When we drill for oil, it comes out in a thick sticky form called crude oil. Crude oil has its uses, but we use oil for so many different things that we need to refine it to get it into the usable forms that we need. We make plastics, gasoline and even carpet fibers out of oil and the process of refining it can be quite complex.
Crude oil is made of many different types of hydrocarbons. Each type of hydrocarbon can be used to produce different products. The problem is that they are all mixed up into a thick sticky substance. To use it, we have to separate the hydrocarbons into different substances. Oil refineries use the basic principal of heating to separate crude oil into the different states that it needs to be in for us to use it effectively.
This boiling process is called distillation. Basically, when you boil oil to one certain temperature, you get gasoline. Heat it up more and you get lubricating oil and so on. Crude oil is heated by a boiler and the products are pumped into a distillation column. The bottom of the column, which is basically a metal cylindrical container, is heated to six hundred degrees Celsius. As the products fill the column, they become cooler and cooler as they reach the top. The top of the column is kept at about twenty degrees Celsius. Pipes collect the different products at different temperatures all the way up the container.
There are many different types of gas and oil that we can extract from the distillation column. From the bottom, the hottest part of the distillation column, we get the thick residual products that come from heating crude oil to the maximum distillation temperature. This is where we get asphalt, tar, and other thick sticky solid oil products.
Just above the residual products, we can get heavy oil. We mainly use heavy oil to make other products. It is in a liquid form, but very thick. Heavy oil is also known as fuel oil because of the fuels that we make from it.
Up a little higher in the distillation chamber we can get lubricating oils. These thick, but liquid, oils are used to make motor oil, grease and other thick lubricants used in heavy machinery and our vehicles. Lubricating oils are retrieved at about two hundred and fifty degrees Celsius.
Going up the chamber, the products get thinner and thinner until we eventually get only gasses at the top. We get diesel, kerosene and gasoline from the distillation process. The thinnest form is petroleum gas. We collect petroleum gas at the lowest temperature of around twenty degrees Celsius from the top of the chamber. Oil companies like Triple Diamond Energy work hard every day of the year to bring us all of these products from the distilleries to accommodate our modern lives.
About the Author: Bob Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Oil from Ancient Times
Many people are surprised to hear that we’ve been using oil for almost seven thousand years. At first, we used oil that seeped to the surface in the form of thick black tar. In the Middle East, there is a huge oil reserve underground. In this area, there have been enormous oil seeps of bitumen, oil springs and oil-bearing rock. Oil has been readily available for use in this area since ancient times.
Oil was even effectively used in the time of the caveman. During the Stone Age, man used the bitumen tar to repair pottery and to seal water containers so that they would not leak. Oil and tar was also used in the Stone Age to make bricks and mortar. Not all ancient men were cave dwellers. Some, in the Middle East, were actually marsh dwellers. They are the ones that created bricks and mortar from the thick, black, sticky tar that they had readily available in their bitumen seeps. The area where they lived often flooded. Their oil and tar homes kept them safe and waterproofed from these floods. Entire cities were built of these bricks and mortars in Babylonian times. The oil trade was the catalyst for industrialization in the Middle East.
The next use of oil in ancient times, which we know about, was when ancient man started coating their boats with oil. They knew about the waterproof properties of oil and tar, which led to this very effective practice. Boats were made of reed. Bitumen kept them from leaking. The practice quickly spread around the world. Sailors would always be stained black from working in these bitumen sealed boats. They eventually became known as tars from all of the black stains that they had. The practice of caulking boats with bitumen remained unchanged for thousands of years. It only ended when people started switching to metal and fiberglass for boat production in modern times.
Currently, we use oil in all of its forms. In the past, oil and gas were considered flammable, dangerous and too thin to use for any practical purposes. Bitumen was mainly used as a glue and a waterproofing agent. The Persians were the first to use the thinner forms of oil. They realized that the flammable properties could be very useful in battle. This was the beginning of modern warfare. Flaming arrows quickly turned into fiery bombs made with bitumen.
The Chinese were the first people to drill for oil and spark a revolution. Purely by accident, they discovered that when drilling for salty brine water that they could get to oil. We don’t know if they used the actual oil, but we do know that they used the natural gas that they discovered to boil the brine and get the salt out. Companies like Triple Diamond Energy use the same drilling principles today.
