greensideout
03-20-05, 05:45 PM
I was glancing at a map when the light went off. What was always there had just jumped foreward. Iran and the Caspian Sea!
The really large, maybe the largest oil discoveries to date are found at the Caspian Sea but have a problem, getting that oil to a port.
One route could be through Turkmenistan, then Afghanistan and then through Pakastan. A lot of pipe and three countries to deal with.
The other route? A short 200 miles across Iran. That would hook up the Caspian oil to the pipelines of Iraq and their ports and the ports of Kuwait.
Maybe it's time to slice a little top off of Iran?
yellowwing
03-20-05, 07:55 PM
From the Energy Infomration Administrtion of the US DOE
Caspian Sea Region (http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/caspian.html)
GENERAL BACKGROUND
The Caspian Sea region has become a central focus point for untapped oil and natural gas resources from the southern portion of the former Soviet Union. During the summer of 2005, oil from the southern sections of the Caspian Sea is scheduled to be pumped through a new pipeline (built by a BP-led consortium) to the Turkish seaport of Ceyhan.
The 15-year effort of Western capital, technology, and diplomacy had aimed to decrease reliance on Middle East oil. However, in recent years new oil finds and production performance in the Caspian region have not met expected levels from the 1990s.
At any rate, the Caspian Sea's production levels, even at their peak, will pale in comparison to OPEC countries' production levels. Production levels are expected to reach 4 million barrels per day (bbl/d) in 2015, compared to 45 million bbl/d for the OPEC countries in that year.
And from the Department of Interior on the ANWR reserves:
ANWR Oil Reserves Greater Than Any State (http://www.doi.gov/news/030312.htm)
..."The Administration firmly believes that we can develop energy at home while protecting the environmental values we all hold dear," Secretary Norton said. "The Coastal Plain of ANWR's 1002 area is the nation's single greatest onshore oil reserve. The USGS estimates that it contains a mean expected value of 10.4 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil. To put that into context, the potential daily production from ANWR's 1002 area is larger than the current daily onshore oil production of any of the lower 48 states."
"ANWR could produce nearly 1.4 million barrels of oil, while Texas produces just more than one million barrels a day, California just less than one million barrels a day and Louisiana produces slightly more than 200,000 barrels a day."
We're still coming up short with both Caspain Sea and increased Alaskan oil. The Alaskan oil would be cheaper and have better "Just in Time" delivery rates.
OPEC would still have a poltical trump card.
Better technologies to burn higher percentages of ethanol, or hell even pure ethenol, would help a lot.
We have the industrial ceramics ability to make an engine blocks and manifolds to handle the higher temperatures.
Around here, I'm sure that there are some professional gear heads and engineers that would know more about this.
Don't NHRA Dragsters burn alcohol based fuels?
greensideout
03-20-05, 08:15 PM
Think "China", yellowwing.