Oil Topics

Great news! A massive reduction in oil (and other fossile fuel) consumption is exactly what is needed. The sooner it happens, the less catastrophic the consequences.


This over supply will likely cause further shutting down of oil production facilities and lead to an even steeper price hike next time around.

The Oil Age is having a few convulsions on it's death bed!
 
nutsandvolts said:
Just like cars, oil is "piling up" ...

Oil producers running out of storage space
Glut caused by world slowdown leaves the world awash in crude

NEW YORK - Supertankers that once raced around the world to satisfy an unquenchable thirst for oil are now parked offshore, fully loaded, anchors down, their crews killing time. In the United States, vast storage farms for oil are almost out of room. As demand for crude has plummeted, the world suddenly finds itself awash in oil that has nowhere to go. It’s been less than a year since oil prices hit record highs. But now producers and traders are struggling with the new reality: The world wants less oil, not more. And turning off the spigot is about as easy as turning around one of those tankers. So oil companies and investors are stashing crude, waiting for demand to rise and the bear market to end so they can turn a profit later. Meanwhile, oil-producing countries such as Iran have pumped millions of barrels of their own crude into idle tankers, effectively taking crude off the market to halt declining prices that are devastating their economies.

Traders have always played a game of store and sell, bringing oil to market when it can fetch the best price. They say this time is different because of how fast the bottom fell out of the oil market. “Nobody expected this,” said Antoine Halff, an analyst with Newedge. “The majority of people out there thought the market would keep rising to $200, even $250, a barrel. They were tripping over each other to pick a higher forecast.” Now the strategy is storage. Anyone who can buy cheap oil and store it might be able to sell it at a premium later, when the global economy ramps up again. The oil tanks that surround Cushing, Okla., in a sprawling network that holds 10 percent of the nation’s oil, have been swelling for months. Exactly how close they are to full is a closely guarded secret, but analysts who cover the industry say Cushing is approaching capacity.

There are other storage tanks in the country with plenty of extra room to take on oil, but Cushing is the delivery point for the oil traded on the New York Mercantile Exchange. So the closer Cushing gets to full, the lower the price of oil goes. Some oil is ending up in giant ships and staying there. On these supertankers, rented by oil companies such as Royal Dutch Shell, there is little for crews to do but paint and repaint the decks to pass time. More than 30 tankers, each with the ability to move 2 million barrels of oil from port to port, now serve as little more than floating storage tanks. They are moored across the globe, from the Texas coast to the calm waters off Europe and Nigeria.

“It gets expensive to do this,” said Phil Flynn, an analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. “If you’re sitting on a bunch of oil and you’re stuck paying storage and insurance, and you can’t find a buyer, you may have to sell it at a discount just to get rid of it.” On the other hand, as storage units on land have filled up, the companies that own the tankers have profited. Tanker companies charge an average of $75,000 a day, three times as much as last summer, to hold crude, said Douglas Mavrinac, an analyst with Jefferies & Co. Demand for oil began to increase steadily in the early 1980s, and it went into overdrive in recent years as the Chinese economy surged and as producers pumped lakes of oil out of the ground to take advantage of a spike in prices. Then recession gripped the globe, frozen credit markets made things worse, and inventories swelled. Refineries in the U.S. have cut way back on production of gas as the economy weakens and millions of Americans, many of them laid off, keep their cars in the garage.

The latest government records show U.S. inventories are bloated with a virtual sea of surplus crude, enough to fuel 15 million cars for a year. Inventories have grown by 26 million barrels since the beginning of the year alone. Oil from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria is finding few takers, even though much of it is used to make gasoline in the United States. There are so many players in the international oil market that no one has enough control to sway prices. OPEC slashed production by more than 4 million barrels a day, and still the price of a barrel of crude languishes near $40. At its peak, it traded at $147 a barrel. Experts aren’t sure what will happen when all that oil finally comes ashore.

One fear is that with oil prices so low, companies will slash drilling and production, setting the world up for an energy crunch that would send prices soaring. The number of oil and gas rigs operating in the United States has fallen a staggering 39 percent since August. Others say prices would plummet if companies forced millions of barrels onto the market at once. “If everyone’s running for the exits at the same time, they’ll engineer a price collapse,” Flynn said.

Oil producers running out of storage space
Click to expand...


Is this what they were talking about when they were describing "Peak Oil"? :lol:

Deron.
 
We heat our house with oil.What a difference from last year when the price was $1.47 per litre,we're now paying ~$0.77 per litre.We got a high efficiency furnace the other year and this years heating costs have been reasonably low compared to last year, it's been colder this winter me thinks.

Eric
 
What is the price everyone is paying for a gallon of gas?

