production currently comes from hard-to-recover reserves with the help of the fracking technology — where powerful, mostly U.S.-made pumps are employed to force oil out of the earth, Alekperov, chief of privately owned LUKoil, said at the International Investment Forum Sochi-2014.
As conventional oil wells begin drying up, the importance of hard-to-reach deposits in Russia — a country that relies for 40 percent of its state budget on oil industry taxes — will only increase.
Most of the automated control systems and communications equipment in the oil industry today come from the U.S. and Japan, Alekperov said, adding that these supplies are now at risk because of Western sanctions.
A firm U.S. ally, Japan has so far imposed limited sanctions on Moscow, and the measures do not touch the oil industry. Tokyo said last week that it was preparing new measures to target the energy sector but has not yet implemented them.
LUKoil is looking to domestic producers and suppliers in Asia to substitute the banned technology, but "not all of it can be fully replaced," Alekperov said.
In the long run, oil producers will be able to make up for the loss of Western technology, but it is not clear how costly this shift will be, he said. Meanwhile, new sanctions could make the situation even worse.
Self-Supported IndustryAt the end of the 1980s, just before its collapse, the Soviet Union was pumping 625 million tons of oil per year, 100 million tons more than Russia produces today. And that was done with only Soviet-made equipment.
"Most of the technology now imported from the West, including the fracking technique, was developed in the Soviet Union at the beginning of the 1970s," according to Rustam Tankayev, lead analyst at the Russian Union of Oil & Gas Producers.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the facilities that produced drilling and other related equipment for the industry were privatized. In that 'Wild East' era of Russian capitalism, the new owners were too busy squeezing out quick profits to be concerned with developing production, which left the industry in tatters, Tankayev said.
Energy Minister Alexander Novak in Sochi on Friday pledged government support for domestic producers striving to develop substitutes for sanctioned technology and equipment.
But domestic production will not regenerate overnight. And in some areas, such as shelf exploration, there is no alternative to Western technology, Tankayev said: "The deep water shelf exploration ban is a heavy loss because there was no technology developed for this in the Soviet era."
Sanctions could stall the $500 billion of direct capital investment the Russian government thought would be channeled into the development of the Arctic shelf by 2020. Multiplier effects can add another $300 billion in potential losses and cripple prospects for the development of offshore and hard-to-reach oil fields in Russia, according to an earlier report by U.S. investment bank Merrill Lynch.
Outraged ExecutivesIn recent years, Western energy giants like France's Total, British-Dutch conglomerate Royal Dutch Shell and the U.S.'s ExxonMobil came to the rescue of Russia's oil and gas industry, bringing advanced technology, equipment, expertise and investment. For them, the partnership was profitable, granting access to the gigantic oil and gas treasury of the Arctic and the vast reserves in Siberia.
Having poured billions of dollars into these new horizons, Western energy companies are not happy with the bans imposed by their governments, and are in no rush to leave.
Executives of both Total and Shell in Sochi on Friday said they would continue working in Russia despite sanctions, although some of their projects may be affected.
Exxon, which despite early waves of Western sanctions against Moscow began exploratory drilling this summer with state-owned oil giant Rosneft on Russia's Arctic shelf, is now winding down its operations.
These companies may yet outlast the sanctions and free Russia from the need to develop its own technology.
"This is a long-term investment we are making and it will require 10-20 years to bear fruit. It is inappropriate to impose sanctions and then say, invest somewhere else," said Jacques de Boisseson, the head of Total Russia, adding: "I call on politicians: Do not play with the energy industry, it is too fragile."
xom cvx should invert and give muzziemulatto bathhouseboy the finger...
xom was ahead of the curve and gave iraq the finger and went with kurd oil..
i am surprised the $$/bbl of oil doesnt drop on this news
the world is awash in oil and gas....
Possible production seven years out does little to fuel my car today.
"Victory" indeed.
puh-leaze
The Golfer vs Exxon-Mobil?
i won't even have a chance to sit down with my popcorn before .......
Someone said it is a battle between the Red Shield banksters versus the Rockefeller energy gang. Rockefeller though is also bankster.
Umm, just saying this cannot be happening our resource folks (socialists) teel us the world has been explored 10 times over.. There is no easy oil left... and with a mean ocean depth of 360 feet, this is easy oil..
"The Kara Sea is roughly 1,450 kilometres long and 970 kilometres wide with an area of around 880,000 km2 (339,770 sq mi) and a mean depth of 110 metres (360 ft)."
I'd rather the Russians be in charge of it than the Arabs..
should help to put (further) downward pressure on oil price.
and current disinflationary enviroment already turning toward outright deflation
(expect the usual downvotes for above ... but i'm loving paying 50 cents/gallon less for gas than 6 months ago)
So you believe supply and demand is the key driver of gasoline prices in the U.S.? Could it be that a strengthening dollar could cause gasoline and crude oil prices to decline in dollar terms?
This dynamic of U.S. dollar hegemony rather than supply and demand dictating prices is the key driver behind BRICS wanting to undermind the dollar based global economic model.
State department will have to figure out how to train the Elk to become terroristic Elks so we can then send in NATO.
Sadly for Russia, everyone will be driving Teslas once the gigafactory is built, no?
Tesla doesn't save anything.
put the /s for the numpties.
no...
Kill them.
Some polar bears gonna buy themselves 400 foot yachts.
and fresh seal for dinner every evening.
Peak whaaa? ;-)
peak CHEAP oil, producing the arctic hydrocarbon won't be cheap.
