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Fossil Fuels

Fossil Fuels
Fossil fuels come from organic remains that

have been exposed to extreme pressure and


heat over the course of millions and millions of
years. Fossil fuels are non-renewable energy
sources, which mean that we have a limited
supply of them on Earth and we may soon run
out.

Fossil Fuels
There are three main types of fossil fuels:

Coal
Oil (Petroleum)
Natural Gas

Formation of Fossil Fuels


common conditions
High Organic Production
Burial of organic material
Reducing conditions little or no free oxygen
Reducing conditions preserve organic matter
Coal and Petroleum diverge from here

Coal
Coal is a black or brownish-black combustible

rock.
Unlike oil, it is ready for use immediately after it
is excavated from the mine and does not require
any refining.
Coal is mainly made of carbon and hydrogen.
Coal is a primary energy source for electricity in
the world and it encompasses around 50% of the
total electricity demand.

Coal
About 1.87 billion tons of coal is burned in the

world every year for electricity production.


When the coal is burned in power plants it
generates heat.
The heat evaporates from water, creating steam.
Expanding steam increases pressure in the
boiler and moves the turbine that is connected to
the generator, which produces electricity.
This way the heat energy of the coal is
converted to electrical energy.

Coal
Some experts believe that carbon dioxide

emissions related to the utilization of coal are


helping facilitate global warming.
The level of carbon dioxide emissions per ton of
burned coal is slightly higher than that of
petroleum and it is twice as high as that of
natural gas.
So, when coal is burned, it produces more
carbon dioxide than any other fossil fuel.

Coal
The burning of coal also produces a number of other
byproducts when it is burned that have a negative
health-related impact.
For example, microscopic particles are released from
coal that can infiltrate the lungs.
These particles carry toxic materials, irritating the lung
tissue.
If a person is inhaling these particles over a long period
of time it may lead to the development of asthma.
Asthma is especially widespread among coal miners
and people that live in coal-mining areas

Natural gas
Natural gas consists mostly of methane, with

some propane, butane, ethane and pentane.


Other ingredients such as carbon dioxide,
nitrogen, helium and hydrogen sulfide are mostly
removed before it is distributed as a product to
consumers.
Natural gas is measured in cubic meters.
The ancient Persians would have eternal fires,
which were ignited by the very first discovered
gas seeps.

Natural gas
Gas is lighter than air and is extremely

flammable and usually it doesnt have any odor.


Gas tends to mix easily with chemicals that have
a noticeable smell, something similar to the odor
of rotten eggs.
If you notice a rotten egg smell, it may be a
signal that there is a gas leak in or around your
house.
In this case, you should take immediate action to
check it out and possibly prevent a gas
explosion.

Oil
Oil is also formed from the decomposed remains

of ancient plants and animals.


It is a liquid mixture of varying hydrocarbons.
Usually, oil is refined before it is used.
Raw or crude oil cannot be used in its natural
form. It must be broken down into fractions and
stored separately.
Oil is used in many spheres as it has
hydrocarbons of varying molecular masses.

Oil
The very first oil refineries were installed by

Ignacy ukasiewicz (Poland) in 1854.


At first they had very few clients, as the demand
for refined oil wasnt high at the time.
Later, they gained popularity because of the
invention of the kerosene lamp.
Common products made from oil are petroleum,
diesel, naphtha, fuel oils, asphalt, tar and many
others.

Fossil Fuels
From the beginning of 19th century, dwelling of

fossil fuels is increasing continually toward the


development of industrialization and modern life
style.
The fossil fuels are being used from domestic to
industrial applications on the cost of pollution,
health hazards and ecology of earth.
Excessive exploitation of conventional fuels,
directly and indirectly assist in global warming
and many more factors which drive the planet
towards dark future.

Fossil Fuels
To overcome, the dependency on conventional fuels,
researchers and many organizations are working on
alternative fuels, which should be commercially viable,
easy to use, less pollutant and must be abundant in
nature.
In this direction, renewable energies, like Solar Energy,
Tidal Energy, Wind Energy, Bio Fuels etc, are suitable
than conventional sources of energy.
These non conventional forms are not only renewable
but also maintain ecology and environment as they are
Eco-Friendly and do not contribute in global warming
and production of green house gases etc.

Fossil Fuels
In context of India and developing countries, it is

awful condition, because most of the Indian


families exploit forest and fossil fuels for their
domestic uses, which directly and indirectly not
only affect growth of country but also health of
user.
Quest for energy security and sustainable
development depend on ability to get energy
from renewable sources, and to use it
optimistically to meet growing and diverse needs
of India.

Fossil Fuels
India is blessed with an abundance of non-

depleting and environment friendly renewable


energy resources such as solar, wind, biomass
and hydro etc.
The western Rajasthan, where solar energy and
wind energy are profusely available through out
the year in comparison to the rest of India, has
higher potential to exploit renewable energies for
domestic and industrial applications.

