I watched one of those investment magic shows today. You know the type, where they talk and talk but avoid mentioning the name of the companies they are hot on. But it was one of the better ones. Of course there is a big set of videos and report that you can get for "free".
Anyway, the gentleman is Dr. Kent Moors who supposed advises governments around the world about geo-political risks. He had eight ways to capitalize on trends in the world that are scaring us all these days. The main thrust was about the worrisome Kashmiri border between India and Pakistan. He sees a fairly high possibility of war there in the next few years.
See video here: The Zero Line - India and Pakistan
See here for the offer: Money Map Press - The Great Game It is worth watching for the state of the world assessment.
Anyway, eventually the video focused on the Indus River that starts in India and ends in Pakistan. India has treaty rights to the water for power and irrigation. If India shuts off the water, Pakistan is in big trouble and this could start a nuclear war.
So what is the money making opportunity? It is in desalination of seawater. And the company to watch is Lockheed Martin, who is developing Graphene as a desalination membrane. This actually could become a major breakthrough in desal systems because graphene membranes are one atom thick and potentially much more efficient than todays membranes.
Nobel Prize for 2010: Nobel prize for physics 2010 - Graphene
Lockheed Martin patent announcement of 2013 for Perforene: Lockheed-martin-achieves-patent-for-perforene-filtration-solution
Perforene description: Lockheed Martin - wanted-clean-drinking-water
Business Insider article: lockheed-martin-desalination-graphene-filters-2013-3
Knowing that LM is involved makes the whole thing real for me. However, it is obvious from the LM announcement that there is a lot of development work to be done yet. During my Chevron Career I was involved with reverse osmosis desal and gas cleanup plants several times. A new membrane that can reduce the plant size, and more importantly potentially reduce the power requirements would be a breakthrough indeed.
The other six opportunities present in "The Great Game" offer interesting ideas, but I am less enthused about some of them. Good stuff to wonder about though.
Showing posts with label Oil and Gas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Oil and Gas. Show all posts
Saturday, August 9, 2014
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Corporate Taxes Actually Paid
Here's some info from Forbes Magazine from 2010. www.forbes.com
Some friends were denigrating corporations again, so I chimed in with some facts as I know them: Average taxes paid by most corporations is about 35%. It is not $83 billion per year that the FED is injecting into the economy, it is $83 billion per month. Food stamp program went from 27 million people subsidized to 47 million in only 5 years and the cost doubled too.
If you don't like that the FED keeps printing money each month, then call the White House, where this plan originates. Get your budgets in order - inflation is coming.
I googled "what companies paid in taxes" as suggested and got the following links.
Here is some perspective on GE's taxes. They just follow the rules made by Congress: ge-exxon-walmart-apple-corporate-taxes
For all the outcry over GE, a number of corporate titans are paying much higher rates than the average citizen. Top 20: Many pay more that 35%. ge-exxon-walmart-apple-corporate-taxes_slide
My bet is that the majority of large and small US companies pay close to 30%. Also note how the top three (ExxonMobil, Conoco, Chevron) are the supposedly evil oil companies. Also note how much these companies pay to other countries. These top 20 form a significant part of the about $700 billion of total corporate income tax.
Some friends were denigrating corporations again, so I chimed in with some facts as I know them: Average taxes paid by most corporations is about 35%. It is not $83 billion per year that the FED is injecting into the economy, it is $83 billion per month. Food stamp program went from 27 million people subsidized to 47 million in only 5 years and the cost doubled too.
If you don't like that the FED keeps printing money each month, then call the White House, where this plan originates. Get your budgets in order - inflation is coming.
I googled "what companies paid in taxes" as suggested and got the following links.
Here is some perspective on GE's taxes. They just follow the rules made by Congress: ge-exxon-walmart-apple-corporate-taxes
For all the outcry over GE, a number of corporate titans are paying much higher rates than the average citizen. Top 20: Many pay more that 35%. ge-exxon-walmart-apple-corporate-taxes_slide
My bet is that the majority of large and small US companies pay close to 30%. Also note how the top three (ExxonMobil, Conoco, Chevron) are the supposedly evil oil companies. Also note how much these companies pay to other countries. These top 20 form a significant part of the about $700 billion of total corporate income tax.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Unlimited Power...Finally?