About the Author: Bob Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy Corp specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Oil was even effectively used in the time of the caveman. During the Stone Age, man used the bitumen tar to repair pottery and to seal water containers so that they would not leak. Oil and tar was also used in the Stone Age to make bricks and mortar. Not all ancient men were cave dwellers. Some, in the Middle East, were actually marsh dwellers. They are the ones that created bricks and mortar from the thick, black, sticky tar that they had readily available in their bitumen seeps. The area where they lived often flooded. Their oil and tar homes kept them safe and waterproofed from these floods. Entire cities were built of these bricks and mortars in Babylonian times. The oil trade was the catalyst for industrialization in the Middle East.
The next use of oil in ancient times, which we know about, was when ancient man started coating their boats with oil. They knew about the waterproof properties of oil and tar, which led to this very effective practice. Boats were made of reed. Bitumen kept them from leaking. The practice quickly spread around the world. Sailors would always be stained black from working in these bitumen sealed boats. They eventually became known as tars from all of the black stains that they had. The practice of caulking boats with bitumen remained unchanged for thousands of years. It only ended when people started switching to metal and fiberglass for boat production in modern times.
Currently, we use oil in all of its forms. In the past, oil and gas were considered flammable, dangerous and too thin to use for any practical purposes. Bitumen was mainly used as a glue and a waterproofing agent. The Persians were the first to use the thinner forms of oil. They realized that the flammable properties could be very useful in battle. This was the beginning of modern warfare. Flaming arrows quickly turned into fiery bombs made with bitumen.
The Chinese were the first people to drill for oil and spark a revolution. Purely by accident, they discovered that when drilling for salty brine water that they could get to oil. We don’t know if they used the actual oil, but we do know that they used the natural gas that they discovered to boil the brine and get the salt out. Companies like Triple Diamond Energy use the same drilling principles today.
About the Author: Bob Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy Corp specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
How Do We Transport Natural Gas?
We use natural gas in numerous ways. Our dependence on natural gas is growing and growing. Oil companies have developed many ways to transport natural gas to our homes. Moving natural gas from its source to our homes involves transporting it through elaborate pipeline systems. Many regulations on transporting natural gas are in place to ensure that it is moved in the safest most effective manner possible. From the ground, to processing plants and ultimately to our homes, natural gas is transported by our oil companies in a very precise way.
The first step in transporting natural gas is to get it from the ground. Pipes known as the gathering system are used to collect the gas from the source. The gas needs to be obtained, then cleaned and processed so that we can use it. There are a few different processes utilized to get the natural gas into usable form.
When the gas gets to the processing plant, we add Thiols to it. This is purely a step towards safety. Natural gas has no smell that we can detect. By adding Thiols, we give it an odor that we can easily detect if there is a leak. Once it is processed, we send it through our intrastate and interstate pipeline networks. Intrastate pipelines carry natural gas around inside of one state. Interstate pipelines are networks that actually cross state lines. All of these pipes are made in the same way. They are constructed from carbon steel. The carbon steel pipes need to be able to withstand enormous pressure to ensure the safety of transport. Therefore, each pipe section is sent through rigorous testing before it can be considered for use.
The pipeline must be able to withstand tremendous pressure because natural gas must be transported in liquid form. Pressurizing natural gas forces it to transform from a gaseous to a liquid state. This reduces the amount of space that it takes up as well. In fact, the volume is reduced by about six hundred times. Pressurizing natural gas into a liquid state also acts as a propulsion mechanism. This greatly reduces the amount of time that it takes for the gas to move through the pipeline network.
The pipeline industry puts safety first when transporting natural gas. Relocating natural gas takes a lot of manual labor and can be very dangerous. Many steps are painstakingly executed to ensure the safety of the transportation process. Although the process is amazingly complex, the pipeline industry and oil companies, such as Triple Diamond Energy, have stellar reputations when it comes to ensuring the safety of the pipeline workers, the public and the environment.
About the Author: Bob Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
The first step in transporting natural gas is to get it from the ground. Pipes known as the gathering system are used to collect the gas from the source. The gas needs to be obtained, then cleaned and processed so that we can use it. There are a few different processes utilized to get the natural gas into usable form.
When the gas gets to the processing plant, we add Thiols to it. This is purely a step towards safety. Natural gas has no smell that we can detect. By adding Thiols, we give it an odor that we can easily detect if there is a leak. Once it is processed, we send it through our intrastate and interstate pipeline networks. Intrastate pipelines carry natural gas around inside of one state. Interstate pipelines are networks that actually cross state lines. All of these pipes are made in the same way. They are constructed from carbon steel. The carbon steel pipes need to be able to withstand enormous pressure to ensure the safety of transport. Therefore, each pipe section is sent through rigorous testing before it can be considered for use.
