GLY213: EARTH’S RESOURCES:

Hydrocarbons
Dyson MOSES (Ph.D.)
dmoses@unima.ac.mw or dysonmoses@gmail.com
+265881833015
 FOSSIL FUELS: HYDROCARBONS
Hydrocarbons;
 Organic chemicals that consist of chain-like or ring-like polymers made of
carbon and hydrogen atoms.
– For example, bottled gas (propane) has the chemical formula C3H9.
※Properties
1. Viscosity
 Products composed of short polymer chains tend to be less viscous –
easiness of flow
2. Volatility
 Products composed of short polymer chains tend to more volatile -
evaporate more easily
 STABILITY OF
HYDROCARBONS
※At room temperature
 Short-chain hydrocarbons occur in
gaseous form (such as cooking gas,
which is 95% methane)
 Intermediate-chain hydrocarbons
occur in liquid form (such as
gasoline and oil)
 Long-chain hydrocarbons occur in
solid form (tar).
 HYDROCARBON RESERVES
※Oil and gas do not occur in all rocks at all locations
※Where they do occur, we refer to the volume of oil and gas underground as a hydrocarbon
reserve
※The reserves can be categorized into:
1. Conventional hydrocarbon reserves
 Hydrocarbons migrate from a source rock into a porous and permeable reservoir
rock, situated within an oil/gas trap, so that the oil or gas can be pumped fairly
easily.
2. Unconventional Hydrocarbon Reserves
 A rock or sediment contains significant quantities of hydrocarbons, but either the
rock does not have adequate permeability or the hydrocarbons themselves are too
viscous to flow.
 HYDROCARBON RESERVES
※The hydrocarbon reserves are described based on the
commodity
A. Oil reserve
 Predominantly consists of oil
B. Gas reserve
 Predominantly consists of gas
C. Some hydrocarbon reserves
 If containing both oil and gas.
 DISTRIBUTION OF CONVENTIONAL HYDROCARBON RESERVES

 Middle East bordering the Persian Gulf

contain the world’s largest reserves in 25
supergiant fields
 Implying fields contain more than 1
billion barrels of oil
 The region has almost 60% of the
world’s conventional reserves
 United States - largest consumer of oil
CONVENTIONAL HYDROCARBON GENERATION

※ The process of hydrocarbon

formation commences when
organic debris settle with
sediments.
※ As burial depth increases, heat and
pressure transform the sediment
into a black shale, in which the
organic matter becomes kerogen.
※ At ambient temperature, kerogen
becomes oil, which then seeps
upwards.
RESERVOIR ROCKS AND HYDROCARBON
MIGRATION

※The clay flakes of a source rock (mostly shale) fit together tightly and
prevent hydrocarbons that form within from moving easily through the rock.
※To extract oil or gas from a conventional reserve, we target reservoir rock
(mostly uncemented sandstone)
※To be a reservoir rock, a body of rock must have space in which the oil or
gas can reside and must have channels through which the oil or gas can
move.
 RESERVOIR ROCKS AND HYDROCARBON
MIGRATION
※Features of a reservoir rock
1. Porosity
 The overall amount of open space
in a rock. Shale typically has a low
porosity ≤ 10%, whereas poorly
cemented sandstone has a high
porosity ≥ 35%
2. Permeability
 The degree to which pores or
cracks connect to one another.
 Eeven if a rock has high porosity, it
is not necessarily permeable.
 TRAPS AND SEALS

※The existence of reservoir rock alone does not generate a

conventional reserve, because if hydrocarbons can flow into a
reservoir rock, they can also flow out.
※Hence, for an oil reserve to exist, oil and gas must be held
underground in the reservoir rock by means of a geologic
configuration called a trap.
※Components:
I. A seal rock - a relatively impermeable rock such as shale, salt,
or unfractured limestone
II. Structural geometry
 TRAPS AND SEALS
There are several types of
hydrocarbon trap geometries;
1. Anticline trap
 An anticline is a type of fold
with an arch-like shape. If the
sedimentary rock layers in the
anticline include a source rock
overlain by a reservoir rock
beneath a seal rock, then we
have the recipe for a trap
 TRAPS AND SEALS

2. Fault trap
 If the slip on a fault crushes and
grinds the adjacent rock to
make an impermeable layer
along the fault, then oil and gas
may migrate upward along
bedding in the reservoir rock
until they stop at the fault
surface
 TRAPS AND SEALS

3. Salt-dome trap
 In some sedimentary basins, the sequence of strata
contains a thick layer of salt, deposited when the
basin was first formed and seawater covering the
basin was shallow and very salty.
 Once the salt starts to rise, the weight of surrounding
strata squeezes the salt out of the salt layer and up
into a growing, bulbous salt dome.
 As the dome rises oil and gas in reservoir rock
layers migrate upward until they are trapped against
the boundary of the impermeable salt dome
 TRAPS AND SEALS

4. Stratigraphic trap
 In a stratigraphic trap, a tilted
reservoir rock bed “pinches out”
(thins and disappears) up-dip
between two impermeable
layers.
 Oil and gas migrating upward
along the bed accumulate at the
pinch-out
 UNCONVENTIONAL HYDROCARBON
RESERVES

※ Huge quantities of hydrocarbons remain in source

rocks (organic shale) that have been heated to
the oil and gas windows.
※ This resource is called shale oil or shale gas
depending on its viscosity.
※ To extract unconventional hydrocarbons, artificial
fractures in rock around the hole are generated by
pumping a high-pressure water, sand, and
chemical mixture into a portion of the hole. This
process, called hydrofracturing (also known as
hydraulic fracturing or simply fracking).
COAL
 COAL