I was in Utah for a week of skiing and I was buying gas for $1.65. Where I live in San Diego it is $2.27, soon to go up another 12 cents to help bail out the state. They have been trying real hard over the years to drive California into bankruptcy, I'm sure they will succeed in the not too distant future. :(

Deron.
 
Is this what they were talking about when they were describing "Peak Oil"?
Click to expand...

This "piling up of oil" is not a reflection of peak oil as it is our our economy and the world economy. Also, we don't have a lot of storage compared to our usage.

Don't forget that our friendly neighboor to the south (Mexico) is still having production woes. This might explain some of the run up in prices we've seen lately.

We should take this "break" to make our lives more sustainable.
 
No surprise the retailers raised the price of RUG .25 on Wednesday... >12 filling stations at exactly the same time in my area. Same price too: $2.49. Not all the same company, either.... Marathon, Shell, BP, Sunoco.
 
All the competition left the gasoline market with all the added requirements for running a gas station. Back in the day there used to be tons of gas stations, independents and majors, now there is pretty much only major retailers. The price does not vary much from gas station to gas station, maybe a few cents. They even used to clean your window and check your tires and oil, can you believe it?

Plus I do not think they have built a new refinery in decades. Supposedly we have been getting more and more gasoline refined out of country and shipped in. More jobs lost to other countries. :(

Deron.
 
"Oil Topics"

OK, the economics have been pretty well covered.
The topic is all-inclusive.

How is oil composed and then de-composed for mankind's needs?

How does oil lubricate.

What is "cracking"?

Is petroleum oil very much oily? Or is bacon grease superior in that department?
Why not lubricate with castor oil or animal fats, only?

What are, and why do synthetic oils exist. Who do we have to thank for synthetic oils?

What engine was famed for running perfectly fine on racid, unsalable, liqufied butter?

How long has an IC engine seen continuous service without wear-out of any of its parts?

How do oils in such engines operate to prevent wear? By oiliness?

Google Book Search (choose "full view only) contains all the books with all the answers, nearly.
Synthetic oils can be researched by simple google search.

What is a "fixed oil"?

What is hydrodynamic lubrication?
Why do most all sizable IC engines contain an oil pump, but small engines rarely are so-equipped?
What is "splash lubrication"?

====

Any answers win respect for learning things on your own and not relying on hearsay alone or,
"gosh, it's just slippery stuff and I hate Arabs too."
 
nutsandvolts said:
Q. Considering that I haven't bought any oil or gas since July 2008, how much petroleum have I consumed?
Click to expand...
Kudos. You have bought no processed, transported food, no manufactured goods, nothing from china. You live deep in the woods and when the sun goes down,
it is a long, black night. You burn wood, perhaps, to keep alive and to cook with. You leave a carbon footprint. You exhale. Yet, kudos for NOT buying liquid petroleum to run an SUV to the corner store.

What about the average person?[/quote]http://www.google.com/search?q=aver...s=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a


----
A 'fixed oil' is any non-petroleum oil, 'fixed' because it cannot be distilled into fractions or "cracked" into other forms.

Without petroleum residuals, we'd have no asphalt pavement or roofs other than clay or thatched straw, wood, etc.

The longest continuous running engine is no longer in daily service. Obsolete, today, of course:
the high speed engine supplanted this type. It ran on the very gas it pumped from the ground,
for distribution to gas-lit homes and gas-engined factories. Most likely, my guess, also for pumping municipal water or irrigation water, both. It does not work on gasoline. The fuel it produced was piped indefinite distances if needed.
But it is sworn that for fifty years it was never stopped:
[youtube]CxssIc4HUNM[/youtube].
This 600 hp Gas Engine at the Western Minnesota Steam Thresher's Reunion show in Rollag, MN (rollag.com) runs every Labor Day Weekend.
Built in 1914-15 by the Snow Holly Works Schenectady NY, it ran continuously for over fifty years compressing natural gas at National Fuel Gas Corporation's Roystone Station near Titusville, PA

The engine is 65 feet long and weighs 140 tons. It's foundation is up to 10 feet thick, and contains 157 cubic yards of concrete reinforced with 8000 feet of steel bar.

It has four combustion chambers with a bore and stroke of 24" x 48" giving it a displacement of 86,856 cubic inches (1,423 Liters).
Produces 600 HP at 80 RPM.
Flywheel is 18 feet in diameter and weighs 24 tons
Crankshaft is 16 inches in diameter and weighs 12 tons.
This engine ran at full power 24/7 for over fifty years without a single mechanical failure. The engine still runs as good as new and not a single part has ever needed replacement.
The engine is one of four built.
Click to expand...
______________

Miami's former Royal Palm Ice Company, site today of a Walgreen's Drug Store,
never changed: erected in 1919, oil powered diesels churning ammonia-cycle refrigerating equipment.
Block Ice our specialty. Also chipped, shaved, cubed. When it was to be closed down in the late 70's,
the local paper did a retrospective, touring the plant, interviewing one of the original employees:
"24/7" I was there for almost forty years before retirement. We always had one or more of the engines running.
We never made ANY repairs to the engines." (I paraphrase from thirty year-ago memory.)
All was scrapped, destroyed, and not even motion pictures remain. Thank Victor Posner, local suction cleaner of obsolete businesses, who heartlessly destroyed much of Miami's past.

