Welcome!

This blog provides commentary on interesting geological events occurring around the world in the context of my own work. This work is, broadly, geological fluid dynamics. The events that I highlight here are those that resonate with my professional life and ideas, and my goal is to interpret them in the context of ideas I've developed in my research. The blog does not represent any particular research agenda. It is written on a personal basis and does not seek to represent the University of Illinois, where I am a professor of geology and physics. Enjoy Geology in Motion! I would be glad to be alerted to geologic events of interest to post here! I hope that this blog can provide current event materials that will make geology come alive.

Banner image is by Ludie Cochrane..

Susan Kieffer can be contacted at s1kieffer at gmail.com


Wednesday, June 8, 2011

ExxonMobile strikes oil in Gulf of Mexiso

I try to keep this column from being a political forum, but I would like to point out the perspective of today's big announcement that "ExxonMObile strikes oil in Gulf of Mexico."

In case you don't read to the end--yes, it could yield 700 million barrels, "yes, it could power the U.S. for 28 days, based on the daily consumption of 25 million barrels." The world uses about 72 million barrels of crude oil per day, so it's enough to power the world for 10 days.  It will take a couple of years to be drilled, collected, refined and sold to consumers according to this source. Is anyone out there asking if this is a wise course of action, to spend years of resources to develop a supply that is literally providing a few days of relief to our energy problems?  

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