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AC_Hacker · 06-19-12, 06:35 PM

I have found myself wondering: how fast is petroleum being formed? Petroleum formation is a natural process, and there is no reason to think that the formation has stopped.

Just a few days ago, I realized that I had enough information to do a rough calculation of the rate of petroleum formation, based on how much petroleum we have and how long it took to form.

First off, as I understand it, the petroleum we have available to us began it's trip to us during catastrophic die-offs of oceanic algae, due to excessive CO2 build-up and the consequent atmospheric warming, in two great geological periods. One of these periods was about 125 million years ago and the other was about 90 million years ago.

The dead algae sank to the bottom of the sea, where it was naturally oxidized and entered back into the great maw of life. However, some of it sank or was conveyed by ocean currents into deep oceanic cracks called rifts. If the dead matter got covered by sand and silt, the oxidation was prevented and pressure and heat and many millions of years changed the trapped, dead sea life into a substance we now call 'oil'.

So, there is a time element involved, and the average of the two geological periods is about 108,000,000 years.

There is also the element of how much oil was formed by these ancient events.

This is a chart that was presented to a Shell Oil meeting in 1956 by M. King Hubbert, the most renown geologist of his day:

We can see two global quantities indicated,

Proven reserves = 250,000,000,000 barrels
Future Discoveries = 910,000,000,000 barrels

This would give a total = 1,160,000,000,000 barrels, both found and yet to be found.

NOTE: Please note that petroleum barrels are 42 gallons, not 55 gallons. They can also be expressed as liters, 1 barrel = 158.89 liters

A third element would be the number of people who would use the oil, and there are currently about 7,021,000,000 people on the earth who would want to use it. As a reference, the average US per capita consumption is around 28 barrels per year (4,448.9 liters per year)... it's probably gone down some because of the terrible economy.

So if we divide the earth's total oil supply by the years it took to make it, we get:

1,160,000,000,000 barrels / 108,000,000 years = 10,741 barrels per year

That may seem like plenty, but when we divide that by the number of people...

10,741 barrels per year / 7,021,000,000 people, we get a number that is almost too small to understand...

If we convert that number to liters (158.89 liters/barrel) we get... a number that is still too small to understand, so if we convert that number to cubic centimeters (cc) we get 0.2 cubic centimeters, or...

1/5 cc per person per year.

That works out to about 5 drops per person per year.

Comments?

-AC

06-19-12, 06:35 PM	#8
AC_Hacker Supreme EcoRenovator Join Date: Mar 2009 Location: Portland, OR Posts: 4,004 Thanks: 303 Thanked 723 Times in 534 Posts	How Quickly Is Petroleum Being Formed? I have found myself wondering: how fast is petroleum being formed? Petroleum formation is a natural process, and there is no reason to think that the formation has stopped. Just a few days ago, I realized that I had enough information to do a rough calculation of the rate of petroleum formation, based on how much petroleum we have and how long it took to form. First off, as I understand it, the petroleum we have available to us began it's trip to us during catastrophic die-offs of oceanic algae, due to excessive CO2 build-up and the consequent atmospheric warming, in two great geological periods. One of these periods was about 125 million years ago and the other was about 90 million years ago. The dead algae sank to the bottom of the sea, where it was naturally oxidized and entered back into the great maw of life. However, some of it sank or was conveyed by ocean currents into deep oceanic cracks called rifts. If the dead matter got covered by sand and silt, the oxidation was prevented and pressure and heat and many millions of years changed the trapped, dead sea life into a substance we now call 'oil'. So, there is a time element involved, and the average of the two geological periods is about 108,000,000 years. There is also the element of how much oil was formed by these ancient events. This is a chart that was presented to a Shell Oil meeting in 1956 by M. King Hubbert, the most renown geologist of his day: We can see two global quantities indicated, Proven reserves = 250,000,000,000 barrels Future Discoveries = 910,000,000,000 barrels This would give a total = 1,160,000,000,000 barrels, both found and yet to be found. NOTE: Please note that petroleum barrels are 42 gallons, not 55 gallons. They can also be expressed as liters, 1 barrel = 158.89 liters A third element would be the number of people who would use the oil, and there are currently about 7,021,000,000 people on the earth who would want to use it. As a reference, the average US per capita consumption is around 28 barrels per year (4,448.9 liters per year)... it's probably gone down some because of the terrible economy. So if we divide the earth's total oil supply by the years it took to make it, we get: 1,160,000,000,000 barrels / 108,000,000 years = 10,741 barrels per year That may seem like plenty, but when we divide that by the number of people... 10,741 barrels per year / 7,021,000,000 people, we get a number that is almost too small to understand... If we convert that number to liters (158.89 liters/barrel) we get... a number that is still too small to understand, so if we convert that number to cubic centimeters (cc) we get 0.2 cubic centimeters, or... 1/5 cc per person per year. That works out to about 5 drops per person per year. Comments? -AC __________________ I'm not an HVAC technician. In fact, I'm barely even a hacker... Last edited by AC_Hacker; 06-19-12 at 06:41 PM..