<Demand destruction isn't working out so wellThe Oil Drum

26 comments on Debating to the numbers (or more on Saudi production)

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wkwillis on September 29, 2005 - 2:03pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
There have been oil mines where the entire deposit was simply strip mined. McKittrick in California (poorly porous diatomaceous earth at a shallow depth) is the only one I can think of just off hand.
Ghawar could be dug up and steam cleaned if the field is shallow enough. Think in terms of the overburden/ore ratio. If Ghawar is one hundred meters thick, ten thousand meters wide, and one hundred meters down, then it is doable. Most oil fields are much thinner, much deeper, etc. I have no idea how deep Ghawar is though I know it is thick and wide.
It isn't that simple. You have fires, rock bursts, degassing, etc.
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fatbear on September 29, 2005 - 3:52pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
IIRC from Simmons' book, Ghawar is over 4,000 feet down - perhaps 6,000 - awfuly deep to strip....
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wkwillis on September 29, 2005 - 4:07pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
It's not so much how deep it is as the depth of the ore versus the thickness of the ore. It's really the overburden to ore thickness. If the ore is low value (oil is only a few percent and oil is cheap) and the ore is thin (less than a thousand feet thick) then it is not economical to strip mine.
The Russians build mine shafts under one oil field and drilled up into it to get the oil out, but it was not economic and they shut the project down.
Probably we won't strip or shaft mine Ghawar. Maybe some other oil fields. Not looking important on a global basis.
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fatbear on September 29, 2005 - 3:59pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top
Actually -

The producing oil reservoir at Ghawar is the late Jurassic Arab-D limestone, which is about 280 feet thick and occurs 6,000-7,000 feet beneath the surface.
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