Peak Oil News and Message Boards

Posted: **Fri 13 Oct 2017, 23:47:27**

The world's oil majors, beset by intimations of demand for their favorite product leveling off, seek comfort from an invisible friend. Compared to oil and coal, natural gas looks less fossilized. Long-term outlooks routinely show demand rising while it flattens for oil and falls for coal. This makes sense: Gas is versatile, useful both as a source of energy and a building block for chemicals; plus, when burned, it emits less carbon. In an increasingly electrified world where regulations around pollution are tightening, gas should be a relative winner. Oil majors have adjusted accordingly: Clear Difference Natural gas has grown as a proportion of output for major oil companies over the past decade Source: Bloomberg However, their enthusiasm has, as so often, resulted in excess supply, especially of liquefied natural gas, expected to last through the early 2020s. And the long-heralded "golden age" of natural gas isn't a foregone ...

Oil's Invisible Friend

Posted: **Sat 14 Oct 2017, 06:42:00**

It is invisible in the literal sense as well. Methane is colorless and transparent and within moments of release can not be visually detected in air. Coal is a brown or black rock depending on grade and crude oil ranges from a dark honey color to pitch black (literally). This makes it easy for environmentally minded folks to mistake the threat of gas burning as small compared to the other two fossil fuels.

Posted: **Sun 15 Oct 2017, 00:37:57**

T - "This makes it easy for environmentally minded folks to mistake the threat of gas burning as small compared to the other two fossil fuels." Not just burning it but leakage. Especially very minor individual leaks that could run into the hundreds of thousands. For instance here's a report of gas leaking from local distribution systems in Massachusetts in 2016. Of the 29,000+ leaks detected that year on about 12,000 were repaired. And the total number may be far greater: in some utility districts a methane leak may not be classified as a hazard that needs to he addressed if it further the 5' or 10' from a structure.

https://www.heetma.org/squeaky-leak/nat ... eaks-maps/

A can't find the specific story but a few years ago I read a story about a mobile methane detector was run down a sampling of streets in a northern city...Boston? It detect an average of half a dozen (?) per mile.

Big leaks at well heads are easily detected and usually cheaply fixed. But I doubt a local utility will tear up hundreds of miles of streets in a major metro area.

Peak Oil News and Message Boards

Just How Big Is Oil’s Invisible Friend?

Just How Big Is Oil’s Invisible Friend?

Re: Just How Big Is Oil’s Invisible Friend?

Re: Just How Big Is Oil’s Invisible Friend?