The pipeline must be able to withstand tremendous pressure because natural gas must be transported in liquid form. Pressurizing natural gas forces it to transform from a gaseous to a liquid state. This reduces the amount of space that it takes up as well. In fact, the volume is reduced by about six hundred times. Pressurizing natural gas into a liquid state also acts as a propulsion mechanism. This greatly reduces the amount of time that it takes for the gas to move through the pipeline network.
The pipeline industry puts safety first when transporting natural gas. Relocating natural gas takes a lot of manual labor and can be very dangerous. Many steps are painstakingly executed to ensure the safety of the transportation process. Although the process is amazingly complex, the pipeline industry and oil companies, such as Triple Diamond Energy, have stellar reputations when it comes to ensuring the safety of the pipeline workers, the public and the environment.
About the Author: Bob Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
How Do We Store Natural Gas?
Natural gas consumption usually rises and falls with the seasons. In the winter months, we historically have used a lot more natural gas for heating. We are trending towards using natural gas for electricity, in addition to heat. Therefore, we are using more and more natural gas year round. Spikes in the summer are becoming more common than ever now that natural gas is being used for cooling our homes and businesses. The high demand for clean burning, energy efficient natural gas demands that we constantly extract, process and transport natural gas to the areas that need it most. We also must store excess gas so that it is ready for use. We store certain amounts based on projected consumption and we store excess amounts that will ensure that the supply equals or exceeds the demand when natural gas needs spike higher than expected.
We used to mainly consume coal gas. Coal gas was stored in gasometers starting in the mid-eighteenth century. These were large, above-ground tanks that slowly sunk into the ground as the gas stores were depleted. Coal gas was used mainly in towns for lighting, heating and sometimes cooking. Coal gas quickly became widely referred to as town gas. Once large natural gas fields were discovered in the late twentieth century, we ultimately stopped using coal gas. Natural gas is far safer and cheaper than coal gas ever was.
We extract natural gas from the natural gas fields and transport it via pipeline to where it is needed. Natural gas in a gaseous state can take up a lot of room. Therefore, we cool it to a temperature that puts it into a liquid state. Old aquifers are designed to hold liquid and are a great underground option for storing liquid natural gas. Natural gas is too flammable to store above ground in tanks where it can be exposed to heat, so underground options are preferable.
Natural gas can also be stored in old salt mines or old gas reservoirs. Gas reservoirs are underground and are composed of porous rock. This rock held natural gas at one time and makes a well-suited location for storing natural gas. We usually store natural gas in gas reservoirs that we expect to use within about a year’s time. It can be time consuming to extract the gas that we need from gas reservoirs, so other methods are used for gas demands that are unexpected.
We store natural gas in aquifers and salt mines for unexpected needs. These locations offer a quick retrieval of natural gas when we have a sudden demand. The reserve of gas in an aquifer or salt mine usually only lasts a few days or weeks. Companies like Triple Diamond Energy provide us with the natural gas that we need year round.
About the Author: Bob Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
We used to mainly consume coal gas. Coal gas was stored in gasometers starting in the mid-eighteenth century. These were large, above-ground tanks that slowly sunk into the ground as the gas stores were depleted. Coal gas was used mainly in towns for lighting, heating and sometimes cooking. Coal gas quickly became widely referred to as town gas. Once large natural gas fields were discovered in the late twentieth century, we ultimately stopped using coal gas. Natural gas is far safer and cheaper than coal gas ever was.
We extract natural gas from the natural gas fields and transport it via pipeline to where it is needed. Natural gas in a gaseous state can take up a lot of room. Therefore, we cool it to a temperature that puts it into a liquid state. Old aquifers are designed to hold liquid and are a great underground option for storing liquid natural gas. Natural gas is too flammable to store above ground in tanks where it can be exposed to heat, so underground options are preferable.
Natural gas can also be stored in old salt mines or old gas reservoirs. Gas reservoirs are underground and are composed of porous rock. This rock held natural gas at one time and makes a well-suited location for storing natural gas. We usually store natural gas in gas reservoirs that we expect to use within about a year’s time. It can be time consuming to extract the gas that we need from gas reservoirs, so other methods are used for gas demands that are unexpected.
We store natural gas in aquifers and salt mines for unexpected needs. These locations offer a quick retrieval of natural gas when we have a sudden demand. The reserve of gas in an aquifer or salt mine usually only lasts a few days or weeks. Companies like Triple Diamond Energy provide us with the natural gas that we need year round.
