Friday, July 9, 2010

The analysis of the contents in the oil has been released.

This is the chemical analysis of the Macondo deposit.








 .....ok,  in my eyes, the important things revealed here, although I can only see from my perspective and the things I understand are limited by my knowledge of physics. ..I'll go through the ones I do understand as relevant 1 by 1.

                                                                      : )


                                                 
.....are Calcium content.                                  307.0 ppms (mg/kg)

       Where does calcium come from underground..?

   .....Shale.

    Shale, sedimentary rock formed by the consolidation of mud or clay, having the property of splitting into thin layers parallel to its bedding planes. Shale tends to be fissile, i.e., it tends to split along planar surfaces between the layers of stratified rock. Shales comprise an estimated 55% of all sedimentary rocks. The composition of shale varies widely. Shales with very high silica content <-- important too ) may have been formed when large quantities of diatoms and volcanic ash were present in the original sediment. Large numbers of fossils in shales may give them a high calcium content; such shales may grade into limestones. Shales that contain a large percentage of alumina are used as a source of that mineral in the manufacture of cement. Shales containing abundant carbonaceous matter grade into bituminous coal. Oil shales are widely distributed in the W United States and may be a future source of petroleum.
.......the type of shale that is usually older and compacted is called ......

   Mudstone (also called mudrock) is a fine grained sedimentary rock whose original constituents were clays or muds. Grain size is up to 0.0625 mm (0.0025 in) with individual grains too small to be distinguished without a microscope. With increased pressure over time the platey clay minerals may become aligned, with the appearance of fissility or parallel layering. This finely bedded material that splits readily into thin layers is called shale, as distinct from mudstone. The lack of fissility or layering in mudstone may be due either to original texture or to the disruption of layering by burrowing organisms in the sediment prior to lithification. Mud rocks, such as mudstone and shale comprise some 65% of all sedimentary rocks. Mudstone looks like hardened clay and, depending upon circumstances under which it was formed, it may show cracks or fissures, like a sun-baked clay deposit. They can be separated into these categories:
  • Siltstone - greater than half of the composition is silt-sized particles.
  • Claystone - greater than half of the composition is clay-sized particles.
  • Mudstone - hardened mud; a mix of silt and clay sized particles. Mudstone can include:




    • Shale - exhibits lamination or fissility.
    • Argillite - has undergone low grade metamorphism.

    Lithification is the process in which sediments compact under pressure, expel connate fluids, and gradually become solid rock. Essentially, lithification is a process of porosity destruction through compaction and cementation. Lithification includes all the processes which convert unconsolidated sediments into sedimentary rocks. Petrification, though often used as a synonym, is more specifically used to describe the replacement of organic material by silica in the formation of fossils. In geology consolidation is a synonym for lithification.

   Shales are typically composed of variable amounts of clay minerals and quartz grains and the typical color is gray. Addition of variable amounts of minor constituents alters the color of the rock. Black shale results from the presence of greater than one percent carbonaceous material and indicates a reducing environment. Red, brown and green colors are indicative of ferric oxide (hematite - reds), iron hydroxide (goethite - browns and limonite - yellow), or micaceous minerals (chlorite, biotite and illite - greens). Clays are the major constituent of shales and other mudrocks. The clay minerals represented are largely kaolinite, montmorillonite and illite. Clay minerals of Late Tertiary ( the deepwater Gulf ) mudstones are called expandable smectites.

  Shales and mudrocks contain roughly 95 percent of the organic matter in all sedimentary rocks. However, this amounts to less than one percent by mass in an average shale. Black shales which form in anoxic ( no 02 ) conditions contain reduced free carbon along with ferrous iron and sulfur . Pyrite and amorphous iron sulfide along with carbon produce the black coloration.
  Smectites are in whats called the " Chlorite "  group , which includes a wide variety of similar minerals with considerable chemical variation..
   The great range in composition results in considerable variation in physical, optical, and X-ray properties. Similarly, the range of chemical composition allows chlorite group minerals to exist over a wide range of temperature and pressure conditions. For this reason chlorite minerals are ubiquitous minerals within low and medium temperature metamorphic rocks, some igneous rocks, hydrothermal rocks and deeply buried sediments.
   Chlorite is a common mineral associated with hydrothermal ore deposits and commonly occurs with epidote, sericite, adularia and sulfide minerals

    Experiments indicate that chlorite can be stable in peridotite of the Earth's mantle above the ocean lithosphere carried down by subduction, and chlorite may even be present in the mantle volume from which island arc magmas are generated.

 .......stop right there.