++++++++++++++++++++

PS: Royal Palm Ice Co. was situated at the corner of SW 37th Ave and US1, just across the street from the black Grove. It was a source of quiet wonder to me, even in my youth: there sets a business, looking EXACTLY as it did in 1919, stucco-sided, sliding wooden doors, loading ramps for the trucks, stairs for the walk-in retail cusomers. Cream paint, kelly green trim ROYAL (palm tree image) ICE COMPANY.

Now I go there to buy chinese throw blankets, sandwiches and employee sour attitude, chewing gum, cigarettes, and hear nothing of the sixteen ton diesel engines, no pounding, except of customers begging with fists, on the check out countertops. All in all, Walgreens is a far better business. But Royal Palm: it would have been a tourist draw supreme, pride of all Miami, for her tourists to wonder and see the past,
alive and working and selling ice to our fishermen on Saturdays, out for a day on the sparkling bay.
 
:oops: :oops: :oops: :oops:

I've taken the thread from its last author's purpose: he is practically off the grid.
KUDOS!!!!!!!!!!!

I de-track every thread, it seems. I am a frocking asshole.
Recycled Henny Youngman joke (google him);

"Somebody, help me, please: I'm a frocking asshole!"

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Back to oil. It is a great preventive of skin friction injuries;
I know these things by rote and by what goes 'round.

___________________________

this is a PPS, really:

yes, reid welch is two things. one of about only two of ES's real-named members,
and the only openly-gay member of this board. Why? I like my name and no one else does. :lol:
 
Reid Welch said:
Buckwheat, twisted :p
Click to expand...

You lost me there!

Back to the oily bits:

I'd like to make a point and replace the 80ml of oil in the gearbox of my Vectux with something other than petro-chemicals...

Hopefully I will not have to resort to "research whaling" to find an oil that's up to the task!

Only 80ml are needed to fill the planetary gear box, so price is not thaaat important.

A commonly used oil which would most likely meet the requirements would be Castrol Optigear Synthetic X http://www.castrol.com/liveassets/bp_internet/castrol/castrol_advantage/STAGING/local_assets/downloads/o/ECR_Optigear_Synthetic_X_Range.pdf

What gets closer to meeting it's specs: "Virgin" olive oil or "Extra light"?

Or what else gets close?

I'm serious, if anyone can come up with a reasonable explanation of why a certain renewable lubrication product would work in the Vectrix Planetary Gear Box, I'll put it in there and report how it goes!

UNTIL WE KNOW WHICH OIL WOULD WORK, STOP BURNING ALL THAT OIL, EVERYONE! I MIGHT NEED ANOTHER 80 OR 160ml IN THE NEXT FEW YEARS OF COMMUTING!
 
Dear Mr. Mik,

I lose everybody sooner or later, you see. All the clocks here (about one hundred and fifty) chime different hours of the day. This is why I never sleep but in two hour snatches
(meant in the socially-correct way: for free).
----

OIL, god (are you exisiting), I do know my oils. Any synthetic oil (thank you, Nazi Germany) of the correct viscosity, with similar anti-scuff additives to the original type used (any synthetic will do), will do fine.

But say it is 1916 and we had no synthetics. And your Vectric gearbox ran only at low speeds and only in warm weather:
there is but ONE non-petro oil to use then: Pure castor oil: the oiliest, most stable of all the "fixed oils";

Detroit Electric was positively adamant that the user use NO OTHER sort of "gearbox" oil or grease for their $$ worm drive rear axle. And never change the oil. And if it leaks, add only pure castor oil.

The oil in my then-seventy year old, decades-idle Model 80-something (the dual drive),
was sweet, clear, fresh as if it had been in a bottle of time. I did not run the car.
I did not replace what was known to work. Even the batteries (edison alkaline) were all right up to snuff,
needing only water and a recharge and re-do of the connectors, which had corroded from alkali exposure.

ANY SYNTHETIC.

RULE: THE faster the speed, the lower the viscosity.
Automatic transmissions use the lightest-bodied oil for several reasons;
Slow-running gigantic ship direct-drive in-line diesels, use a heavier bodied oil.
Neither type of unit need ever wear out. Synthetics are grand, not for environmental purposes,
but because they provide superior "boundary lubrication".

