Jamaicas' oil reserve:

[HL]

Does Jamaica has an oil reserve?

Meaning; if there was a world crisis that affected oil transportation for a prolong period-- how long would local manufacturing industries continue to produce...? How long would it be until the lights went out?

Is there a local oil reserve?

If so, how long is it designed to last?

SIDEBAR:

Since I am on the topic, oil reached another record high of ~$128.00/barrel today!!

Are there any work being done in Jamaica on producing alternative sources of energy?

(BTW: I am not interested in hearing about what's being talked about on alternate energy sources.)

[HL]

Mosiah (gate-keeper), please transfer this post to the correct forum.

Jawge 3:16

[Assasin]

From the Banned forumite JB on another forum.

New Terms
Finder / GOP hold 5 year exploration rights from end Jan 2006. A force majeure period resulting from a
period where Finder / GOP were unable to access crucial historic data, adds approx 6 months to this
deadline.
Finder / GOP have rights to explore in 5 offshore blocks each governed by a Production Sharing Agreement
(PSA) with the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ):
• Each block has a Minimum Exploration Work Program (MWEP) agreed
• Excellent cost recovery terms
• A royalty of 12.5 % of the value of the petroleum to be paid to the State
• Production sharing regime is a sliding rate based on
1. Production volumes (10,000 – 50,000 bopd)
2. Base Gvt share of 30% (maximum 60%)
3. Water depth (0 – 800 m)
• Income Tax Concession Period of 15 years
• Similar production terms for gas and oil
Oil Shows and Seeps
The first petroleum exploration well drilled in Jamaica was Negril Spots-1 in 1955. It had shows and
indications of residual oil and gas. An additional 10 wells have been drilled, and all but one well had
indications of hydrocarbons. In addition, 3 gas seeps are active onshore Jamaica, 2 major offshore slicks
over the Tertiary graben boundary fault and 2 oil seeps have been identified offshore using Satellite
Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data. All three shallow core holes drilled onshore Jamaica by the PCJ had
oil shows. These shows and seeps provide a strong indication of a working petroleum system.
Jamaican Energy Needs
Jamaica has a growing demand for energy, and is seeking alternatives to the import of oil for power
generation. Power consumption is around 6.5 billion kWh annually, which, along with transport needs
requires the import of over 70,000 bopd.
Recently the Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ) announced nine companies have submitted prequalification
documents to provide a floating LNG terminal.
The reception, storage and re-gasification terminal is planned for the Port Esquivel area on Jamaica's
southern coast (located directly north-east of the Finder/GOP permits).
Initial LNG throughput is expected to be 1.2 Mt/y, which would be split between Jamaica's alumina industry
and the power generation sector. There is current market potential of 2.5 Mt/y (125 bcf/year)
The terminal is part of the government's energy diversification strategy that aims to introduce natural gas as
an alternative to oil. The aim is to receive first gas in 2009
_________________________

[Hortical]

We nuh serious at all. Require all new vehicles to be flex fuel cable, and can tek 85% ethanol like Brazil. Convert the Hunts Bay power plant from diesel to ethanol, and open up acres of land for sugar cultivation for this fuel, like Brazil.

We nuh serious.

[Assasin]

Mullings to seek legislative approval for E10 fuel plan
published: Friday | May 16, 2008


Clive Mullings, minister of energy, has revised the E10 project roll out date to October 2008. - File
Jamaica is in the process of searching out a supplier of equipment needed to dispense ethanol-based fuel, E10, at local gas pumps, a programme that Jamaica anticipates will cut $2.3 billion annually from its energy bill.
"We are now at the point where we are going to limited tender for some equipment and sourcing others ...," said energy minister Clive Mullings.
Mullings has set a new target date of October to have E10 available commercially to motorists.
The roll out requires state refinery Petrojam to retrofit its loading and], Mullings said, while fuel pumps at service stations will also need special seals to prevent water absorption in the fuel, which is said to be more likely to happen with ethanol in the fuel, as opposed to MBTE-enhanced gasolene.
No definite date
But Mullings also indicated that legislation is being crafted around the programme, the elements of which he was due to discuss with this month, but was unable to say when the bill would reach Parliament.
He indicated that the legislation was the main cause of the delay in getting the E10 programme off the ground.
Growing oil bill
Jamaica's oil import bill is said to be in reach of US$2.2 billion, and growing at an annual four per cent.
With oil prices on the rise, the replacement of MTBE in gasoline with 10 per cent ethanol is one of several initiatives under consideration to cut Jamaica's dependence on crude imports.
It is estimated that 70,000 litres of ethanol would be required annually to replace the 10 per cent MTBE in gasolene.
That amount of ethanol also requires an additional 30,000 acres of land for planting cane to be used as feedstock for the biofuel.
In a six-month pilot in 2006, E10 was tested on 70 government vehicles, which used Petrojam-produced ethanol instead of imported MTBE as fuel.
john.myers@gleanerjm.com

[Assasin]

a bit late but a change in the right direction

[Mosiah]

what change yuh talking bout?

[Assasin]

E10 project roll out date to October 2008

It has been talked about for over a year now and NOTHING has been done.

That is the hopefully the change.

[Mosiah]

Absolute nonsense that nothing has been done. But I am wise enuff to not try and convince you.

[Hortical]

The issue may be that much more needs to be done. I doubt we have even scratched the surface of our potential in this area.

