ERS120H5 Lecture 12: LEC #12 (Fossil Fuels)
16 Feb 2017
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Document Summary
Slow burial and conversion of organic matter into oil and natural gas. Once formed, oil and gas move through porous rock and are trapped in reservoirs. Source rock: original mud with organic material becomes oil shale. Reservoir rock: high permeability (like sandstone) that can hold oil and gas. Trap: rock of the right shape with low permeability (like shale) that traps oil and gas. Thick petroleum product mixed with sand and clay. 2 tons of tar sands = 1 barrel crude oil. 6:1 ratio of energy used to energy produced. Oil or gas that remains in the source rock. Roughly 200 tanker trucks deliver water for the fracturing process. A pumper truck injects a mix of sand, water and chemicals into the well. Recovered water is stored in open pits, then taken to a treatment plant. Natural gas is trucked to a pipeline for delivery. Layers of organic material are compressed and heated by burial.
