The hottest topic in the
energy debate these days is the replacement of the fossil fuels by alternate
energysources. The question “Will
fossil fuels ever be replaced by renewable energy sources?” has transformed
with time to “Can fossil fuels still
prevent the advent of the renewable energy sources?”
According to US EIA Energy Statistics 2007, Fossil fuels account for 86.4% of the total world energy consumption whereas non-fossil fuels grab the space for only 13.6%. The comparison used to be perceived as a merely ridiculous myth back in the time as renewable energy sources – such as solar, bio-fuels, wind, tidal seemed laughably inadequate as an alternative to fossil fuels. However, as the clock ticked its minutes away, the energy requirements kept increasing at a pace of 2.3% per year! The contrast now has raised serious concerns in the energy world. The renewable(s) are becoming cheaper and efficient in different ways and that too in a climate, where fossil fuels are becoming increasingly expensive and hazardous. However, with the existing technology at the perspective, fossil fuels are the very commodities that present the greatest opportunities in meeting energy demands, within financial constraints.
So, if you think that world
has run out of oil, then THINK AGAIN! This globe has much more oil to offer
than what mathematicians can calculate or what speculators can predict. Nature
has hidden the treasure in abundance located at different parts of the world. A
report by World Oil Outlook states that fossil fuels will continue to remain the
satisfiers of more than 80% of our energy demands till 2030, in which coal is
expected to maintain its significance as the second most important energy
source. The need to discover new oil frontiers and to work towards the
extraction of unconventional hydrocarbon resources has to get fulfilled for the
sake of human survival on this planet. As the oil fields in Middle East &
other oil rich regions obtain maturity, new oil & gas bearing regions are
ready to take their positions. Delineations of some of the new oil worlds is as
follows:
A F R I C A
B R A Z I L
The world’s fifth largest country, Brazil, has
the potential to become one of the world’s largest producers of oil if it can tap
its reserves deep under the South Atlantic. It possesses the biggest offshore
oil reserves in the pre-salt area off its South-East Coast. The consecutive
pre-salt discoveries in Brazil have made it the rising star of the Western
Hemisphere for the Oil and Gas industry.
The coast of Rio de Janerio is 290 km long. High overhead the Coast, Gas is flaring whereas deep under the coast, there is enough oil to fill 330,000 barrels. The fossilized oceans in Brazil strike more than 6.5 billion barrels worth in the Lula Field alone. In 2007, State-run oil company Petrobars had found between 5 billion to 8 billion barrels of Light oil and Gas in the Tupi field which is 160 miles off the coast of Rio de Janerio. This discovery of Tupi is the World’s greatest oil field and the largest ever in the deep waters. This field is speculated to ramp up to 1 million barrels a day of production in 2020. Petrobars has assigned Brazil as the New Oil Superpower. The South American country, in future, is believed to play the roles of Oil Majors, Oil service providers and beyond. Amidst the unrest in the Middle East, President Obama has already pledged that United States will be a major customer of the Brazilian Oil in the coming years. These monstrous reserves are certainly more than just a jackpot for the country which ranks 69th out of 178 countries in Transparency International’s annual ranking of perceived corruption. The country must nip its corruption in the bud and cash itself on the moment to lead not only in extraction of the reserves and export of raw materials but also in technology.
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
A study by the
Rand Corporation estimates the sedimentary rock in the corner where Utah
borders Colorado and Wyoming holds about 800 billion barrels. That's three
times the sizes of the two largest reserves in the world. Venezuela’s which
account to 297 billion barrels and Saudi Arabia's oil reserves which are the
second largest claimed in the world, estimated to be 267 billion barrels. Thus,
America’s oil shale reserves are enormous, totaling at least 1.5 trillion
barrels of oil. That’s five times the reserves
of Venezuela and Saudi Arabia! And yet, no one is producing commercial
quantities of oil from these vast deposits. If oil shale were to become commercially profitable, its impact
on the ambient regions would be immense. Oil companies and the U.S. government
are currently taking a slow and cautious approach to oil shale, but the
development process would get accelerated if global factors made it politically
and economically advantageous to put more money and energy into accessing this
resource.
A R C
T I C
This is not just it!
The new oil race is predicted to be led by the riches present in the Arctic
which include new basins and reservoirs buried several thousand meters
under the seabed or mountain ranges containing viscous oil and sour gas. It is believed that 25% of the world’s
undiscovered oil and gas reserves lie beneath the Arctic Ocean which, in
the recent times, has become economically accessible. The future of the Arctic will be less white
wilderness, more black gold.
The first assessment of oil
and gas resources in north of the Arctic Circle, carried out by American
geologists, reveals that underneath the ice, the region may contain as much as
a fifth of the world's undiscovered yet recoverable oil and natural gas
reserves. This includes 90 billion barrels of oil, enough to supply the world
for three years at current consumption rates, or to supply America for 12, and
1,670 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas, which is equal to about a third of the
world's known gas reserves. West Siberian Basin (651 tcf), the East Barents
Basin(318 tcf) and Arctic Alaska(221 tcf) are speculated to be the most
prolific areas for gas while Arctic Alaska (30 BBOE), the Amerasia Basin(9.7
BBOE) and the East Greenland Rift(8.9 BBOE) are expected to yield the biggest
reserves of oil.
N E W Z E
A L A N D
P A
K I S T A N
Finally,
our homeland Pakistan is not out of this new oil race either. Our offshore is surrounded by oil rich fields like
Mumbai High, Iranian & Middle East Oil fields. Also a major portion of
Baluchistan too remains unexplored. According to the USGS report, Pakistan has
tremendous reserves of Gas Hydrates. Yet, Pakistan produces about 60,000 barrels of oil
per day which only meets approximately one sixth of the country’s current oil
requirement. The prevailing crises of Energy in
Pakistan can be minimized or can even get eliminated if natural resources of
the country are used efficiently.
Coal too is keeping pace with consumer electric demand and
EIA has stated that coal will continue to feed 45-50% of the world’s total
power generation in 2025. Pakistan is enriched with hundreds of God gifted
reserves especially in Sindh and Balochistan, one of which is Thar Coal
reserves. Thar is the 9th largest desert of the world with 7th
largest coal reserves having 175 billion tons. The drawback adhered to the
coal’s usage as a power generation source is that it is a dirty fuel. This defect
can be clearly whitewashed by the implementation of Clean Coal Technology that
aims to commercialize the processes to help control SOx and NOx from power
plant emission. The staggering fact is that if all the oil reserves of Saudi
Arabia & Iran are put together they are still way lesser than 50 billion
ton of oil which is equivalent to the 175 billion tons of coal reserves present
at Thar. The quantity is also equivalent to over 2000 TCF of gas which is 42
times greater than the total gas reserves that have been discovered in
Pakistan.
Nobody really knows when the last drop of oil, lump of
coal or cubic foot of natural gas will be collected from the Earth but one
thing is certain, that this supposition is far distant from the present
scenario. The foregone conclusion is that the earth is not short of the
natural resources such as crude oil and natural gas. As a matter of fact, it is
the very earth which has accommodated too much the quantity of those fossil
fuels that extraction of them has become an arduous job. There is still a
bright future ahead of the prevailing major resources which lies in the
Unconventional reservoirs and Coal resources, both driven by technology
advancement and economic parameters. All of it
will depend on how well we manage our energy demands. Hence, efficient
technological development in the respective field is the only rescue from a
future deadlock.
WRITTEN BY: M. TAHA JAVAID
REFERENCES:
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