※Coal, a black, brittle sedimentary rock that burns, consists of elemental

carbon mixed with minor amounts of organic chemicals, quartz, and clay.
※Like oil and gas, coal is a fossil fuel because it stores solar energy that
reached the Earth long ago.
※Coal forms from plant material (wood, stems, leaves), not plankton and it
commonly occurs in beds, called coal seams, which may be centimeters
to meters thick and may be traceable over large regions.
※The most extensive deposits of coal in the world occur in Carboniferous
(359 to 299 Ma) strata.
 THE FORMATION OF COAL
1. Accumulation of plant remains; The initial stage in coal
formation is the accumulation of large quantities of plant
remains. Such accumulations result from special conditions
because dead plants readily decompose when exposed to
the atmosphere or other oxygen-rich environments.
 Swamp are conducive
2. Formation of peat and lignite; The partial decomposition of
plant remains in an oxygen-poor swamp creates a layer of
peat
3. Formation of bituminous coal; The higher temperatures
bring about chemical reactions within the plant materials and
yield water and organic gases (volatiles).
4. Formation of anthracite coal; When sedimentary layers
are subjected to the folding and deformation associated with
mountain building, the heat and pressure cause a further
loss of volatiles and water, thus increasing the concentration
of fixed carbon. This metamorphoses bituminous coal into
anthracite.
GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION COAL RESERVES
※To find coal, we search
for sequences that were
deposited in tropical to
semi-tropical shallow-
marine to terrestrial
environments—the
environments in which
a swamp could exist.
 GLOBAL DISTRIBUTION COAL RESERVES
※ The way in which coal mined depends on the depth of the
coal seam.
a) strip mining - Coal seam <100 m of the ground surface
 Miners may use a giant shovel called a dragline to
scrape off soil and layers of sedimentary rock
above the coal seam
b) underground mining - deep coal > 100 m
 A shaft dug to the depth of the coal seam and then
create a maze of tunnels
 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES
OF FOSSIL FUEL USE
a) Localized damage to the landscape and vegetation
 Drillers must clear an area of vegetation, create road networks and setting drill
pads
b) Inferno - risk of oil well blowout, and if sparks ignite oil or gas spurting from a well, they
may cause an oil well fire
c) Pollution;
i. Surface and groundwater contamination
ii. Contamination and killing vegetation at the surface and aquatic life
iii. Soil contamination
d) Acid-mine runoff - most coal contains sulfur, typically in the form of small pyrite (FeS2)
crystals. Pyrite reacts with air and water to produce a solution of sulfuric acid
 ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES OF
FOSSIL FUEL USE

e. Global warming – burning fossil fuels releases greenhouse gas

such as carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. The gases trap
heat in the Earth’s atmosphere much as glass traps heat leading
to a global increase in atmospheric temperature
f. Acid rain – burning fossil fuels sends soot, carbon monoxide,
sulfur dioxide, nitrous oxide, unburned hydrocarbons, and in some
cases, mercury into the air. Sulfur dioxide dissolves in atmospheric
water to form dilute sulfuric acid, which precipitates as acid rain
 ENERGY CHOICES
※Energy use in industrialized countries grew with dizzying speed through the mid-
20th century, and during this time people came to rely increasingly on oil
※Oil remains the single largest source of energy globally, accounting for about 33%
and natural gas accounts for about 21% of global energy consumption
※But a variety of alternative energy resources are now under development
※In spite of the alternatives energy decisions are largely influenced by;
i. Economic factors
ii. Political factors
iii. Environmental factors
iv. Social factors
v. Technological factors
ENERGY SITUATION IN MALAWI
 ENERGY SITUATION IN MALAWI
※Malawi is reported to consume 0.01% of the global energy
※Internally the country is getting increasingly energy-stressed
※The National Energy Policy of Malawi estimates that 93% of the total energy demand is
met by biomass energy
 leading to forest degradation and deforestation at a rate of 2.6% per year
※It is also reported that 87% of the population uses firewood and 8% charcoal to satisfy
their thermal energy needs
※Less than 7% of the people are connected to the national grid of hydropower
※The connected demand far exceeds the current supply of 320 MW installed generation
capacity
 This being the case, load shedding is frequent
 ENERGY SITUATION IN MALAWI: PRODUCTION
※ In Malawi, over 80% of the power produced is from hydropower
 However, the production fall short of meeting the energy demands of the nation
※ Other sources of energy like gas and renewable sources have been explored to
complement the energy generation efforts to satisfy the national needs
 ENERGY SITUATION IN MALAWI:
UTILISATION
※in terms of utilisation, bioenergy is widely used with a proportion of 34%
followed by hydropower at 28%
 LOW-CARBON SUSTAINABLE ENERGY IN MALAWI
※ To minimise CO2 emission and exposure to local air pollution, the government of
Malawi is making efforts by transitioning from fossil fuel energy sources to low-
carbon technologies
※ In this respect, investments are being made in low-carbon energy sources like
solar, wind, hydropower, biomass and waste and geothermal.
 REFERENCES

※Kesler, S.E., & Simon, A.C. (2015). Mineral Resources, Economics and the
Environment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN9781107074910

※O’Hara, K. (2014). Earth Resources and Environmental Impact. Wiley Global

Education. ISBN: 978-1-118-98728-5.

※Marshak, S. (2015). Earth: Portrait of a Planet (5thed.). W.W. Norton &

Company. ISBN100730321975