Formation of Coal
Accumulation of land plant material
Reducing conditions coastal and inland

swamps

Formation of Coal
Organic accumulation is
greater than destruction
(because of reducing
conditions)
Organic matter builds up
to form peat

Formation of Coal
Peat is compressed to form
lignite brown coal
Lignite is compressed and
volatile compounds are lost to
form bituminous coal soft
coal
Bituminous coal is further
compressed and heated to
form anthracite hard coal

Formation of Petroleum and


Natural Gas
Accumulation of organic
material typically
marine mud
Burial and preservation
of organic material
reducing conditions
Reducing conditions in
deep sea or on
continental shelves
during times of unusual
oceanic circulation

Formation of Petroleum and


Natural Gas
Black, organic-rich mud is buried deeper and

converted to rock shale


With burial, the organic matter is heated
When heat is sufficient (but not too great) in
the range of 100-300oc the organic matter is
cooked and oil forms
Process is called thermal maturation

Formation of Petroleum and


Natural Gas
If heat is greater than 300oc, the liquid petroleum

is further broken down to form natural gas


If heat is too great, even the natural gas is
broken down to form carbon dioxide, which has
no value as a fuel

Migration and Concentration


Petroleum must leave source rock
Process is called migration
Migration is essential because most source

rocks are too fine-grained to enable easy


extraction of the oil
To be economically concentrated, petroleum
must migrate to a reservoir rock with a trap

Examples of Petroleum Traps

Petroleum Resources
Conditions for source rock
are rare
Conditions for maturation
must be just right
Migration must not let
petroleum escape to
surface
Reservoir rock must be
present
Trap must exist before
migration occurs

Where did the U.S. Petroleum


Industry begin?
Right here in New York!
First gas well
Fredonia, New York

Distribution of Petroleum
Economic accumulations of petroleum only

occur when all of these conditions are met


These conditions and the sequence of
occurrence do not occur everywhere
Conditions are most likely where there are thick
accumulations of sedimentary rock in
sedimentary basins

Some of the worlds most


productive sedimentary basins
Saudi Arabia
Kuwait
Alaska north slope
Texas Louisiana Gulf Coast
Iraq and Iran

Mexico
Venezuela

Refining of Petroleum
Heat and/or chemical treatment to produce:
Gasoline
Diesel Fuel
Kerosene
Liquified Propane (LPG)

Petroleum bases for plastics

Petroleum Geology

Introduction

The term "petroleum geology" has come into use to

describe the area of common interest between


petroleum producers and geologists.
It is doubtful, however, whether this is a proper
usage.
Rather, it is more accurate to say "geology of
petroleum" just as we say "geology of iron" or
"geology of clay," although the shorter term,
"petroleum geology," is commonly used in writing or
speaking informally.

The geologic concepts applied to petroleum

are all established and recognized geologic


principles, which are merely put to practical
use in finding and exploiting petroleum
deposits.
A person who applies these principles to
finding petroleum, however, may properly be
called a petroleum geologist.

When a petroleum pool has been discovered, we know


1. that a supply of petroleum originated in some manner,
2. that it became concentrated into a pool, and
3. that it has been preserved against loss and destruction.
The evidence for the speculative theories about the geologic
history of the petroleum before it was discovered-its
origin, migration, accumulation, and preservation-can
come only from a study of the pool.

For that reason the logical sequence for study is:


(1) to examine the evidence as we find it-that is, the
occurrence of petroleum, both at the surface and
underground, the geological, physical, and chemical
environment of the reservoir and its fluid content,
and the phenomena observed and the principles
involved during production;
(2) to use this knowledge as the basis for speculation
on the theoretical phases concerned with the history
of the reservoir before discovery.

We must say bluntly, at this point, that we do

not know just how oil and gas originated, nor


how they have moved and accumulated into
pools.
These problems, if solved, would aid greatly in
the main job of the petroleum geologistthe
search for new pools
later.

A full discussion of the various elements that

enter into the problems of the origin, migration,


and concentration of petroleum into pools will
be delayed until the reader has studied the
evidence concerning reservoirs, their fluid
content, and their fluid mechanics.

The actual discovery of a pool is made by the

drill, but the proper location of the wildcat well


to test a trap, the depth to which it should be
drilled, and the detection and outlining of the
oil or gas pool from what is revealed by that
well and others, are wholly geologic problems.
They constitute the essence of the geology of
petroleum and are the most important work of
the petroleum geologist.

Geologist may need to consider only a simple combination of


stratigraphy and structural geology, or he may have to take
account of a complex combination of data, involving such
various fields as
1. stratigraphy,
2. sedimentation,
3. paleontology,
4. geologic history,
5. fluid flow,
6. structural geology,
7. petrography,
8. geophysics,
9. geochemistry, and
10. metamorphism.

