The technology used in the PlayStation 3 is being used to help explore and find oil much faster than before. Woohoo! 
Using IBM technology, specifically the IBM PowerXCell 8i, which was originally developed for the Sony Playstation, a Spanish Oil company reports that specialized "Cell" microprocessors are speeding the search for oil and natural gas reserves located 30,000 feet below the Gulf of Mexico up to 6 times faster than current technology. Repsol and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center are using a process known as Reverse Time Migration (RTM), a sophisticated subsurface imaging tool accepted by the oil industry.
It has proven essential for imaging areas of complex subsurface geological structure, such as the rich hydrocarbon provinces of the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico, offshore Brazil and West Africa. These basins are the new frontiers in oil exploration, where significant oil reserves are present below thick masses
of salt that have made seismic imaging difficult. But the new technology
will accelerate and streamline oil and gas exploration in these promising regions by several orders of magnitude compared to current industry
methods.
Great! Now we just need to network up the millions of PS3s around the world to assist in oil exploration and we'll have this high oil price problem licked in no time!
Of course, just because we find it doesn't mean we can 'drill' for it. Darned extreme environmentalists! Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf of Mexico and last I checked not a drop of oil was spilled by any of the oil platforms in the Gulf. And don't get me started on ANWR and offshore oil drilling.Anyway, the project is sponsored by oil and gas company Repsol and the Barcelona Supercomputing Center. The U.S. Department of the Interior's Minerals Management Service estimates that these ultra deep Gulf waters holds approximately 56 billion barrels of oil equivalent (oil and natural gas), which, at $130/barrel, would be worth over $7 trillion and would meet the entire U.S. demand for oil and gas for about five years.
Sounds too good to be true, especially with the Democratic party blocking any attempts to drill for oil in U.S. territories. Then again, it's a Spanish company doing the oil drilling and not the U.S., which apparently is beholden to extreme enviro-wacko views even though the vast majority of Americans want us to drill. Heck, even the Chinese will be drilling in the Gulf of Mexico. ABTUSACD (Anybody But The USA Can Drill) apparently. Well, if you believe oil is bad and causing global warming, I have news for you --- China and other countries are doing to drill off the coast of the U.S. anyway.
Check out the funny The No Zone chart displayed on the U.S. Senator floor to show Congressional stonewalling.
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Wasn't expecting an oil drilling post in your gadgets, VoIP blog. But I suppose it falls under the technology category.
All I have to say is amen to that!
Drill, baby drill!
I'll donate my PS3 to the cause.
Heck, with the high oil prices, I'm paying an extra $150 per month, so I'll make it back in two months.
I really wish the Democrats wouldn't be so beholden to the greenies. I'm a Democrat myself, but seems like my party has shifted hard to the Left.
The map says it all
Drilling won't get us out of our current high prices. We can't drill ourselves out.
we need to invest in alternative energy. Plain and simple!
Oil is bad for the environment and is leading to global warming. Hopefully the higher prices will lead to more investment in alternative energy.
p.s. I drive a hybrid so doesn't affect me as much.
"Drilling won't get us out of our current high prices. We can't drill ourselves out."
Yeah, that's what they said 10 years ago when Clinton vetoed ANWR drilling!
How bout we drill now so in 5-10 years we can have cheaper oil?
More oil = more supply = cheaper oil = more retirement savings.
We have no idea when some scientist will invent the perfect electric car with long-lasting electric cell or a hydrogen car. It could be 50 years away. We still need oil for other things like plastics, lubricants, cosmetics, asphalt, tires, and thousands of other products.
So even if we stop using the combustion engine today, we'll still need cheap oil
True, oil is used in other products. But the combustion engine accounts for the vast majority of oil consumption.
We need some short term financial pain to help protect against global warming. We can't continue to put pollutants into the air.
>Drilling won't get us out of our current high prices. We can't drill ourselves out.
Talk about a Democratic talking point!
So billions of barrels of oil reserves in ANWR and the continental U.S. shelf won't affect the price of a barrel of oil? Huh... Billions of barrels of new supply doesn't affect the price. Go figure.
Funny how the Democrats fail to understand economics. Guess that's why most Wall Street folks are Republicans.
Even the announcement we WOULD drill for oil would cause the oil futures to drop (speculators) and hence the current price would drop.
I'm with Johnny - "Drill, baby drill!"
Americans should just stop driving everywhere. Walk your fat a**es more often. Complain to your government that planned your cities so poorly that everyone is required to have a car to get around. Cuz of you stupid Americans, the price of oil is high worldwide causing everything to go up, including food! Thanks jerks. I also wish more people would use the bus in my city.