I have always maintained that God provides the things that mankind needs to move to the next level at the appropriate times. In terms of energy, He has ramped up our expertise and energy sources to match each other over the ages.
First, wood. For a 100,000 years, man used wood to fuel fires and cook food. It was available almost everywhere and simple to obtain. Still in use.
Next came coal. To power the burgeoning industrial revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries, coal and the technology to mine it and burn it efficiently took over from wood in a huge hurry. It lead to transportation machines, factories and so much energy that peoples lives, and working conditions literally changed overnight. The abundance of energy meant whole civilizations could progress to the next level.
Then came oil and natural gas. These wonderful, energy intensive fuels gave us cars and trucks and tractors and airplanes. They so changed the world that population explosions occurred everywhere. Our lives are so much easier and better because of them. And we hardly recognize the amazing and indispensable difference after only 100 years.
Then in 1945 came nuclear power. Of course it took another decade after the bombs to harness it into something that could power the electricity grid. But that of course happened and now the US has about 104 plants and the world about 350 plants. France produces 75% of its electricity from nuclear plants. Unfortunately, as the technology to produce energy cleanly became more abundant, the risks became larger. I do maintain that the risks are manageable, especially with today's plant designs and risk management systems, so the hysteria caused by Fukashima is a terrible backward step.
But is that all? For 60 years we have known how to make fusion warheads. It only took ten years to go from fission warheads to power plants. But the step to fusion power plants has always seemed to be 50 years away, even with marvelous advances like the National Nuclear Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore Lab.
Of course, the naysayers keep telling us we will run out of oil and gas soon. And out of nuclear fission fuel after that, if we don't irradiate ourselves first. But my optimism on this is that God has provided these resources in a timely manner to be what we need to make the next step forward. And the next level of innovation in energy will come in time before we run out of the preceding one.
Now, see the video of Charles Chase in this link. Maybe the promise of clean, safe, non-irradiating fusion power is a lot closer that we have thought, maybe only ten years. Maybe the whole world can be a "first world." Wouldn't that be wonderful?
Popular Science: Fusion-power-could-happen-sooner-you-think
Lockheed Skunkworks is talking about a working model of a fusion reactor in 5 years and a 100MW truck mounted plant in 10 years, and powering the world by 2050. This date gives us a pretty nice cushion before running out of oil and gas and uranium. Imagine the whole world with all the electricity it can use. Imagine clean water for all, Imagine 100% literacy rates. Imagine good housing for everyone. Imagine...Truly a wonderful future for mankind! The ultimate gift from God!
The political ramifications, as discussed by PJTV: Fusion Power in a Box
Unfortunately the boys may be too close to the mark on the political hurdles we still face. Energy is civilization. Let's hope the Green Luddites don't get their way.
Update on Oct 14: The November, 2013 Popular Mechanics Magazine has an article on breakthrough technologies. The Leadership award went to Peter Diamandis, creator of the X Prize Foundation. This quote is from Peter: "Over the past 100 years, the human life span has more than doubled, the cost of food has dropped thirteen-fold, energy has dropped twenty-fold, transportation has dropped a hundredfold, communications has dropped over a thousand-fold. All of these things have been enabled by technology - and the rate at which innovation is occuring is accelerating, not slowing down. I think we are heading toward epic, extraordinary change. I think we're going to transform the way we live, the way we govern. I think every aspect of society is going to fundamentally change over the next 30 years."
And I think he is right, as long as we can supply abundant, economic and hopefully clean energy. Fusion is the future, and I hope it is closer than we have been thinking.
First, wood. For a 100,000 years, man used wood to fuel fires and cook food. It was available almost everywhere and simple to obtain. Still in use.
Next came coal. To power the burgeoning industrial revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries, coal and the technology to mine it and burn it efficiently took over from wood in a huge hurry. It lead to transportation machines, factories and so much energy that peoples lives, and working conditions literally changed overnight. The abundance of energy meant whole civilizations could progress to the next level.
