US Oil Reserve?

Typical Oil Well Pump Station

Most oil is produced by one of three distinct methods: primary, secondary, and tertiary, or enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The definition of tertiary or EOR is that something is added to the reservoir after the secondary recovery in order to increase or gain additional production. This can be gases, chemicals, microbes, heat, or even the addition of energy, such as the stimulation of the oil through vibration energy. The purpose of EOR is to increase oil production, primarily through an increase in temperature, pressure, or an enhancement of the oil’s ability to flow through the reservoir within which it is initially contained.

During primary recovery, the natural pressure of the reservoir drives oil into the wellbore (extraction point), and artificial lift techniques (such as pumps) bring the oil to the surface. However, only about 10 percent of a reservoir's original-oil-in-place (OOIP) is typically produced during primary recovery.

Producers have employed secondary recovery techniques to extend the productive life of oilfields since post World War II, by utilizing secondary recovery techniques the productive life of oilfields, usually increases the recovery rate from 10% to 15-40 % of OOIP (original-oil-in-place). 

For the most part, such techniques involve injecting water to displace the oil, driving it to the wellbore (extraction point). In some cases, natural gas; often produced simultaneously with the oil; is/was re-injected into the well so as to maintain oil reservoir pressure, thus forcing “stationary” oil to the wellbore or extraction point, thus ideally increasing the recovery rate to the referenced 15 to 40 % of the original-oil-in-place. 

You should keep in mind that conventional primary and secondary recovery operations typically leave behind two thirds of OOIP.   In some total, more than 600 billion barrels of oil have been discovered in the United States to date. Of that total, about 400 billion barrels are considered un-recoverable by conventional primary and secondary recovery methods; of this figure, about 200 billion barrels lies at less than 5,000 feet below the surface, so 30% to 60 % of the OOIP is now considered recoverable. Currently, that shallow remaining volume is the main target for EOR (Enhanced Oil Recovery).

Most EOR (enhanced oil recovery) efforts involves the injection of gases, chemicals or some type of thermal enhancement; however each of these techniques have been hampered by their relatively high cost and, in some cases, by the unpredictability of their effectiveness.  The good news is that gases appear to be the most effective oil recovery injection ‘agent’ and the best gas to use (and this is the other good news) is CO2 which is as almost everyone knows is carbon dioxide. 

Carbon dioxide (CO2) is emitted in a number of ways: Naturally through the carbon cycle (as in decay) and via human activities such as the burning of fossil fuels; which of recent date has triggered heated debate in regard to, you guessed it, global warming.

In any event, global warming is a huge topic all of its own, far beyond oil recovery methods, but in this case, we might use the old adage, “kill two birds with one stone”.  The ‘old saying’ may very well apply in this particular circumstance for the obvious reasons that both man made CO2 production and oil depletion are serious detriments to man kinds well-being.  Some experts believe these duel problems may yet be resolved (at least in part) by utilizing this enhanced oil recovery method. 

Carbon dioxide (CO2) for EOR was initially tried back in 1972 in the west Texas county of Scurry, but CO2 injection has been used successfully throughout the West Texas Permian Basin and in eastern New Mexico; the process is now being pursued (primarily enabled by higher oil costs) to a limited extent in Kansas, Mississippi, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Colorado, Utah, Montana, Alaska, and Pennsylvania.

Until recently, most of the CO2 used for EOR has come from naturally-occurring reservoirs. But new technologies are being developed which enable the use of CO2 produced from industrial applications where naturally occurring reservoirs are not available. This action will not only increase oil production dramatically, but will also assist in sequestering the ill effects of CO2 on the environment by placing CO2 deep underground.

There is now an improved process that’s being termed “Next generation CO2-EOR”, which reportedly has the potential to produce over 80 billion barrels of oil by using new techniques which includes the injection of much larger volumes of CO2. Keep in mind that this additional estimated production would derive from existing oil wells throughout the United States, so if you are among the fortunate who have previously had producing oil well(s), be patient, you future may be bright.