That has to be the stupidest thing I've ever heard. The United States is a huge country, so you can't expect buses, trains, or subways to be viable solutions. Also, not everyone works in the cities. I have to commute 32 miles to get to work. As to the U.S. the cause for high oil prices, that's rubbish. China's and India's growing economies have reduced the already slim margin in the available oil supply. It's only going to get worse. We do need alternative energy, but we shouldn't send the world into a worldwide depression in "hopes" we might discover some magnificent scientific breakthrough. Even if we do, do you think the 50+ million cars in America are going to be sold overnight? Many cars have loans on them or people can't afford to get a new car. Especially some future newfangled oil-free car, which no doubt will have a premium over traditional cars.
In Iraq gas is only 10 cents per gallon since we're swimming in supply.
You stupid Americans! If you drilled like we do, you too could have cheap gas.
Your kids are going to grow up and when they ask to go to college and you say "Sorry, we spent it all on fuel costs," they'll say "Well why the hell didn't you vote for Republicans or Democrats who wanted to drill!"
That said, I hope you Americans don't drill. I have investments in oil in Iraq. The higher the price of a barrel the better for me.
I fear one day you Americans will wake up and like you put a man on the moon and how you defeated the Nazis and Japanese in 4 years, you will have a mission to become energy independent.
Fortunately for me, the Democrats are going to get more seats in Congress this year. So not likely until the Republicans gain power back.
Of course not everyone can use buses, trains, subways, etc - but the more expensive gas gets, the more important they'll be, and the more value they'll have to people who live (own) near them. Same for things like car-pooling, which mostly died in the late 80's and 90's due to cheaper-than-milk gasoline - it will start to reappear, simply because people watch their pocketbooks. Ditto newer things like ZipCar and PhillyCarShare (which has signed up 50,000 people in Philadelphia, and has car 'pods' on almost every block).
Gasoline-based cars will be with us for quite a while, though with increasing percentages of hybrids and electric-only (especially for cities and inner suburbs).
Note that this also means that there will probably be a moderate reversal of the suburban (and ex-urban) exodus from the cities, and a corresponding increase in real estate values in areas closer to where people work, and closer to useful public transportation.
You may dismiss it as political rhetoric, but it's true we can't drill our way out of the current high oil prices. We don't have huge reserves that are undrilled (even ANWR isn't huge compared to our consumption), and it would take 7-10 years to bring something like ANWR fully into production.
Used to be, if there was a surge in demand or a spike in prices, someone would open a spigot (like the Saudis). They had unused capacity and easily exploited reserves. It's basically all on line now (except for Iraq, and don't bet on any sort of stable or large supply coming out of there soon), so when prices go up, even though there's lots of incentive, there are no spigots to open. The best/only chance for low (like
If you can, read the book on Peak Oil by the geologist at Princeton (I forget the title - Hubberts Peak perhaps).
BTW, ethanol from corn won't help you much if at all. It competes with food production, and the net energy gain (after the costs of raising/harvesting/transport) is minimal (you can argue over whether it's positive or negative, but it's not hugely positive). Cellulosic ethanol, when they perfect it, should be better and use a lot less energy inputs (fertilizer, irrigation, etc).
Another odd side-effect - Iraq isn't really producing now, let alone seriously exporting compared to what it could. In 20 years, when Iraq may be stable (may), they'll have bigger reserves left than anyone, ironically because we destabilized the country, and then oil prices will likely be even higher.
>>You may dismiss it as political rhetoric, but it's true we can't drill our way out of the current high oil prices.
Partially true. Like you say, we won't get access to the oil for 5-10 years. However, some stock futures expire years from now (think stock options), so speculators will sell their existing stock futures because they know more oil supply will be coming online in 5-10 years, which could drop the price of a barrel of oil today!
>>We don't have huge reserves that are undrilled (even ANWR isn't huge compared to our consumption)
I would have to strongly disagree with you. Latest oil studies show U.S. oil reserves could be higher than the entire Middle East combined. Look up Rocky Mountains, North Dakota oil shale, and offshore (Gulf/Florida) oil reserves. Actually just googled and here's one quote: "Western North Dakota has large oil reserves. By some estimates, it has more oil than the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. A federal government geologist estimated a formation called the Bakken shale holds 400 billion barrels of oil."
and here's a great link: Massive Oil Deposit Could Increase US reserves by 10x
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America is sitting on top of a super massive 200 billion barrel Oil Field that could potentially make America Energy Independent and until now has largely gone unnoticed. Thanks to new technology the Bakken Formation in North Dakota could boost America’s Oil reserves by an incredible 10 times, giving western economies the trump card against OPEC’s short squeeze on oil supply and making Iranian and Venezuelan threats of disrupted supply irrelevant.
