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The International Herald Tribune 14 July 2009 – Exxon Mobil, perhaps the biggest skeptic about biofuels and alternative forms of energy, is about to make a major commitment to produce fuels from algae. Exxon is planning to spend $600 million in its first major foray into biofuels in partnership with Synthetic Genomics, a biotechnology firm founded by J. Craig Venter, the genomic pioneer.
Synthetic Genomics scientific capabilities encompass areas such as environmental genomics, microbiology, biochemistry, bioinformatics, plant genomics, genome engineering, synthetic biology, and climate change. In addition to the strong applied research efforts conducted at SGI, the company sponsors fundamental research at the J. Craig Venter Institute, a not-for-profit organization with more than 400 scientists and staff working on a variety of genomic research and policy fronts.
The investment amounts to a radical change of heart for Exxon, whose chairman and chief executive, Rex Tillerson, once derisively referred to corn-based ethanol as ”moonshine.”
But Emil Jacobs, the vice president of research and development at Exxon’s research and engineering company, said the investment comes after several years of looking at a range of options, including whether algae could be turned into transportation fuels at a competitive cost.
”We did a lot of work looking at alternative sources,” Dr. Jacobs said in an interview. ”We literally looked at every option we could think of with several key parameters in mind. Scale was the first. For transportation fuels, if you can’t see whether you can scale it up, then you have to question whether you need to be involved at all.”
Algal biofuel – sometimes nicknamed oilgae by environmentalists – is a promising technology, but finding cost-effective ways to mass-produce it has so far eluded researchers.
Experts believe that the benefits of biofuels made from photosynthetic algae are significant. Algae, for example, can be grown using nonarable land and either brackish or salt water unsuitable for crop, plant or food production, unlike first- and second-generation biofuel feedstocks.
It has another benefit that could eventually help cut greenhouse gas emissions that cause global warming: algae need carbon dioxide to grow. Using genomic technologies, including genome engineering, both companies believe they can eventually develop strains of algae that can produce biofuel on a commercial scale while absorbing carbon dioxide emitted, for example, by power plants.
”Algae is the ultimate biological system using sunlight to capture and convert carbon dioxide into fuel,” Dr. Venter said.
Exxon’s investment includes $300 million for in-house studies and ”potentially more” than that to Synthetic Genomics ”if research and development milestones are successfully met,” Exxon said.
The companies referred to their partnership as a long-term research and development effort, with future investments that could rise into the billions of dollars. Large-scale commercial plants are not expected for at least 5 to 10 years, Dr. Jacobs said.
Photosynthetic algae and cyanobacteria, commonly known as blue-green algae, are very efficient at utilizing sunlight energy to convert carbon dioxide into cellular oils, or lipids, and other types of hydrocarbons that can then be processed into fuels and chemicals.
Synthetic Genomics said its scientists had been working for years to develop an efficient way to harvest these oils.
”Traditionally algae have been treated like a crop to be grown and harvested in a process that can be expensive and time consuming,” Dr. Venter said. His company has engineered algae that produce lipids in a continuous process.
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Birch Narrows First Nation signs oilsands MOU
By Cassandra Kyle, The StarPhoenix July 16, 2009
The chief of the Birch Narrows Dene Nation says environmental concerns over resource development are part of the reason he signed a memorandum of understanding on behalf of his community with Oilsands Quest Inc.
Chief Robert Sylvester said Wednesday that maintaining the natural integrity of the Dene Nation’s land is the first priority for the community. Signing an MOU with Oilsands Quest — which is working to develop Saskatchewan’s first commercial oilsands project — will allow the parties to work on a joint environmental plan specific to the community.
“First of all, for Birch Narrows we’ve always looked at the environment as No. 1 and we wanted to see the kind of environment policies Oilsands Quest has,” Sylvester said after signing the MOU in Saskatoon.
Birch Narrows is located about 180 kilometres southwest of the company’s Axe Lake oilsands project, a site Oilsands Quest has been exploring and developing under Saskatchewan’s, and its own, environmental guidelines for the past five years.
In addition to living a traditional lifestyle off the land, members of the Dene Nation, which is located on the south shore of Turnor Lake, offer tourism programs in the area, hosting travellers who want to experience First Nations culture, fish or take a break from city life. However, said Sylvester, tourism at the Birch Narrows lodge has slowed in recent months as the ripples of the economic slowdown hit the tourism industry.
The MOU, which also contains agreements on economic and social development in the community, will likely help Birch Narrows expand its economic base, the chief said.
“We have a lot of training in heavy equipment and truck drivers . . . and the amount of interest that’s there in the training would show the amount of interest for employment in those sectors,” he said.
Christopher Hopkins, president and CEO of Oilsands Quest, said the establishment of an economic agreement with the community expands its mandate to hire people and buy goods and services locally whenever possible.
“We’re good neighbours in behaviour; now this is how we will measure our economic relationship,” he said, adding Birch Narrows is the third closest community to its Axe Lake site after Descharme Lake, the closest, and La Loche, which is about 150 kilometres from the site.
