A variety of new technologies, including multiple lateral wells and microscopic robots swimming through rock pores deep underground, will allow Saudi Arabia to start recovering much more of the oil from its fields, says Mohammed Saggaf, the head of Aramco’s advanced exploration research wing. Consequently, it is expected that the amount of recoverable crude, from the fields could go up to 70 percent from the current 50 percent over the next 20 years; Saggaf was quoted as saying, adding another 80 billion barrels to the Saudi reserves.
Quote:
Indeed how fresh are the data and how authentic the source remains to be evaluated. The two sides but are poles apart — ominous by any means — and something needs to be done rather urgently.
Arabnews is from Saudi, an absolute monarchy so this article must have the regime's approval. Only the Saudi regime knows "how authentic the source"
Joined: Oct 23, 2005 Posts: 1788 Location: East of Eden
Posted: Sat Jul 19, 2008 11:51 am Post subject: Re: Saudi website: microscopic robots swimming thru rock por
Keith_McClary wrote:
microscopic robots swimming through rock pores
As long as the damn things don't start reproducing... _________________ "If a path to the better there be, it begins with a full look at the worst." — Thomas Hardy
Posted: Mon Jul 21, 2008 6:46 am Post subject: Re: Saudi website: microscopic robots swimming thru rock por
I think I found what they're talking about. This approach isn't new and it doesn't sound so much like nanorobots as just a chemical additive to their injected water. It may be better than ast additives but I doubt it's a huge break through...time will tell.
"Nanotechnology to help extract more petrol from oil fields has been developed by researchers from The University of Queensland's Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (AIBN).
With oil companies forced to leave behind as much as two barrels for every barrel of oil they produce, this revolutionary technology could help reduce the cost of supplying petrol to the market.
Known as Pepfactants®, the peptide technology can control the emulsions and foams used in a wide range of industry processes and could impact a range of products from petroleum to specialty chemicals and therapeutic drugs.
Developed by Professor Anton Middelberg and Dr Annette Dexter, details of the technology were published recently in the prestigious Nature Materials journal.
According to Professor Middelberg, Pepfactants® is a disruptive technology with the potential to be used in ways we cannot yet foresee.
“Emulsions, or mixtures of two immiscible liquids like oil and water, are found just about everywhere from mayonnaise to moisturising cream to products for delivering chemotherapy drugs,” Professor Middelberg said.
“Our process enables the reversible and controllable making and breaking of an emulsion or foam, in an environmentally friendly and sustainable manner. For example, Pepfactants® allows for the very quick separation of oil and water as well as the reversible reformation of the emulsion.
“An obvious application of the technology is in oil production where water is used to force oil to the surface of the well. Pepfactants® would allow the easy separation of the oil/water emulsion on the surface. Also, it would change the viscosity of the oil to increase the amount of oil extracted from each underground oil reserve.”
Pepfactants® also recently won an Emerging Technology Award at the TechConnect Summit 2006 Conference in Boston and is the subject of wide industry interest.
UQ's main commercialisation arm UniQuest Pty Ltd plans to licence the technology into a start-up company and is actively seeking both investment and strategic product development partners in Australia, Europe and the US.
Managing Director of UniQuest David Henderson said they would initially target biocatalysis, surfactants and oil and gas as the initial areas for industry exploitation.
AIBN is Australia's first fully integrated research institute to take a multidisciplinary approach to understanding and exploiting nanostructures, the genetic basis of cell activity and opportunities at the interface between bioengineering and nanotechnology"
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