Drilling Down Down Under
With a tip of the hat to Glenn, here’s the latest hugenormous shale oil find:
SOUTH Australia is sitting on oil potentially worth more than $20 trillion, independent reports claim – enough to turn Australia into a self-sufficient fuel producer.
Brisbane company Linc Energy yesterday released two reports, based on drilling and seismic exploration, estimating the amount of oil in the as yet untapped Arckaringa Basin surrounding Coober Pedy ranging from 3.5 billion to 233 billion barrels of oil.
At the higher end, this would be “several times bigger than all of the oil in Australia”, Linc managing director Peter Bond said.
This has the potential to turn Australia from an oil importer to an oil exporter.
More news like this, and Saudi Arabia and the other Gulf/OPEC states might find themselves in a double bind. Shale oil is more difficult and expensive to drill, but we’ll be using more of it — especially if “easy” oil production begins to wane. One expects, eventually, even the Saudis will have to start digging around for shale.
But where are the best minds in the oil business going to want to work? In Australia, where the beer is legal (and good) and the women are uncovered (and friendly)? Or in Saudi, where the beer is banned and the women are covered?
It’s kind of a no-brainer. Which is exactly what the Saudis might be faced with, just when they need brains the most.
But.. but.. peak oil! And.. batteries! And.. global warminginging!
What to do with all those solar cells in scorching Australian deserts?
Another nail to the OPEC coffin: China has twice as much natural gas reserves than the US.
I suspect that “easy” oil production is only applicable right now. Once the infrastructure and experience are in place, shale oil will be just as easy to get.
This could parallel the the 1500s when Europe started to figure out that they didn’t need the Silk Road and the Turks/Arabs became irrelevant.
It is pleasing that so much of the newly discovered oil is in the Anglosphere.
I generally loathed the movie, but there was a great line in Syriana that applies here: “They think a hundred years ago you were living in tents out here in the desert chopping each other’s heads off and that’s exactly where you’ll be in another hundred years- so on behalf of my firm, yes, I accept your money.”
The oil hasn’t dried up and they’re already doing it.
In our neck of the woods, technology will continue scale shale development, but while it may never reach the cost of pure oil extraction, we’re going to get better and better at it. In 10 years, it’ll be awesome to watch a random lefty squirm after asking them why they hate us.
With that kind of money the Strains will be importing Canadians to teach them English as a second language, eh.