Last summer, Oilsands Quest signed an MOU with La Loche, located more than 600 kilometres northwest of Saskatoon, and its surrounding settlements. Despite economic turmoil in late 2008 and early 2009, Hopkins said the agreement has still created new jobs and new roadways in the area.
“This agreement (with Birch Narrows) is similar in most respects to the agreements signed with other communities in the area, so it’s really a mechanism to provide employment and business opportunities, education and training opportunities and as well address issues of the environment,” Hopkins said.
The company’s president said he would like to see Oilsands Quest sign a similar agreement with the Clearwater River Dene Nation.
Canadian Oil Sands Production to Increase to Over 3 million barrels per day by 2015
The increase in bitumen production from Canadian oil sands will be from just over million bpd to just over 3 million bpd. US and Canadian pipelines and refinery capacity should keep pace with this expansion.
Canadian crude
Canada ranks as having one of the world’s largest oil reserves, after only Saudi Arabia and potentially Venezuela. The Albertan oils sands deposit has inplace resources of about 1.75 trillion bbl, of which about 10% are recoverable with current technologies.
Projected growth of Alberta’s oil sands output is triggering investments in US midstream and downstream sectors in anticipation of the new production. In Canada, oil producers have announced production projects as well as upgraders that will supply growing volumes of bitumen and SCO.
This has encouraged Canadian and US pipeline companies to propose new midstream infrastructure to deliver the production to market. US refiners have announced projects in preparation for the incoming flows from Western Canada.
Strong growth in oil sands production during the past few years has been an important contributor to global supply and provided the US with the prospect of a secure source of supply from Canada. Bitumen production from Alberta’s oil sands during 2007-15 will increase to 3.1 million b/d from 1.2 million b/d.
This outlook is based on an assessment of individual projects that are currently in production or likely to come on stream. It also anticipates delays to projected start-up dates and less than full utilization rates due to anticipated technical problems. _RedOrbit
More details at the source.
Advances in THAI extraction and other advanced in situ processes, may lead to even faster production increases from oil sands.
Gasifying the World to Save It
Gasification involves the flash heating of substances to above 1000 degrees Fahrenheit, in the absence of oxygen. Most of the yield is a combination of H2 and CO, referred to as syngas or sometimes “coal gas”. Any hydrocarbon can be gasified in that manner, including garbage, biomass, coal, shale oil, heavy oils, etc. Nexterra Energy of Canada has developed a process whereby syngas can be conveyed from where it is produced to another location for burning or use in synthesis of fuels. Nexterra has recently obtained new financing to allow it to scale up its process to service Canadian industries, including lime kilns.
Nexterra’s technology uses wood chips or other solid fuels to create relatively clean syngas, which can then be burned in a traditional gas power generation system. The feedstock is put through a tightly controlled series of steps including drying, pyrolysis, gasification and reduction, and in the end, the incombustible and dirty ash is removed and the hydrocarbon-rich syngas is piped away. The company is targeting plant-scale operations in the forest products, institutional, power generation and pulp and paper manufacturing sectors. _Source
Other companies are working on gasification of garbage and biomass, and others are using coal , oil shale, and heavy oils as feedstock.
By al fin
Extracting the energy from deposits of shale oil, oil sands, and heavy oil can be expensive. More than half of the oil in a conventional oil well is never recovered, due to expense. Various ingenious ways have been developed to get at that oil, but here is a new one that might get the biggest chunk of that energy out: seed the “exhausted” wells with micro-organisms that convert oil to natural gas.
The OU researchers found that they can use their organisms to convert hydrocarbons in oil reservoirs to natural gas. “Because two-thirds of U.S. oil is still in place, we can use these organisms to convert residual hydrocarbons into natural gas and create a new source of domestic energy. The concept of anaerobic metabolism is an innovative process and the OU initiative is the only one of its kind in the United States at the present time. We are also experimenting with shales and other unconventional reservoirs.” _Bioenergy
Micro-organisms can also convert coal, oil shale, and oil sands to natural gas. That is extremely important for where the deposits are difficult to get to by conventional mining methods.
Natural gas can be converted to liquid fuels, to plastics, or to any other organic materials. Or the gas can be used to produce electricity, to drive transportation vehicles, or to cook your lunch.
Via: EurActiv.com
The rush to exploit Canada’s heavy tar-sand oil, which necessitates more energy to recover than conventional oils, could significantly increase global risks of dangerous climate change, warns a new report by the WWF and the Co-Operative Financial Services (CFS), a UK financial group.
The exploitation of unconventional oil reserves in Canada and North America could increase global atmospheric CO2 levels by up to 15%, says the report, ‘Unconventional Oil: Scraping the bottom of the barrel?
‘, published on 29 July 2008.
According to the authors, Shell, ExxonMobil and BP have together announced over $CAN 125 billion (€78 billion) worth of development in Canada’s oil sands by 2015. Total and StatoilHydro also have plans to exploit unconventional oils, in Venezuela and Canada respectively.
With reserves estimated at 174 billion barrels of oil, Canada is already promoting itself as an energy superpower, says the report, placing it second only to Saudi Arabia.