Then came oil and natural gas. These wonderful, energy intensive fuels gave us cars and trucks and tractors and airplanes. They so changed the world that population explosions occurred everywhere. Our lives are so much easier and better because of them. And we hardly recognize the amazing and indispensable difference after only 100 years.
Then in 1945 came nuclear power. Of course it took another decade after the bombs to harness it into something that could power the electricity grid. But that of course happened and now the US has about 104 plants and the world about 350 plants. France produces 75% of its electricity from nuclear plants. Unfortunately, as the technology to produce energy cleanly became more abundant, the risks became larger. I do maintain that the risks are manageable, especially with today's plant designs and risk management systems, so the hysteria caused by Fukashima is a terrible backward step.
But is that all? For 60 years we have known how to make fusion warheads. It only took ten years to go from fission warheads to power plants. But the step to fusion power plants has always seemed to be 50 years away, even with marvelous advances like the National Nuclear Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore Lab.
Of course, the naysayers keep telling us we will run out of oil and gas soon. And out of nuclear fission fuel after that, if we don't irradiate ourselves first. But my optimism on this is that God has provided these resources in a timely manner to be what we need to make the next step forward. And the next level of innovation in energy will come in time before we run out of the preceding one.
Now, see the video of Charles Chase in this link. Maybe the promise of clean, safe, non-irradiating fusion power is a lot closer that we have thought, maybe only ten years. Maybe the whole world can be a "first world." Wouldn't that be wonderful?
Popular Science: Fusion-power-could-happen-sooner-you-think
Lockheed Skunkworks is talking about a working model of a fusion reactor in 5 years and a 100MW truck mounted plant in 10 years, and powering the world by 2050. This date gives us a pretty nice cushion before running out of oil and gas and uranium. Imagine the whole world with all the electricity it can use. Imagine clean water for all, Imagine 100% literacy rates. Imagine good housing for everyone. Imagine...Truly a wonderful future for mankind! The ultimate gift from God!
The political ramifications, as discussed by PJTV: Fusion Power in a Box
Unfortunately the boys may be too close to the mark on the political hurdles we still face. Energy is civilization. Let's hope the Green Luddites don't get their way.
Update on Oct 14: The November, 2013 Popular Mechanics Magazine has an article on breakthrough technologies. The Leadership award went to Peter Diamandis, creator of the X Prize Foundation. This quote is from Peter: "Over the past 100 years, the human life span has more than doubled, the cost of food has dropped thirteen-fold, energy has dropped twenty-fold, transportation has dropped a hundredfold, communications has dropped over a thousand-fold. All of these things have been enabled by technology - and the rate at which innovation is occuring is accelerating, not slowing down. I think we are heading toward epic, extraordinary change. I think we're going to transform the way we live, the way we govern. I think every aspect of society is going to fundamentally change over the next 30 years."
And I think he is right, as long as we can supply abundant, economic and hopefully clean energy. Fusion is the future, and I hope it is closer than we have been thinking.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Cavuto Nails It: How a Superpower Ought to Act
"So…China taking over green batteries…bad.
China…battering our oil guys…good.
Look, the president won't connect the dots.
So allow me to.
An American oil giant has just been usurped today
By a Chinese upstart, and
The president’s OK with it.
The Chinese sweet-talking the Canadians for their oil,
After the white house all but shuts down the keystone pipeline, and he's OK with it.
So PetroChina replaces ExxonMobil as the world's biggest publicly traded producer of oil, and that's fine.
China squeezing out every drop of oil from every region in its country it can "find" oil, and that's fine.
And china outspending western companies to acquire still more oil reserves, and that's fine.
But allowing "American" oil companies to do even a fraction of the same on a fraction of the land in "this" country, and that's not fine.
So…to sum up…China making more oil…fine.
China making more batteries…not fine.
China's government muscling in on oil markets the world over…fine.
But china muscling in on the green energy markets the world over…not fine.
No, not fine, at all. Not consistent. Not fair. And, oh yea, not remotely right at all.
It's not right to use the United States government as a prop in a foreign economic war you only want to half-fight, Mr. President.
You're either all in, or you are all out.
And right now, you are just way out.