About the Author: Bob Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Oil Sands from Athabasca
Northern Alberta, Canada is the location of a very large, rich oil sand field. The Athabasca oil sands are named for the Athabasca River, where the oil sands are easily seen from the river banks. One third of the world’s oil sands are found here in Alberta, Canada and in Venezuela. The Athabasca oil sands field is unique in that the oil sands are located very near the surface and can be easily surface mined. This makes it much cheaper to mine, and makes Athabasca the leading provider of oil sands in the world.
Oil sands are a solid form of oil also known as tar sands. They are made up of clay and sands that are covered in bitumen oil. Bitumen oil is so thick that it must be heated in order to make it flow. Therefore, oil sands are very thick and sticky. Oil sands contain some water. This makes them sticky in the summer and as solid as rock in the winter, when the water is frozen.
Strip mining is the easiest and most common way to mine for oil sands. To strip mine, we simply need to dig a big pit. Then we can drive in big trucks and bulldozers to get the oil sands out of the ground. We get the oil sands on to the trucks and then mix them with water. This helps break up the clumps and turn the oil sands into a more liquid substance called slurry. Turning the oil sands into slurry makes it possible to transport through pipelines to a plant. At the plant, the oil is separated from the sand and the oil is sent to a refinery for processing. Here, the oil can be turned into synthetic oil and other petroleum products.
When deeper sections of the oil sands fields are encountered, then strip mining isn’t really an option. We need to go deeper to get to the oil sands. You can see where this would create a challenge, considering that the oil sands are very sticky and can be solid or near solid. To combat this problem, we can pump water into the ground. Mixing the oil sands with the water turns it into slurry underground. This makes it much easier to extract by simply pumping it out. Another form of extraction is to pump oxygen into the reserve. The oxygen is set on fire, in a controlled fashion, and the bitumen is melted down to a liquid state. Then, the oil sands can be pumped out.
In some cases, we identify areas where oil sands are present by the tar pits that they can form on the surface. Tar pits are formed when the pitch and tar rise up to the surface and separate from the sand. These pitch tar pits are well known for almost perfectly preserving prehistoric animals that got trapped in them. The most well known tar pit is the La Brea tar pit in California. Another famous tar pit is in Trinidad. This tar pit is the size of a lake and may be up to two hundred and fifty feet deep. It is believed to be located directly over a fault line in the earth.
Companies like Triple Diamond Energy help us extract oil sands, bringing us many of the petroleum products that we use every day.
About the Author: Bob Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Oil sands are a solid form of oil also known as tar sands. They are made up of clay and sands that are covered in bitumen oil. Bitumen oil is so thick that it must be heated in order to make it flow. Therefore, oil sands are very thick and sticky. Oil sands contain some water. This makes them sticky in the summer and as solid as rock in the winter, when the water is frozen.
Strip mining is the easiest and most common way to mine for oil sands. To strip mine, we simply need to dig a big pit. Then we can drive in big trucks and bulldozers to get the oil sands out of the ground. We get the oil sands on to the trucks and then mix them with water. This helps break up the clumps and turn the oil sands into a more liquid substance called slurry. Turning the oil sands into slurry makes it possible to transport through pipelines to a plant. At the plant, the oil is separated from the sand and the oil is sent to a refinery for processing. Here, the oil can be turned into synthetic oil and other petroleum products.
When deeper sections of the oil sands fields are encountered, then strip mining isn’t really an option. We need to go deeper to get to the oil sands. You can see where this would create a challenge, considering that the oil sands are very sticky and can be solid or near solid. To combat this problem, we can pump water into the ground. Mixing the oil sands with the water turns it into slurry underground. This makes it much easier to extract by simply pumping it out. Another form of extraction is to pump oxygen into the reserve. The oxygen is set on fire, in a controlled fashion, and the bitumen is melted down to a liquid state. Then, the oil sands can be pumped out.
In some cases, we identify areas where oil sands are present by the tar pits that they can form on the surface. Tar pits are formed when the pitch and tar rise up to the surface and separate from the sand. These pitch tar pits are well known for almost perfectly preserving prehistoric animals that got trapped in them. The most well known tar pit is the La Brea tar pit in California. Another famous tar pit is in Trinidad. This tar pit is the size of a lake and may be up to two hundred and fifty feet deep. It is believed to be located directly over a fault line in the earth.
Companies like Triple Diamond Energy help us extract oil sands, bringing us many of the petroleum products that we use every day.
About the Author: Bob Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Monday, January 28, 2008
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