Sunday, May 8, 2011

Oil/Gas exploitation - Leaving Cert Geography sample answer


Examine with reference to oil/gas exploitation how humans interact with the rock cycle:
Oil and Natural gas are formed from energy absorbed from the sun through microscopic animals and plants millions of years ago. When these animals died they collected under the sea. Under the immense heat and pressure created from layer and layer of biomass build up Gas and Oil was created.
The amount of heat and the type of biomass determines weather gas or oil is created. If the heat is over 150 degrees c, Gas is created.
This natural gas and oil is less dense than water so it floated to the surface or is trapped by a impermeable layer of rock, eg. Shale.
Gas and Oil are non-renewable resources, which means that they are not sustainable and will eventually run out.
Humans interact with these processes  by searching for and extracting oil and gas from the underground rock reservoirs. Humans also use the hydrocarbons as a source of energy and as a raw material for many useful materials such as plastics.
In Ireland geologists have discovered several gas deposits offshore. Those are located at the Kinsale Gas field, in the celtic sea off the coast of cork and the Corrib gas field.
The Kinsale gas field (Co. Cork) is nearing the end of its life, while the Corrib gas field is expected to supply 60% of Irelands gas requirments
The Corrib gas field, located 83km off the west coast of Co. Mayo is a example of a gas field in Ireland. It was discovered in October 1996, Development started on the Corrib gas field in 2004.
The gas found in the Corrib gas field originates from a Triassic Sandstone reservoir, located about 3000 meters below the sea.
Reservoirs in the field are believed to be approximately 1000 billion cubic feet, 568 billion cubic feet of this is estimated to be extractable.
The gas will be transported from the Corrib gas field to a processing plant on land at Bellanaboy bridge, Here the gas will be purified and then fed through board gais pipe grid.
Shell currently is the main stake holder in the field owning 45%, followed by Statoil with a 36.5% share.
There is a lot of controversy surrounding the Corrib gas field, Local residents are worried that the gas pipeline being developed is unsafe for both their health (through contamination of the water supply and gas leaks leading to possible explosions) and to their environment eg. Fishing industry.
There are allegations of corruption aimed at Shell, the Government and The Gardaí  as five local residents were arrested for defending their own land from the Shell pipeline.
They were known as the Rossport five, they served 94 days in prison before being released due to negative publicity towards shell after mass national and international protests.
The Corrib gas field created 800 temporary jobs through its development and once it is fully operational it is projected to create 130 jobs. Of these 130 jobs 55 will be directly created by shell eg, work on the rigs, pilolts, geologists, medical staff.
The Corrib gas field is valued at about 9.5 billion euros. Unfortunately the Irish economy will only see a estimated 1.7 billion of this due to our low multi national corporation tax.

3 comments:

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AVAILABLE PETROLEUM PRODUCTS - D2, D6, JP54 & JETA1.

    WE HAVE AVAILABLE PETROLEUM PRODUCTS FROM RELIABLE REFINERY IN RUSSIAN FEDERATION WITH BEST PRICE AND QUALITY.
    BELOW PRODUCT ARE AVAILABLE WITH BEST OFFERS - FOB CI DIP AND PAY.

    JP54: Quantity: 500,000-2,000,000 Barrels
    D2: Quantity: 50,000-150,000 Metric Tons
    D6 Virgin: Quantity: 400,000,000-800,000,000 Gallon

    SERIOUS BUYERS PLEASE CONTACT US FOR MORE DETAILS WITH YOUR SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS SO AS TO ENABLE US PROVIDE YOU WITH OUR WORKABLE PROCEDURE.
    Sincerely.

    Maksim Yaroslav (Mr.)
    EMAIL: neftegazconsultant@yandex.ru
    EMAIL: neftegazconsultant@mail.ru
    Skype: neftegazconsultant
    TEL: +7 9265036551

    ReplyDelete
  3. The agreement is an important milestone for the project, which will help meet the country’s energy needs and drive economic growth by providing a reliable supply of cleaner-burning natural gas. Reservoir Engineering

    ReplyDelete