But the extraction and processing of these heavy, bitumen-like oils, involves huge amounts of energy and water, adding to concerns about climate change. “Oil sands extraction produces three times the carbon emissions of conventional oil production, whilst oil shale extraction produces up to eight times as much,” says the report.
As a result, Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions have shot up by 26% since 1990, according the report, way above its Kyoto commitment of a 6% reduction.
In addition, the report points out that the open mining method used to extract the oil sands is creating other problems, with toxic pollution discharges in rivers and intensive water use chief among them. More …
Via: Docuticker
90 Billion Barrels of Oil and 1,670 Trillion Cubic Feet of Natural Gas Assessed in the Arctic
The area north of the Arctic Circle has an estimated 90 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil, 1,670 trillion cubic feet of technically recoverable natural gas, and 44 billion barrels of technically recoverable natural gas liquids in 25 geologically defined areas thought to have potential for petroleum.
The U.S. Geological Survey assessment released today is the first publicly available petroleum resource estimate of the entire area north of the Arctic Circle.
These resources account for about 22 percent of the undiscovered, technically recoverable resources in the world. The Arctic accounts for about 13 percent of the undiscovered oil, 30 percent of the undiscovered natural gas, and 20 percent of the undiscovered natural gas liquids in the world. About 84 percent of the estimated resources are expected to occur offshore.
Arctic Location Map
Tuesday July 22 2008 – News Release
DRILLING UNDERWAY ON PETROSTAR’S FIRST BAKKEN WELL IN SE SASKATCHEWAN
Petrostar Petroleum Corp. has initiated drilling of its first Bakken well.
The first well will be drilled to a depth of approximately 900 to 1,000 metres. The drilling is being conducted by Terroco Drilling Ltd. The next planned drilling location is approximately four miles from the current well site and all surveys and permits for the two additional wells to be drilled from this location have been received and the drilling will commence immediately after the initial well is completed. More information will be available as drilling progresses.
Petrostar Petroleum will drill the three initial wells in what it believes are three new pools of Bakken oil in southeast Saskatchewan. The drilling program on the first three wells is being conducted under the joint venture with LSRS as reported in Stockwatch on June 2, 2008. More information on this and other projects is available on Petrostar’s website.
The leases are located in the southeast Saskatchewan extension of the prolific Bakken oil play that covers southern Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba in Canada, and Montana and North Dakota in the United States.
The company is continuing to locate and is currently acquiring additional lands within the general area of the Bakken play and Petrostar’s general area of interest.
CALGARY, July 22 /CNW/
Alter NRG Corp is pleased to announce the filing of a Public Disclosure Document outlining further project details on the proposed development (the “Project”) of Alter NRG’s coal reserves in the Fox Creek Area of Alberta into diesel fuel and naphtha. The Company is excited to be advancing Canada’s first Coal to Liquids (“CTL”) with carbon dioxide (“CO(2)”) capture Project that will provide a clean energy solution for alternative oil production and will use proven processes that have been in commercial operation worldwide for more than 30 years.
The Alberta Energy Research Institute has stated “Gasification is, by far, the cleanest coal/coke conversion technology”, and combined with the planned carbon dioxide capture for use in enhanced oil recovery, the Company believes this Project is an environmentally attractive energy solution for the province. The Company has initiated the regulatory process and a strategic partner selection process and the Project is expected to be operational as early as 2014.
Mark Montemurro, President and CEO of Alter NRG. stated “Alter NRG is concerned about reducing the energy industry’s carbon footprint. As the first coal to liquids project in Canada, the Project will be a significant, long-term contributor to Alberta’s economy as well as set a precedent for clean energy solutions.”
Full CNW Press Release including background on the Project, Carbon Dioxide Sequestration , Timeframe, and Alter NRG : http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/July2008/22/c6424.html
International Energy Outlook 2008 – Highlights
Source: Energy Information Administration
From press release:
World marketed energy consumption is projected to grow by 50 percent between 2005 and 2030, driven by robust economic growth and expanding populations in the world’s developing countries, according to the reference case projection from the International Energy Outlook 2008 ( IEO2008 ) released today by the Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Average world oil prices in every year since 2003 have been higher than the average for the previous year and prices in 2007 were nearly double the 2003 prices in real terms. The IEO2008 uses oil price cases originally developed in the summer of 2007 for use in the Annual Energy Outlook 2008, which focuses on the U.S. energy outlook. These prices do not reflect the substantial runup in prices that has occurred since that time. Nonetheless, although liquid fuels are expected to remain the largest single source of energy through 2030, the liquids share of marketed world energy consumption declines from 37 percent in 2005 to 33 percent in 2030 in the IEO2008 reference case.
In addition, the share of conventional oil in the overall liquids supply is declines with expanded use of unconventional oil, biofuels, and other unconventional liquids. High oil prices lead many consumers to switch to other fuels when feasible; fuel-switching and efficiency gains, for instance, slow the growth of oil use in the industrial sector. Those trends are even stronger in the IEO2008 high price case, which reflects oil prices that are closer to those being paid in mid-2008, as this report is being issued.
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