Hi! This is Part 3 of my blog about Taking Online Courses. As I've mentioned in my two previous posts, I've taken an online course about the Politics and Economics of International Energy with SciencesPo. This course opened my eyes in our current global situations regarding energy security, energy equity and environmental sustainability.
For quite sometime, I've been in a great denial that Climate Change does exist. I think that the world really goes through these changes normally. I forgot to acknowledged the fact that all throughout history, people are usually the cause of trouble.
According to my geologist friend from Aachen, who said this with a disclaimer that he doesn't fully understand this at all just like myself, there has been many factors that play in our global climate system BUT it has been proven that CO2 has a warming effect in our climate since the 50s (for concise article, read it here; if you want to read a thread, you can always look it up here. We love a good citation). He said that oil conglomerates even conducted their research in the 70s and 80s and also came to the same conclusion that we, humans, really affect this world with our energy source choices (you can read a very interesting article about one example of these companies here). I would just like to add that these Big Oil boys continued their wayward ways and lead where we are today.
He also support his argument with a comparison to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum where, although the temperature then was 6-8 degrees higher than today, the CO2 emissions are not even comparable. Back then, the emission is around 0.24 billion tonnes per year compared to the 36 billion tonnes we are emitting today. We're just praying that we at least reach our goals in 2050 by just an increase of 1.5 degrees up to 2 degrees. Here's hoping
Moving on.... Man, I do love tangentials. Haha. So, I already finished my course and acquired my certification. It feels good to finish it because I retook the quiz about Oil Resources thrice, gaddamit. I was so confused with the questions related to its social cost component, the freaking meaning of Shale Oil (be aware that it's an oil that has formed in the crust and has been trapped in a nonporous rock and can't flow away. It's easy to understand this now but the phrasing of their question, urgh) and, I hate to admit this, to the definition of oil. I kept on answering that oil is a mix of hydrocarbons that are liquid under atmospheric conditions but failed to recognize that it's a decay of organic material as well that has been covered with sediments, compressed by pressure and heated by temperature. I can be dumb sometimes.
I've listed possible additional knowledge about the Oil Industry below:
1. Macondo Blowout/BP Oil Spill/Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill is an offshore drilling environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010 that lasted at least 4 months and has casualties and injured amounting to at least 28 people
2. Peak Oil Demand Theory is a theory maintaining that we are very close in reaching a maximum in oil production and from that moment on, oil production will necessarily decline and will decline rapidly. Experts at IEA (International Energy Agency) forecast that it will happen by 2036 or so.
3. Refinery Processing Gains occurs when we get more barrels (volume of oil) out of the refinery than what we get out of the well. This is the result of distillation process in which, multiple types of oil can be refined through crude.
4. That "reserves" have three characteristics as defined by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE):
a. Anticipated to be commercially viable
b. From known accumulation
c. Expected to be produced from a certain date on.
They also categorized it in 3P Oil Reserve:
a. P10 (Possible Reserves) - 10% Probability; less likely to be recoverable than probable reserves
b. P50 (Probable Reserves) - 50% Probability; more likely than not to be recoverable
c. P90 (Proved Reserves) - 90% Probability; reasonable certainty and commercially recoverable
You can also learn through these videos. These were included in my course and it's really interesting, even for a geologist like me:
According to my geologist friend from Aachen, who said this with a disclaimer that he doesn't fully understand this at all just like myself, there has been many factors that play in our global climate system BUT it has been proven that CO2 has a warming effect in our climate since the 50s (for concise article, read it here; if you want to read a thread, you can always look it up here. We love a good citation). He said that oil conglomerates even conducted their research in the 70s and 80s and also came to the same conclusion that we, humans, really affect this world with our energy source choices (you can read a very interesting article about one example of these companies here). I would just like to add that these Big Oil boys continued their wayward ways and lead where we are today.
He also support his argument with a comparison to the Paleocene-Eocene Thermal Maximum where, although the temperature then was 6-8 degrees higher than today, the CO2 emissions are not even comparable. Back then, the emission is around 0.24 billion tonnes per year compared to the 36 billion tonnes we are emitting today. We're just praying that we at least reach our goals in 2050 by just an increase of 1.5 degrees up to 2 degrees. Here's hoping
Moving on.... Man, I do love tangentials. Haha. So, I already finished my course and acquired my certification. It feels good to finish it because I retook the quiz about Oil Resources thrice, gaddamit. I was so confused with the questions related to its social cost component, the freaking meaning of Shale Oil (be aware that it's an oil that has formed in the crust and has been trapped in a nonporous rock and can't flow away. It's easy to understand this now but the phrasing of their question, urgh) and, I hate to admit this, to the definition of oil. I kept on answering that oil is a mix of hydrocarbons that are liquid under atmospheric conditions but failed to recognize that it's a decay of organic material as well that has been covered with sediments, compressed by pressure and heated by temperature. I can be dumb sometimes.
I've listed possible additional knowledge about the Oil Industry below:
1. Macondo Blowout/BP Oil Spill/Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill is an offshore drilling environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010 that lasted at least 4 months and has casualties and injured amounting to at least 28 people
2. Peak Oil Demand Theory is a theory maintaining that we are very close in reaching a maximum in oil production and from that moment on, oil production will necessarily decline and will decline rapidly. Experts at IEA (International Energy Agency) forecast that it will happen by 2036 or so.
3. Refinery Processing Gains occurs when we get more barrels (volume of oil) out of the refinery than what we get out of the well. This is the result of distillation process in which, multiple types of oil can be refined through crude.
4. That "reserves" have three characteristics as defined by the Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE):
a. Anticipated to be commercially viable
b. From known accumulation
c. Expected to be produced from a certain date on.
They also categorized it in 3P Oil Reserve:
a. P10 (Possible Reserves) - 10% Probability; less likely to be recoverable than probable reserves
b. P50 (Probable Reserves) - 50% Probability; more likely than not to be recoverable
c. P90 (Proved Reserves) - 90% Probability; reasonable certainty and commercially recoverable
You can also learn through these videos. These were included in my course and it's really interesting, even for a geologist like me:
Fossil Fuel Formation Complete (uploaded by Adelina Armenta)
3D Seismic (uploaded by Geophysics Rock!)
Evaluating World Oil Reserves: How Much is Left? ft. Sadad al-Husseini (uploaded by Oil Education TV)
The 50Billion USD Oil Development That Doesn't Work (uploaded by the Wall Street Journal)
This is btw misleading. It's just under maintenance because some pipes exploded but maybe WSJ refers to the company's loss. This is the Kashagan Oil Development Project in Kazakhstan.
You can also watch this if you're interested in the US Shale Oil revolution which puts US in the map as a producer of oil and gas.
So yeah, I got my cert and my grade and now, I am just waiting for the programs that I applied Financial Aid with. Btw, here's a proof that I completed the course:
Coursera is available in the Play Store too so you can use it on your phone and take classes wherever you are. It's just an easy app to manage and the interface is so flawless. I know you'll enjoy this app too.
I hope you enjoyed this post and you've learned new things from here. I encourage you to always look for things that you are interested with and take classes. Even if it's sewing or crocheting. I learned crocheting from YouTube!
Anyway, this has been fun. I'll probably post some more entries here regarding the things I've learned. Gas-related, the renewables, etc.
Hasta la proxima!
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