Out of bounds. Out of ideas. Out of money. And out of anything remotely approaching logic.
Selectively outraged over china taking over technologies that have yet to prove themselves…
But saying not a peep over surrendering the very technologies in the U-S-of-A that "have" proven themselves.
Either find a better argument, Mr. President, or at the least, a better villain.
Because right about now, it's not China whose intentions are looking sinister.
Look in the mirror, Mr. President, it's yours."
Get the full effect by listening to Neil here: Cavuto-its-time-stop-selective-outrage
ExxonMobil Surpassed - Interview with Shell's Hofmeister: Petrochina-surpasses-exxonmobil-in-oil-production
China…battering our oil guys…good.
Look, the president won't connect the dots.
So allow me to.
An American oil giant has just been usurped today
By a Chinese upstart, and
The president’s OK with it.
The Chinese sweet-talking the Canadians for their oil,
After the white house all but shuts down the keystone pipeline, and he's OK with it.
So PetroChina replaces ExxonMobil as the world's biggest publicly traded producer of oil, and that's fine.
China squeezing out every drop of oil from every region in its country it can "find" oil, and that's fine.
And china outspending western companies to acquire still more oil reserves, and that's fine.
But allowing "American" oil companies to do even a fraction of the same on a fraction of the land in "this" country, and that's not fine.
So…to sum up…China making more oil…fine.
China making more batteries…not fine.
China's government muscling in on oil markets the world over…fine.
But china muscling in on the green energy markets the world over…not fine.
No, not fine, at all. Not consistent. Not fair. And, oh yea, not remotely right at all.
It's not right to use the United States government as a prop in a foreign economic war you only want to half-fight, Mr. President.
You're either all in, or you are all out.
And right now, you are just way out.
Out of bounds. Out of ideas. Out of money. And out of anything remotely approaching logic.
Selectively outraged over china taking over technologies that have yet to prove themselves…
But saying not a peep over surrendering the very technologies in the U-S-of-A that "have" proven themselves.
Either find a better argument, Mr. President, or at the least, a better villain.
Because right about now, it's not China whose intentions are looking sinister.
Look in the mirror, Mr. President, it's yours."
Get the full effect by listening to Neil here: Cavuto-its-time-stop-selective-outrage
ExxonMobil Surpassed - Interview with Shell's Hofmeister: Petrochina-surpasses-exxonmobil-in-oil-production
Friday, July 8, 2011
South Sudan Becomes a Nation
I posted the following comment to a New York Times story today.
South Sudan, the Newest Nation, is Full of Hope and Problems
"I truly wish the peoples of South Sudan a bright, safe, prosperous future. I spent a short six weeks in Southern Sudan in 1984, working on the first oil project in the country. The prospects for economic development spinoffs from the oil revenues were tremendous. Unfortunately, after 20 years of peace, the fighting restarted the day after my arrival, with attacks on our facilities. I did not get to spend my expected two years of work in this amazing place.
I say amazing, because it was the people who I most remember today. The beautiful, bright young faces of children in small villages, smiling and hopeful, excited to interact with a foreigner. The young engineers, graduated from college in Khartoum, with a real job to do. The people of the souk, selling their fried-in-front-of-you chicken and goat meat; selling a myriad of other handmade and imported products. Vibrant commerce given a chance to bloom by peace. The people, whether of southern agrarian or northern nomadic origin, working together to make a project and a nation. The workers, some ill with malaria, who came each day to install facilities, working long hours in 120 degree heat to feed their families.
I often wonder where some of these people are today. The young engineer to whom I gave my engineering texts when I left? The kids in the mud huts? The truck drivers in their colorful cabs? I can look at Google satellite photos and see the remains of our camp...but I can't see the people. I wish them well."
South Sudan, the Newest Nation, is Full of Hope and Problems
"I truly wish the peoples of South Sudan a bright, safe, prosperous future. I spent a short six weeks in Southern Sudan in 1984, working on the first oil project in the country. The prospects for economic development spinoffs from the oil revenues were tremendous. Unfortunately, after 20 years of peace, the fighting restarted the day after my arrival, with attacks on our facilities. I did not get to spend my expected two years of work in this amazing place.