-----
Font, more fonting: what is the right way to dispose of your used motor oil?
Ans: pour it on the ground, spread it about. Bacteria eat oil. Oil is natural.
It is mother's nature way of proving that we all die and decompose...or age well if kept in shale.


Well. Take care. My fingers are slipping on the keys. Rod wax. Look up Rod wax.
What is rod wax? It's a perfectly wonderful story of a useless, troublesome nasty,
made into one of the most useful products, ever, from petroleum.

Oil is not bad nor good. Oil =is= the environment, and the environment actually eats used oil for lunch.
It is similarly safe to pour cyanide solution right into the ground, once you de-activate it with chlorine bleach.

With massive oil spills or contaminated ground, such as from old service stations,
the correct and practical way to clean the ground: fill the ground with water.
Set up jet-spray pumps and spray the pump-out of water and oil into the air.
Bacteria have a field day. The oil fertilizes the ground. The grass is green;
fed by its ancient incarnation, oil, and the sun doth continue to shine.
------
Make social protests by refusing to wear underwear.
Tell total strangers :roll: "I save ten barrels of oil per year.
I wear only jeans and wash them every day, instead of forcing the manufacture and washing
of your BVDs, chump. I use a corrugated washboard, soap I make from wood ash, water, a sieve,
with the fat coming from Rendered Burglar, a wood fired kettle. I pump my water by wind power:
I talk it out of the ground. I am so green, again, I must cite Robin Hood: men in tights RULE

:) :) :) :) :) :)

----
spilling correction only
 
The Skipper's father plays Little John.
The only oil they used was mutton fat for candels.
It is a wonderful movie all about ebiking in 1190! :lol:
Please enjoy it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfFVwAD248A

-----

Of all the veggie oils, only two or three were of the least use in machinery:
rape seed oil for light duty spindles such as sewing machines.
olive oil (less good an oil, but used by every cotton mill because it would wash out of the thread or fabric)
castor oil: the most oily of all vegetable oils, chemically stable, heavy, clear, nearly like a synthetic oil.

All the fixed oils, however, eventually oxidize, partially or completely dry, if operated in the open air.
Petroleum oil is less oily than castor oil, which is why all the early radial engined airplanes ran on castor oil, only: no other oil could withstand the severe service. Castrol brand came to be, in part because their engineers discovered a process by which to marry castor oil with mineral oil: quite a trick, as the two will not normally mix: they are non-polar to each other.

Never use animal oil, though mutton tallow and bacon grease are superb for axle grease-making,
they go rancid in a short while, becoming acidic, eating slowly at machined metal.
But what loads they would carry.

Q: what oils did early steam engines and such use before the 1859 discovery of petroleum as a lubricant and fuel?

A: animal fats, mostly. Some engines lasted many decades in service, but their oils were regular washed out and renewed.

---
The world's oldest, operating engine:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwD6e4HgYB8

----

I tear because there is nothing evil about combustion engines, per se.
Here, the boiler is a modern replacement, from about the year 1899, when the original boiler failed safety inspection.
The working pressure? Less than two atmospheres.

Sadly, the present boiler is near the end of its service life.
The oldest engine will cease working.
There is no money by which to buy/make a new boiler,
though, to the credit of the English, there ARE new, young, eager men,
who would gladly make, gratis, a new boiler when the time comes.
They are the locomotive restoration volunteer engineers of the past.
They have a trade school for this dead art.
I have met a few of them at the old toy steam forum, check out:
http://modelsteam.myfreeforum.org/index.php
Wonderful, smart people, big kids every one of them. Just like us.
------
James Chantry, creator, may be twenty now. He founded from a vacuum of nothing, his forumwhen he was but fourteen.
Get to know those fine people: salt of the earth, intelligent, industrious, aged and saged, from ten to eighty.

They are all as dedicated to their calling as you are to your perfectly selfless, admirable,
"I use no oil" philosophy", good people of Sherwood.

James wears a flat cap, raises sheep, and will not wear a wrist watch,
nor light his room at home at night but by the light of kerosene. His computer is mains powered for now.
It is he, and his rare ilk, who keep the last vestiges of Britain's great, human-saving past, alive.
-----

The efficiency of these things is so low as to be nearly incalculable:
Watt would not go to high pressure steam.

Lovely, sad, humans, fire and water. Forever? Nearly so, just so. And mere young men in flat caps,
fighting to save old locos and boiler chimneys that once blighted the English landscape.
Bless them for works well done for our posterity.
frock Green, at least some of it. Red is where its at, just don't let the boiler get red on its bottom.

===
edit: forum url added. go there. say hello. find a wonderful, winter hobby you can enjoy in doors,
that will make you a better mechanic. I will now show you the cheapest toy steam engine ever produced,
a video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMi0HLmh2DI
WATCH THIS IN HQ. I MADE IT THIS VIDEO
 
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