 .......you have read about the fault-zones and fractures through the area of the Horizon blowout, right...?

........I thought you did.....

    An island arc is a type of archipelago formed as one oceanic tectonic plate subducts under another and produces magma at depth below the over-riding plate. An island arc that develops along the edge of a continent (for example, large parts of the Andes/Central American/Canadian mountain chain) may be known as a volcanic arc, though most people find the distinction of little benefit.

.......we all know from the major media that there is volcanic activity in the deep-water G.o.M., also from many many geological surveys, and also that the thickness in the Sigsbee deep on the OCS ( outer continental shelf ) is relatively thin,  15-25 miles from what I read.

.......so that's revealed by the analysis, but also many others of all different types I have read.,  next ...

.......next 60% water/particulates....first sand, then water.

 ...... Sand...

   The third type of sandstone found in deepwater boreholes is located below shales of clearly marine origin.These packages are formed by sands and shales (shaly matrix) not organized in a regular pattern but as a mixed lithology. Cross bedding is observed in this facies. The position of this third type of sandstones in the elemental sequence as well as its higher shale content indicates an increased marine influence.
   Silts are observed along the well, both alternating with or at the base of the second type of sandstones.These silt levels are formed by very fine grained sands displaying gentle cross laminations. Some of these laminations present a wavy pattern. The high thorium content is due to the presence of mica. Shales are well developed along the borehole. Based on the SGR log( that's Gamma Ray ), two types of shales are identified: a high thorium-low uranium shale and a high uranium - low thorium one.

....yes, the oil does contain some naturally occurring radiation, or, NORM ,

.......these elements are normally reduced in the refining practice, and then more often than not, injected back into the ground, usually out at sea because of the factor of diffusion in the ground makes it safe by the MMS/US government standards..but also into deep salt caverns,.... also something you have read about in my past...here's a few links from Argonne National Laboratories.

   " Disposal of NORM-Contaminated Oil Field Wastes in Salt Caverns "

    " Naturally Occurring Radioactive Materials (NORM)  "

    " Adaptive Sampling and Analysis Programs (ASAPs)  "




.........Boron....3.4 ppms

Boron is the 51st most common element found in the earth’s crust and is found at an average concentration of 8 mg/kg. It is never found as the free element

The most widely used commercial process for producing boron is the Moissan process, which involves the reduction of boric oxide with magnesiumDue to boron’s tendency to bind to electron-rich elements (carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen) it can be very difficult to isolate boron in high purity
High purity boron (>99.9%) is prepared by the reduction of boron trihalides or by the decomposition of boron triiodide or boron hydrides at high temperatures.

Boron trifluoride is prepared by the reaction of a boron-containing material and a fluorine-containing substance in the presence of an acid e.g. sulfuric acid, which I have also written at great length about.

Large-scale production of boron trichloride involves the reaction of chlorine with a mixture of borax and crude oil residue heated in a rotary kiln.

Boron halides are important industrial chemicals. Their Lewis acid properties make them useful as catalysts.

....now if you read and understood the above, and have read my posts on sulfur reactions...you will see the relevance here, ...aside from the rotary kiln,................. it's the same process in a reservoir. ............


   So, how much of the heavy metal content in this oil is naturally occurring, and how much is possibly resulting from fluid migrations resulting from leaky salt-domes, brine pathway water-tables, and deep sea injections ?

.......after all, drilling rigs at sea are allowed to dump or pump their wastes pretty much where they like.

.......next, magnesium.........195.0 ppms

   In the drilling industry, they usually do what's called a " magnesium test ", to test certain perimeters of the reservoir fluids.

     A procedure for determining magnesium ion (Mg+2) concentration in a water-base drilling fluid based upon analyses for both calcium and total hardness. The standard test has been proscribed by API. Magnesium ion (Mg+2) concentration is calculated by subtracting calcium (Ca+2) analysis results from total hardness analysis results.
............API...average of 23.5.... the other docs on deepwater crude say it averages 28..

     Liquid petroleum which has a density less than 0.870 grams per cubic centimetre and flows freely at room temperature. Light oil has an API gravity greater than 31.1°.....so it's actually a medium...

   Liquid petroleum with a specific gravity between that of light oil, 0.875 (30.2° API) and heavy oil, 0.92 (22.3° API).
 ....the sodium content is relevant when observed in the same light with the water content of the oil, it shows high levels of salt and therefore indicates the reservoir is being charged from a brine pathway.


................sulfur......0.435%...BY WEIGHT ........and H2S gas.