According to a recent CNN Money report, the United States is presently undergoing an energy boom.  The oil and gas industry says it could be much, much bigger. How much bigger you might ask?  A study last year (2011)  commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute said that if every piece of federal land (excluding national parks) was opened for drilling, North America could produce an additional 10 million barrels of oil a day as soon as 2030.

In addition the study said that based upon the current consumption levels that such a production ‘program’ would in turn eliminate the need for imported oil into the US. Plus the report estimated that the additional drilling would create 1.4 million jobs and generate $800 billion in tax revenue.

As if to reinforce this train of thought, a new drilling technique is now opening up vast fields of previously out-of-reach oil in the western United States, helping reverse a 20 year decline in domestic production of crude oil.

Oil Companies are investing billions of dollars to obtain oil deposits scattered across North Dakota, Colorado, Texas and California.  By 2015, according to oil executives and industry analysts, the new fields could yield as much as 2 million barrels of oil a day, which is more than the entire Gulf of Mexico now produces.

Experts say this new drilling technique alone is expected to raise U.S. production by at least 20 percent within the next five years. And over the next 10 years, it could help reduce oil imports by more than 50%; in fact some experts say that by 2020, oil imports could be slashed by as much as 60 %.

Exactly what are we as typical American oil consumers to make of this news?  Well it could mean that the industrial age that is so very dependent upon oil production is not necessarily destined to die a quick but miserable death as most economic forecasters have recently predicted; perhaps a slow miserable death from this date forward is a more accurate description of what we can expect to see develop in the years ahead.

With this foremost in mind, we as consumers should hope that as a nation, we can somehow “get it right the second time” for as most anyone will admit: we (Americans) most certainly have failed quite miserably in our effort to ‘wean’ ourselves from crude the first time.

Sources :                                                                                                               http://www.netl.doe.gov/technologies/oil-gas/ep_technologies/improvedrecovery/enhancedoilrecovery/eor.html                                                                                                                                   http://fossil.energy.gov/programs/oilgas/eor/                                                                                           http://www.epa.gov/climatechange/emissions/co2.html                                                                    http://money.cnn.com/2012/02/27/news/economy/oil_boom/index.htm http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/02/10/new-drilling-method-opens-vast-oil-fields/ https://www.google.com/search?q=public+domain+images+oil&hl=en&prmd=imvns&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Mp66T6fXIaGi2gXusq3aDw&ved=0CJABELAE&biw=1138&bih=518

All About Comic Books:

Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics, 1933

 In 1933 the 36-page Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics, which historians consider the first true American comic book was published; distribution took place through the Woolworth's department-store chain.  It’s unclear whether it was sold or given away since the cover displayed no price. 

When Delacorte Press declined to continue with the publication of Famous Funnies: A Carnival of Comics, Eastern Color, which had been publishing newspaper comic strips, on its own published Famous Funnies #1 (cover-dated July 1934), a 68-page, ‘giant’, selling for 10¢. ‘Famous Funnies’ was distributed to newsstands by the mammoth American News Company which quickly proved the product to be a hit with readers during the cash-strapped Great Depression era.  Famous Funnies would eventually run a total of 218 issues, inspire imitators, and in large part launch a new mass literary medium.

The early comic pages of the publications were filled with reprints of syndicated comic strips from newspapers, but within a few years, these were replaced by original content.

The next comic-book ‘hit’, which many call the first big hit, was not until 1938 via a feature that had been declined for years by the comic-strip organizations: Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster's Superman.

By the end of the war II, sales of "mystery men" (as they were sometimes called then) plummeted. By 1950, the only ones left standing were DC's big three: Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman and the most popular of them all: Fawcett Publication's Captain Marvel.

Captain Marvel was one of the most sophisticated comic series of the period. It combined magic, whimsical fun, absurd stories, high adventure with outlandish villains with plenty of action.  Captain Marvel is now almost forgotten because it turns out that DC Comics, the owners of Superman, claimed that Captain Marvel was too close in concept to their character and therefore constituted copyright infringement. In 1953, after years of court battles, Fawcett Publication’s decided that Captain Marvel wasn't worth the effort and terminated publishing comics entirely. In a somewhat ironic twist, DC now owns Fawcett's Captain Marvel.