Still lots of methane though. And there will be as long as there are living things on earth.
BS, I was in Prudhoe bay in late 1970's, it is not that hard... challenging and more costly yes, approaching non-recoverability, no way..
"Peak Oil" and "Peak Cheap Oil" are part and parcel of the same theory.
PEEK Oil.
Oil, Oil, Baby!
Few days of extra supply of super expensive oil avaiable ony for half a year every year. Riiight. Cornucopians win. Not.
Exactly.....All that for a FEW DAYS more of Supply....That's the Real Story....
Exxon ain't giving up shit to the banana puppet proxy US gubbermint.
This isn't news, we've known about this for over a year at least. It's why everyone is in such a fuss over who owns what in the arctic...
Up to now it was only expected that there's a lot of oil. Now we know that there's even more than previously expected. That's somewhat different imho.
What do you wanna bet this expedites exploration of other arctic nations....
As an aside, I noticed the Rockafeller family is divesting itself of oil holding. I'm not sure but I feel like there might be something to that....
Do you actually Believe the public pronouncements of the Rockefellers?
No more or less than any other power player. But you don't say you're divesting from oil unless you really are, and already have begun, OR you intend to buy ALL the oil.
In this case I have a sneaking feeling there's something interesting on the horizon. I won't pretned to know what it is, but there is that other shoe drop feeling to the whole thing.
Bears
Preezy needs to deploy the EPA/UN envirofreak vultures to begin their moaning campaign about the endangerment of the Artic sewer trout.
and moar sanctions...
Costs... err... costs?
Bwahahhahahaha, with that oil under the feet even Greece would shit on any sanctions.
Unless: West already knew about this oil and will desperately start any war necessary to get the upper hand on this one.
Clearly we must bring Democracy to these Kara Sea Peoples! Ready the F-22s!!!!!!
The world is awash in fiat and oil. Their values have risen despite unlimited supply.
Gold and silver, scarce and in short supply, have seen their values drop precipitously since 2011.
It appears that the masters of the universe have rewritten the laws governing supply and demand. Soon, the textbooks dealing directly with the dismal science will have to be re-written and sold on college campuses for 600 a copy and up- because we will have an unlimited supply of them.
War is Peace
Shitheadedness is Awesomeness
Dog is Cat
Clearly you have figured out that we must print money and give it to bankers in response to this.
Unlimited supply of oil? The only reason it all won't be consumed is becasue civilization will collapse long before that point as EROEI makes further extraction a net loss.
This time Mr. Putin really f(oil)ed Obozo.
Gee, imagine that. This mega-announcement comes just days after sanctions announced against Russia led to massive losses on the Moscow Sucker Arcade and a collapse in the Moscow Sucker Play Money Simulacrum Unit. Guess Bad Vlad isn't any different from the rest of the propagandists desperately trying to keep the lid on.
Bad news (i.e.-- reality) comes knocking on the door. Quick! What sort of super-mega-hyper-ultra announcement can we make to bury it with?
How desperate is Bad Vlad? Well, this super-mega-hyper-ultra announcement seeps out on a SATURDAY. Can't it wait until Monday when it would have much more of an impact? Nope, gotta be now. And it has to be huuuugggee in order to make a dent in all the sell orders piling up on the desks over the weekend, and so what if we don't actually have anything except preliminary guesstimates? Make something up and then quadruple it. It is rather a worrying sign when the good news has to be released immediately on a day when almost nobody is going to notice rather than waiting to get maximum juice out of the whole operatic deception during market hours.
So everybody relax, Russia has it all under control and you're going to like being ruled by the godly philosopher man-king Putin I. He's told you so himself and what other source do you need? Your money and your liberty are safe under the kindly umbrella of the Russian Army and its wise band of kleptocratic overlords.
Friday at around 8AM EST would have been the better play.
*
"So everybody relax, 'Merica has it all under control and you're going to like being ruled by the godly philosopher man-king Obama I. He's told you so himself and what other source do you need? Your money and your liberty are safe under the kindly umbrella of the American Armed Forces(A global force for "good"TM) and its wise band of kleptocratic overlords."
#fixeditforya
Without the heartland of America standing in the way of the people who dream of turning humanity back into serfs on a worldwide basis, we would not be having this conversation at all.
It is true, of course, that the United States is likely to be somewhat preoccupied in the years ahead with a raging civil war between those who value the Empire of Free Men envisaged at its foundation and those who want us to become gelded members of the fraternity which already labors on the estates of their new technocratic overlords.
While we are busy straightening things out here at home, good luck to those of you who will be tugging submissively at your forelocks as the motorcade of your masters whizzes by in a cloud of choking dust. Eventually, we'll come back for you. We always have before-- not because you deserve to be rescued but because we're the Americans and that's how we roll.
You're sounding distressed somehow, my friend. Remember Lehman?
Very well, as a matter of fact. The smell of naked fear was everywhere and the whole world was just inches (or millimeters) away from losing confidence in the whole game.
Which is why I suggested that Bad Vlad was doing the same sort of proactive happy-talk in the face of looming disaster. If the proles lap it up, all will be well in the eyes of the nomenklatura. If the proles laugh it off as a lie, then all will be on its way to We-fucked-sky Street.
I am no longer afraid of facing the consequences of the truth. Financial collapse and war are coming one way or the other. What about you? Are you willing to accept lies at face value in order to maintain a posh life for a little while longer?
And USA has bee hyping the fake "islam terrorists" meme for how long now to scare the sheeple into submittion and acceptance of never ending wars?