The Matthias Chronicles

Wednesday, June 4, 2008, 3:39 PM

The price of oil, revisited yet again

by Mar Matthias Darin

In my last post on this topic, I blamed Congress for sitting on their backsides for thirty some odd years taking handout from oil companies. Though my opinion has not changed in this regard, I have learned that the long term price we pay for oil, and for that matter, any pumped resource will have residual consequences that haven't even been truly calculated yet.

I came across an article by Prof. Stephen A. Nelson from Tulane University that discusses the issue of Surface Subsidence and Collapse.

Prof. Nelson defines a sinkhole as follows: A sinkhole is a large dissolution cavity that is open to the Earth's surface. Some sinkholes form when the roofs of caves collapse, others can form at the surface by dissolving the rock downward. Because we are here concerned with subsidence disasters and hazards we will concentrate on the formation of sinkholes by collapse.

His primary emphasis in the article is human related causes. Even though sinkholes and subsidence, in general, occur naturally, sinkholes and subsidence has been hastened by the removal (pumping and mining) of vast quantities of natural resources like oil, water, natural gas, coal, and salt. Prof. Nelson covered all the above mentioned resources in his article. However; my continued rant of this thread will remain focused on oil.

Prof. Nelson lists as an example in California where Wilmington oil fields are sinking. The area he describes is about 50km (about 31 miles) squared, and has sunken about 9 meters (29 feet). Thats the size of a 3 1/2 story building.

There is a nice table in Prof. Nelson's article that shows the subsidence of several major cities. In another article by Paul Noel and Mary-Sue Haliburton, the infeasibility of rebuilding New Orleans is discussed because "the river is moving away from the city. The city is sinking because of its weight, because no upbuilding by new muck for many decades, because of being cut off from the fresh water, because it is sliding off a cliff (the Continental Shelf), and because the Oil and Gas Industry is extracting oil out from under it. It is a city that for all intents and purposes is now Sea domain. Spend the money on developing alternative energy solutions instead."

It is quite ironic that a major city may soon be uninhabitable because of over drilling as well as other factors. They have made their thoughts and opinions clear about the "Oil and Gas Industry Literally Undermines America" with the following paragraphs:

"All these factors -- the river leaving, the muck sinking, the US Army Corps of Engineers cutting off the muck supply -- would be enough to doom the city. On top of these, a newer and more damaging force has arrived on the scene that is likely to sink most of the State of Louisiana. It also promises to sink parts of Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama too. Given half a chance it will sink Florida as well. This is the Oil and Gas industry."

"Due to successful planning and market control by this industry, American appetites for Oil and Gas are enormous. The country needs lots of the stuff, and the events surrounding Katrina have threatened the supply. For someone to suggest that this mining be stopped isn't going to be looked upon lightly. The USA has been set up to be strangled without its supply of Oil and Gas. From the Texas 'Black Giant' to the Petronius Oil/Gas field in Alabama's offshore waters, this isn't just big business. It is colossal business on a scale that even astounds those who work in the industry. It is the biggest business on the planet."

Here is an article from Geology department of U.C Davis University that also discusses the over drilling (pumping as in removal) of natural resources (oil and ground water). There are a few examples including the Goose Creek oil field in Texas, and the Wilmington oil field in Long Beach Harbor, California. Both of these oil fields have been extensively studied.

A. E. Lewis has an article on Oil Industry Externalities: Land Subsidence that also re-iterates the geologic consequences of overdrilling/pumping of oil. He starts his article with the following:

"The dirty secret of the Oil and Gas business is that in order to get it out of the ground, you have to do things that are messing up the structure of the planet. When you pump the stuff out, the land subsides. It goes down not only from the volume of fuel removed, but also from the volume of all of the other stuff removed as well. A typical oil or gas well will extract 100 to 200 times more brine than oil or gas. This really sinks land. In California at Oak Hills, this lowered the land over 70 feet. In Alabama near Tuscaloosa, this has lowered mountains as much as 20 feet in one year of natural gas extraction operations...."

This clearly supports Prof. Nelson's standing on subsidence.

Geologic fact is indisputable: overdrilling and over pumping of oil, and other natural resources, have a severe impact and lead to situations like that of Daisetta, Texas. As a nation, we need to put an end to this nonsense. There are too many other energy producing methods available and as seen above, the facts are clear. We are causing some serious issues that will eventually lead to a major disaster and loss of life.