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

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

Comments can no longer be added to this story.

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....
0
Comments can no longer be added to this story.
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.
0
Comments can no longer be added to this story.