Regardless, in the late 1940’s superhero category fell into decline, however other categories were destined to take up more of the available news-stand display space. Science fiction via the productions of Planet Comics (1940-1953) was first, but by the 1950s the since fiction genre(category) really took off with titles such as Mystery in Space (1951-1966), Space Adventures (1952-1969) and Weird Science from 1950 to 1953.

Jungle adventures, especially the type with leggy ‘jungle girls’ in little leopard-skin bikinis, was another popular genre. It first began with the appearance of Sheena, Queen of the Jungle in Jumbo Comics #1 (1938) and was quite the rage until the mid-1950s.

The persistent advocate of sexism and widespread capitalism, first appeared in Pep Comics #22 (1941) in Archie, which contained many of the elements of the romance category; however the first full-blown romance comic book, was Young Romance which ran from 1947 to 1960.

Talking animals have been a part of comic pages since the mid-1930s. Pogo, by Walt Kelly, started out as a comic book series in the first issue of Animal Comics in 1940.  However, by the 1980s, talking animals had acquired a new name, ‘anthropomorphic’, which means to display human behavior in nonhuman entities.

The ever popular Mad Magazine, before converting to full magazine format and content with its 28th issue, started life as a comic book. Some say it was / is possibly the most important humor title in comic book history.

You’ll probably want to know that the first major child character in comics was Robin, Batman's boy-wonder sidekick; he was first introduced in Detective Comics in 1940.  Since the character was so successful, soon the Human Torch flew around with young Toro, Marvel Comics’ Captain America stamped out spies with Bucky, and Sandman fought crime with Sanderson “Sandy” Hawkins, the golden boy, etcetera, etcetera.

Although Feature Film, as a general rule, has been successful in adapting material from literary sources, in the historical sense, comics, have not had similar success. Although “Classics Illustrated” (1941-1971) lasted three decades and sold well for a time (now prized by collectors); its heavily edited stories are considered to be poor reflections of the source material and are often described as ‘clumsy’ or ‘awkward’ comics. Beginning in 1990 and ending in 1991, publisher, First Comics re-launched the Classics Illustrated line. However this time, top-notch cartoonists were given more artistic freedom to adapt classic literature to comics. Even though sales were poor, the comics themselves are considered excellent by most literary critics.

The superhero ‘revival’ didn’t start until 1956 with the first appearance of the new Flash in DC's showcase which is an updated version of the 1940s mystery man with the same name. The success of that revival led not only to Flash getting his own comic book but also inspired DC to revive and revitalize a number of their 40s mystery men.

Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, were first assembled as the Justice League of America in 1960 and then in 1961, Marvel Comics, in response to the success of DC's Justice League of America, came up with a super team of their own, called the Fantastic Four, which also proved to be a tremendous success.

In brief summation, the ‘comic book’ format originated in 1933; American comic books first gained wide popularity after the 1938 publication of Action Comics, which included the debut of the superhero Superman. This was followed by a superhero boom that lasted until the end of World War II. After the war, superheroes were marginalized, but the comic book industry rapidly expanded, so as to include categories such as westerns, romance, funny animals, and humor which ensured the livelihood of industry in general. The 1950s saw a gradual decline in popularity, especially due to new censorship laws and the spread of television. The 1960s saw a superhero revival, and superheroes continue to be the dominant genre today, although other categories have continued to find audiences; of late (2012) the popular AMC TV hit series The Walking Dead.

Perhaps most significantly of all, we should keep in mind that the purpose of the Comic Book medium has always been that of pure entertainment that allows each of us to “escape”, ever so briefly, from the confines of our hectic environment. With this thought in mind, is it any wonder that many of today’s most successful feature films are derivatives of the comic book?   