I say amazing, because it was the people who I most remember today. The beautiful, bright young faces of children in small villages, smiling and hopeful, excited to interact with a foreigner. The young engineers, graduated from college in Khartoum, with a real job to do. The people of the souk, selling their fried-in-front-of-you chicken and goat meat; selling a myriad of other handmade and imported products. Vibrant commerce given a chance to bloom by peace. The people, whether of southern agrarian or northern nomadic origin, working together to make a project and a nation. The workers, some ill with malaria, who came each day to install facilities, working long hours in 120 degree heat to feed their families.
I often wonder where some of these people are today. The young engineer to whom I gave my engineering texts when I left? The kids in the mud huts? The truck drivers in their colorful cabs? I can look at Google satellite photos and see the remains of our camp...but I can't see the people. I wish them well."
Monday, June 20, 2011
FracFocus.Org can Teach You About Hydraulic Fracturing
People often ask about oil industry practices and I love to share my knowledge with them. More knowledge is always good and unfortunately much of the popular information available from the media is often lacking in important details.
Lately, the public has come to be concerned about an old oilfield technique that is receiving a lot of usage by oil and gas companies as new tight-rock reservoirs are being developed. Names like the Marcellus Shale, Big Horn River (Canada), and Barnett Shale are in the news a lot. Much of the concern is around near-surface water supplies. However, most gas formations are thousands of feet deeper than drinking water supplies and the robust design of wells and the physical separation by many layers of rock makes contamination almost impossible.
These reservoirs have long been known to contain gas, but the rock is so tight, that is, impermeable to gas flow, that they were not much produced. Revolutionary changes in the design of hydraulic fracturing processes, new horizontal drilling technologies and new chemical treatments that prevent rock swelling now allow successful and economic production.
The industry has long held that chemicals used in fracturing are not detrimental, and a lot of environmental and biological testing has taken place. However, most chemicals, which address specific chemistry aspects of the well and rock properties, are proprietary developments of the fracturing companies. For obvious competition reasons they have been reluctant to make public their formulations. But the industry now realizes that good publicity is more profitable than secrecy and companies are opening up to the public. It is supporting open-disclosure legislation in many states, such as Texas, where Rick Perry just signed a bill.
One new resource available to you is at http://fracfocus.org/. This industry supported site provides information and chemical analysis to the public for fractured wells all around the country. The well database is a little sparse right now, but realize that over 40,000 wells are drilled every year in the US. If you are concerned about the chemicals, look at this page and see how small the quantities are: http://fracfocus.org/chemical-use/why-chemicals-are-used
Lately, the public has come to be concerned about an old oilfield technique that is receiving a lot of usage by oil and gas companies as new tight-rock reservoirs are being developed. Names like the Marcellus Shale, Big Horn River (Canada), and Barnett Shale are in the news a lot. Much of the concern is around near-surface water supplies. However, most gas formations are thousands of feet deeper than drinking water supplies and the robust design of wells and the physical separation by many layers of rock makes contamination almost impossible.
These reservoirs have long been known to contain gas, but the rock is so tight, that is, impermeable to gas flow, that they were not much produced. Revolutionary changes in the design of hydraulic fracturing processes, new horizontal drilling technologies and new chemical treatments that prevent rock swelling now allow successful and economic production.
The industry has long held that chemicals used in fracturing are not detrimental, and a lot of environmental and biological testing has taken place. However, most chemicals, which address specific chemistry aspects of the well and rock properties, are proprietary developments of the fracturing companies. For obvious competition reasons they have been reluctant to make public their formulations. But the industry now realizes that good publicity is more profitable than secrecy and companies are opening up to the public. It is supporting open-disclosure legislation in many states, such as Texas, where Rick Perry just signed a bill.
One new resource available to you is at http://fracfocus.org/. This industry supported site provides information and chemical analysis to the public for fractured wells all around the country. The well database is a little sparse right now, but realize that over 40,000 wells are drilled every year in the US. If you are concerned about the chemicals, look at this page and see how small the quantities are: http://fracfocus.org/chemical-use/why-chemicals-are-used
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