   Sour gas is raw natural gas with a relatively high concentration of sulfur compounds, such as hydrogen sulfide. All natural gas containing more than one per cent hydrogen sulfide is considered sour.

....I have been over that subject enough, but will include this definition because of the very important reference to nitrogen oxide.

Acid rain
  • Occurs when sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxide gases react in the atmosphere with water vapor to form acidic compounds. These compounds can travel hundreds of kilometres before falling to the earth as rain, drizzle, snow or dry particles (this fallout is also known as “acid precipitation” or “acid deposition”).
 .............nitrogen......1800 ppms......wow...just wow.......

 read this, think about the waterflooding projects in the nearby blocks.....wow.

"  Rich-air, a byproduct of nitrogen production, can also be considered for some of  these reservoirs.  In most of them rich-air will produce the most oil because rich air produces the most carbon dioxide.  However, at the very low pressures there will be no practical difference in the volume of oil recovered by the several gases because little gas dissolves in the oil.   Since, rich-air is a byproduct of nitrogen production, an equal or larger volume of rich-air is produced with nitrogen  Thus, nitrogen and rich-air can be injected into stacked or adjacent reservoirs.  This will improve the economics of the paired projects considerably since the cost of the injected gas could be reduced by 40% to 60%."

http://www.mktechsolutions.com/Nitrogen%20and%20Rich%20Air.htm

.........H2S...    .435 %wt

......there are abnormally tenacious microbial strains in this area of the outer continental shelf, they are known to produce large amounts of H2S gas.


http://www.searchanddiscovery.net/documents/hood/images/hood.pdf

....in relation to near-by flooding projects..like the U-P project...near the 252 block location, and the process of killing and filtering microbes that make H2S gas, this is from a paper about reservoirs in the North Sea, microbes are microbes, they are tenacious and you cannot stop them, they evolve too quickly to overcome adverse environmental factors.

   "  The presence of mesophilic benzoate-degrading sulfate-reducing bacteria in the water systems of three
Norwegian oil platforms was investigated. Strain 4502 was isolated from the injection water system, and
specific antibodies were produced against this isolate. It was present in the injection water system during a
period of 3 years, but not in the in situ reservoir water. Later it was found in water samples collected from the
oil field production system. This showed that strain 4502 had penetrated the reservoir together with the
injection water and eventually reached the production well.   "


some other relevant terms you should know if you don't already..

Repressuring

Forcing gas, under pressure, into a crude oil reservoir in an attempt to increase the recovery of crude oil. This can also be achieved using water.


Fracturing (or fracing)
  • A reservoir stimulation technique in which fluids are pumped into a potentially productive formation under high pressure to create or enlarge fractures allowing the oil or gas to flow from the zone at higher rates. In some operations proppants such as frac sand are injected with the frac fluid to help hold the rock fractures open.

Acidizing
  • A method of improving porosity and permeability of a reservoir by injecting acid under pressure to dissolve reservoir rock.
Infill drilling
  • Wells drilled between established producing wells on a lease in order to increase production from the reservoir.
Infill well
  • Any well that is drilled on a closer-than-normal well spacing pattern or requirement. Also, any well drilled between existing wells producing from the same reservoir.
Injection (oil and gas)
  • Injection enhancement technique wherein water or other substances are injected into an oil field to improve production. Also, the reinjectiong of natural gas into an oil field to maintain reservoir pressure.
Injection well
  • A well used for injecting air, water, carbon dioxide, steam or fluids into an underground formation.




                                          ok, done for now, I'm sure I can add to this later.

       
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiles/tp26-c5.pdf
http://aem.asm.org/cgi/reprint/62/9/3551.pdf
http://www.centreforenergy.com/glossary.asp?EnergyType=1&Template=1,1
http://www.edwardsaquifer.net/glossary.html
http://www.glossary.oilfield.slb.com/Display.cfm?Term=magnesium+test
http://www.searchanddiscovery.net/abstracts/html/1999/intl/abstracts/1301e.
htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorite_group
http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/sci/A0844669.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mudstone

1 comment:

Susan said...

Wow you are like a really informative book. I have a host bird books some have good photos and not enough information while others don't give good identifying photos while others still are not complete I refer to a book which lists the Pileated Woodpecker and omits the Ivory-billed Woodpecker . That is a big thing as the Ivory-billed is near extinct and yet is similar in appearance to the Pileated.
So as far as deep water drilling geology solar fluxuations etc. you are a complete book.

Post Script: And information can be inspirational I picked up a text book on the biological sciences at a thrift store because your posts have made me realize that all those science classes I ditched could have proved useful.

I remain an avid fan.
Susan