In today’s world, proof of this is monetary earnings, as has been demonstrated with the domestic box office opening weekend earnings. Here's the opening weekend earnings statistics, in millions, for just a few of the top movies: 

•"Marvel's The Avengers”: $207 

•"The Dark Knight": $158

•"Spider-Man 3": $151

Sources:                                                                                                                 http://januarymagazine.com/features/comix.html                                                         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_comic_book                                        http://www.thecomicbooks.com/old/Hist5.html                                            http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/life/film-latest-boom-in-comic-book-movies-is-making-cultural/article_b3e9543a-cd69-5376-817a-e4f7521f977a.html                        

THE ILLUMINATI

The New World Order & Paranoid Conspiracy Theorists

 A symbol of the Illuminati Order

As most anyone already knows, the Illuminati are well known as the masterminds behind; well, nearly everything that has ever happened.  Just as you would expect, no one knows who they are or how they manage to pull it all off, but if there is a conspiracy of any kind, you can be sure that the Illuminati have or had a heavy hand in its development.

If you’ve lived in an unlighted cave for the last few years, and somehow missed the opportunity to listened to or hear American radio broadcaster Art Bell III (who is one of the founders and original host of "Coast to Coast"); then you might be surprised to hear that.

Then perhaps you’re like me and only heard of the Illuminati, after reading the works of American author Dan Brown wherein he repeatedly makes reference of such in his novels “The Da Vinci Code” and “Angels & Demons”, if that’s the case, I suppose we need to keep in mind that both the novels as well as the movies are works of fiction; however entertaining they may be.

The Illuminati (Latin for “enlightened”) is a name given to several groups, both real and fictitious. Historically the name refers to the Bavarian Illuminati, a secret society founded on May 1, 1776. 

In the modern contexts the name refers to a ‘supposed’ conspiratorial organization which allegedly masterminds events and controls world affairs through secret governments and corporations to establish a New World Order. In this perspective the Illuminati are usually represented as a modern version or the continuation of the Bavarian Illuminati established back in 1776.

In actuality, the Illuminati was (was being the key word here) a secret society in Bavaria (currently a modern day southeast German state) in the late 18th century. They had a political agenda that included republicanism which is the ideology of governing a nation as a republic, wherein the head of state is generally elected publicly, and thus abolishing monarchies wherein a single individual ‘runs the show’.  They tried to institute this governmental philosophy by means of deception, secrecy, and conspiracy. They pictured themselves as being “enlightened” but they had little success and were destroyed within fifteen years of their origin.

Paranoid conspiracy theorists (PCTs) believe the Illuminati sect still exists, either in its original form or as a prototype for later formed groups.  Many PCTs believe that rich Jewish banking families have been orchestrating various political revolutions and conspiracies throughout Europe and America since the late eighteenth century, with the ultimate goal of bringing about a satanic New World Order.

These same folks will eagerly claim George H W Bush (the elder) was talking about this in his state of the union address to the US Congress back in January of 1991, when he made reference to ‘A new World Order’.  In fact they say the “hidden meaning” he implied was no less than for the establishment of a single world government with the anti-Christ, who some say is Bill Clinton; Barack Obama; or George W. Bush (the younger), at its head.

OK, so I went to U-Tube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbrMK5Qwwx0 ) to make sure and watched his speech or address, and it’s obvious that  the New World Order, as referenced by then President Bush, means a world where the strong would unite to defend the weak against invaders.  A world where countries such as China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States have unified at last to create peace and 'A New World Order.'  In other words, to defend each other, as well as  other smaller and militarily weaker countries from aggression. In short he meant the formation of a strong alliance.

In any event if you want to ‘blame’ someone for the misconceptions and unfounded beliefs in regard to the Illuminati, look to Mr. Dan Brown.

Sources:                                                                                                      http://tuquoque.blogspot.com/2006/05/dan-brown-and-illuminati.html                             http://www.skepdic.com/illuminati.html                                                                                         http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illuminati                                                                          http://www.markkoltko-rivera.com/the_illuminati_111922.htm