[Karl]

A human-scale oil source celebrates an anniversary

A human-scale oil source celebrates an anniversary
KEEBLE McFARLANE
Saturday, May 17, 2008


When you consider the hundreds of motor vehicles one person sees in a typical day in the city, supported by a network of filling stations, sales lots and repair facilities, it's hard to believe that the petroleum industry hasn't been with us forever. In fact, it's just 150 years old. And the place where it all started is also one of the most modest you can imagine.

The small community of Oil Springs, with fewer than a thousand inhabitants, is tucked away in the south-western corner of the Canadian province of Ontario, up the road a bit from the motor cities of Windsor, Ontario, and Detroit, Michigan, which are separated by the Detroit River which forms the border in that section. It was in this small town, then known as Black Creek, that the world's first commercial oil well was sunk in 1858. The wells still produce oil at about the same rate as they did in the beginning, but that amounts to about 35,000 barrels a year. By comparison, the giant excavators, dump trucks and processing plants in the western province of Alberta extract more than a million barrels a day from the oil sands!

The native people who lived in the area always knew about what were called the gum beds - pools of oil which seeped to the surface. They used the substance for a variety of purposes, including waterproofing their canoes. A local businessman, Charles Tripp, received official approval to begin North America's first commercial oil company in Black Creek. Then along came John Miller Williams who took over Tripp's asphalt company. He started digging a water well, only to come up with oil instead. He extracted a light oil from the petroleum and sold it as lamp fuel. Taking their cue from this event, the influential people in the town changed its name from Black Creek to Oil Springs, and it was formally incorporated in 1865. Oil Springs is observing the anniversary with celebrations over several months, and there is quite a bit to celebrate.

The town's first free-flowing well came into production in 1860, operated by a man called Leonard Vaughan. The importance of this is that the oil came out of the pipe by geologic pressure, and required no pump. Perhaps the most important development for Oil Springs began in 1861, when a surveyor, John Henry Fairbank, bought a half-acre plot and dug his first oil well, which he called "Old Fairbank". The company he founded is still in operation, now run by his great-grandson, Charlie Fairbank, and is the oldest petroleum company in the world. It is by far the town's biggest oil producer, accounting for about 24,000 barrels a year from 320 wells.

The oil is sucked from the ground in the same manner as in John Henry's day - a length of tube with a leather flap at the bottom is jerked back and forth inside the well by a big arm made of wood with metal straps, atop a tower over the well. It is powered by wooden jerkers which stretch along a frame right back to a small hut. John Henry invented the jerker system, using a steam engine in the hut. Nowadays, the steam engine is replaced by a five-horsepower electric motor which can operate two pumps. Shortly after the oil pioneers started business in Oil Springs, petroleum was also discovered in the nearby town of Petrolia, kicking off a 40-year oil boom. Oil Springs was almost abandoned, but the discovery of oil at a deeper level than the original wells in 1881 renewed interest in the town. Pipelines were constructed to link Oil Springs with Petrolia.

There is another centre connected with the origins of Canada's petroleum industry - Leduc, Alberta. Just north of the town in central Alberta, a short distance away from the provincial capital, Edmonton, explorers for the Imperial Oil Company - which operates the Esso franchise in Canada - drilled a series of holes in the 1940s. After drilling 133 dry wells, they tapped into a huge oil field on February 13, 1947, and the gusher that ensued brought the province into the world of petroleum. The field has been played out, and the oil companies have turned their attention elsewhere, notably to the oil sands in the north. They come with some serious environmental baggage, as extracting the oil they contain requires large amounts of heat and water, and the sand and waste water left over require huge containment areas that affect wildlife and aquifers.

Official recognition of the efforts of these pioneers came in 1960 with the opening of an oil museum in Oil Springs. Four of them - John Henry Fairbank, James Miller Williams, Charles and Henry Tripp - were inducted into the new Canadian Petroleum Hall of Fame in Leduc in 1997.

Nowadays, the city of Sarnia close to Oil Springs is an important centre of Canada's petroleum refining and petro-chemical industries. Many of the big oil companies have operations there, refining oil transported by pipeline from Alberta and Saskatchewan, as well as the trickle from the old wells in Oil Springs and Petrolia.

We usually associate oil fields with large machines devouring stretches of the landscape and creating a grand mess. But the operations in Oil Springs are in tune with nature. On a visit to the area some years back I was impressed by the sight of the oil-fashioned pumps sucking the oil out of the ground into holding tanks amid trees and lots of green grass and shrubbery. The displays of the old technology and the history of the finds are spread out around the site in a nature-friendly manner, with simple dirt paths between them.

Charlie Fairbank has a natural solution for one of the problems which affect his pumps - grass growing too high can interfere with the jerker lines, and there is no farm equipment which can keep the lines clear. He has a flock of sheep which graze away among the old wood-and-iron machinery. Fairbank recently told the Toronto Star, "There's this symbiotic relationship - people, sheep, oil. It gets into the natural realm of things rather than the industrial. Everything here is human scale."
keeble.mack@sympatico.ca

[Assasin]

did I say "Absolute nonsense" nothing has been done?
Brethren we have not even scratch the surface yet. The little you a go tell me nuh amount to nothing. I said nothing as been done toward E10.

try maybe you can convince me.

[Pop Alexandra]

Unfortunately, nothing will be done without financial incentives.
Can't say I find that very surprising.
_______________________________
Alexandra from RBI Heavy Equipment

[wbvs]

Welcome Pop Alexandria. R U a new Forumiite?