In the next 30 days the USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) will release a new report giving an accurate resource assessment of the Bakken Oil Formation that covers North Dakota and portions of South Dakota and Montana. With new horizontal drilling technology it is believed that from 175 to 500 billion barrels of recoverable oil are held in this 200,000 square mile reserve that was initially discovered in 1951. The USGS did an initial study back in 1999 that estimated 400 billion recoverable barrels were present but with prices bottoming out at $10 a barrel back then the report was dismissed because of the higher cost of horizontal drilling techniques that would be needed, estimated at $20-$40 a barrel.
It was not until 2007, when EOG Resources of Texas started a frenzy when they drilled a single well in Parshal N.D. that is expected to yield 700,000 barrels of oil that real excitement and money started to flow in North Dakota. Marathon Oil is investing $1.5 billion and drilling 300 new wells in what is expected to be one of the greatest booms in Oil discovery since Oil was discovered in Saudi Arabia in 1938.
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Putting aside ANWR since that's too divisive -- if President Bush and Congress in a bi-partisan manner announced a major U.S. initiative to drill offshore and scale-up oil shale production in North Dakota & Montana we could see oil come online sooner. When America sets her mind to something, there's almost nothing she can't do.
I agree on Ethanol. Not a good solution except in Brazil where they use sugar cane which is more energy efficient in producing ethanol than corn. And as you know, food prices have shot up due to increased ethanol use. I heard one estimate that 20% of corn now goes to Ethanol production. That's less corn feed supply for cattle, chickens, etc. thus higher prices.
I for one will celebrate the day I can drive an electric car that doesn't require the $3000 batteries to be replaced every few years. Better yet, give me hydrogen or something better. Till then, we should drill where we can. Technology has come a long way and there is much less chance of environmental damage, including horizontal drilling.
There is no excuse to not start drilling today.
I agree with Don Green's comments above:
>>How bout we drill now so in 5-10 years we can have cheaper oil?
>>More oil = more supply = cheaper oil = more retirement savings.
He's right to take a forward thinking view. In 10 years, we could have cheaper oil if we start drilling today. That means more retirement savings, more money for the economy, etc. Like Don also said, we'll always need petroleum since it's used in plastics, tires, lubricants, etc. So we'll always need/want cheap oil for cheap products even if the combustion (polluting) engine goes the way of the dinosaurs.
Drill baby drill! is going to be my new motto. wonder if I can get a bumper sticker?
I don't know about any "Drill baby drill!" bumper stickers, but Newt Ginrich is running an online petition titled "Drill Here, Drill Now, Pay Less." over at http://www.americansolutions.com
There's a great YouTube video on the site worth watching about America, oil, and our can-do attitude.
I already signed the petition.
Could help temporarily, though current prices are more related to current demand and demand in the next year or two than 10 years out. On the other hand, the speculators might not blink at the chance of large finds, and that those finds would be exploitable and not get delayed or stopped for one reason or another, and that those finds would be large enough to produce an excess in the market.
On the other hand, the sooner you drill those, the sooner they're gone and that physical capital is gone. From a strategic perspective, the *last* oil you want to use is domestic. You want to use other people's oil first (when prices are lower), so when it gets increasingly scarce, you have a dependable supply.
Sure, there's lots of oil there (though the amount claimed is highly variable). However, take a look at the technology for exploiting it. Right now, it's basically not there. Funds for oil shale research were cut back by Reagan/H.W.Bush (if I remember), and current funds are being "gamed" to collect the money as subsidies without any real work on making large-scale oil shale exploitation workable. The best idea I've heard of for oil shale is to literally freeze a cylinder around a well to produce a wall, and inject super-heated steam/water to cook the oil out. This is far from commercially viable; it's still in the idea stage I believe.
The quote you gave is highly misleading, since oil shales can't simply be "drilled" - they have to be processed in-place or by (usually strip) mining and processing. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_shale_extraction and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_shale The article you quoted sounds like an investment come-on article.
Horizontal drilling is good for new wells, and useful to exploit remainders left by earlier straight wells, but while re-exploitation will generate profits and oil, it won't really affect prices much, and it's being done already. It doesn't really help much with oil shale (other than part of how you do in-situ processing).
Oil isn't going away, but it will (eventually) become too expensive to simply burn except in unusual cases, but this won't be for quite a while. It may well fall (some) in price temporarily, and very likely the price will become more volatile. See the Hubbert's Peak book (cheap on Amazon) which has a nice graph of whale-oil prices as whale oil become increasingly scarce. It's not a straight climb; it sawtooths and becomes increasingly volatile. But don't expect $9/barrel oil(or even $30/barrel like before Katrina) again