In addition to all this, geologist may have to draw on his own


and other people's knowledge of many related sciences,
such as
1. physics,
2. chemistry,
3. biology, and
4. engineering.
Geologist must do his best to work out the geology of an area
from what is visible or what can be mapped at the surface,
and from all available well and geophysical data for depths
ranging up to three miles or more below the surface.

His prediction, however, may often be based on the

most fragmentary data, some of which are obtained


by specialists or experts who may or may not have
a working knowledge of geology, or by geologists
who have worked with no thought of the petroleum
possibilities of the region.

This information is assembled on maps and cross

sections, and fitted together in the mind of the


petroleum geologist, where it is interpreted and
translated into the best place to drill a well that will
penetrate a trap below the surface of the ground
and thereby enable the well to test the trap's
content.

As the search for petroleum gets deeper below the

surface, the geology becomes more complex and


uncertain, and the data upon which the geologist
must base his conclusions become progressively
fewer.
As drilling is costly, there are never as many test
wells as the petroleum geologist would wish.

Every scrap of information must therefore be

squeezed out of the record and put to use, and the


data from each record must be projected outward in
all directions.
The geologic, geophysical, and engineering data
must be assembled on various mapsstructural,
stratigraphic, facies, thickness, paleogeologic,
potentiometric, productivity, isopotential, and
geothermal.

The aim of academic geology may be said to be the

accurate correlation of formations, the detailed


working out of the geologic history, or the making of
a carefully contoured structural map.
That of exploration geophysics, on the other hand,
is to measure various physical properties of the
rocks underground, such as their reflecting power,
their magnetism, their electrical properties, and their
relative densities.

The job of the petroleum engineer is to determine the


reservoir datathe pressures and pressure changes, the
fluid mechanicsand to produce the oil and gas efficiently.
Yet all these maps and data do not, of themselves, tell the
whole story.
If they are to be fully used in the discovery of petroleum,
they must be interpreted, correlated, and integrated.
This interpretation of the combined basic geological,
geophysical, and engineering data, for the purpose of
finding new oil and gas pools, is what constitutes the
special province of the petroleum geologist.

It results, first of all, in locating an oil and gas

prospect, which is the set of circumstances, both


geologic and economic, that will justify the drilling of
a wildcat well.
The petroleum geologist's work does not stop,
however, when he has located a prospect; it
continues during the drilling of the wildcat well.

He must relate the new facts encountered in the

drilling to the problem of identifying and testing the


potential producing formations and of completing
the well in the producing formation if the well
becomes a discovery well.
The petroleum geologist thus spans the gap
between geology and the related sciences, on the
one hand, and the oil and gas prospect and the
pool, on the other.

Relations among the various sciences and specialized fields that are utilized by the
petroleum geologist. He stands between these sciences and the oil and gas pool;
his chief job is to interpret them so as to locate a prospect that, when drilled, will
yield commercial oil and gas.

History
Petroleum, in one form or another, is not a recent

discovery but is now an important part of politics


society and technology.
The invention of the internal combustion engine was
the major influence in the rise in the importance of
petroleum.
In the modern world petroleum has an influence across
society, including geopolitics.

History
More than four thousand years ago, according to

Herodotus and confirmed by Diodorus Siculus, asphalt


was employed in the construction of the walls and
towers of Babylon; there were oil pits near Ardericca
(near Babylon), and a pitch spring on Zacynthus.
Great quantities of it were found on the banks of the
river Issus, one of the tributaries of the Euphrates.

History
Ancient Persian tablets indicate the medicinal and

lighting uses of petroleum in the upper levels of their


society.
In Azerbaijan gas seeps have burned for centuries,
and therefore it is perhaps surprising that the world's
first major underground oilfield was discovered in
Pennsylvania,

History
the ancient Egyptians used it to preserve their dead,

and Noah supposedly caulked his Ark with it.


USA only as recently as 1859. That discovery
launched an era in which the world became
increasingly reliant on cheap energy provided by oil
and gas, a reliance assured by the invention of the
internal combustion engine in the late 19th century.

History
Only now, as the issues of long-term sustainability and

climate change become more apparent, are we


beginning to think about unshackling ourselves from
that dependency.
Today, about 90% of vehicular fuel needs are met by
oil. Petroleum also makes up 40% of total energy
consumption in the United States, but is responsible for
only 2% of electricity generation.

History
Petroleum's worth as a portable, dense energy source

powering the vast majority of vehicles and as the base


of many industrial chemicals makes it one of the
world's most important commodities.
The top three oil producing countries are Saudi Arabia,
Russia, and the United States.
About 80% of the world's readily accessible reserves
are located in the Middle East, with 62.5% coming from
the Arab 5: Saudi Arabia, UAE, Iraq, Qatar and Kuwait.

History
A large portion of the world's total oil is found exists as

unconventional sources, such as bitumen in Canada


and Venezuela and oil shale.
While significant volumes of oil are extracted from oil
sands, particularly in Canada, logistical and technical
hurdles remain, and Canada's oil sands are not
expected to provide more than a few million barrels per
day in the foreseeable future.

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