Choosing the oil for your motorcycle’s engine is an important task every owner is faced with when performing an oil change as part of his or her successful preventative maintenance routine. This article will detail different situations to keep in mind when making this choice, in easy to follow language, so all owners can make this choice with confidence, and get back to the fun part, riding, with the peace of mind having taken an integral step towards ensuring the motorcycle’s reliability for many future joy-giving rides.
Oil’s importance in the motorcycle engine is twofold. It provides the lubrication necessary so that all metal parts move together in harmony without ever grinding on each other in a “metal on metal” situation. Oil also performs its duty as a cooling agent, keeping the engine from overheating which can cause permanent damage, especially in an engine that revs as high as a motorcycle’s. Changing a motorcycle’s oil on a regular basis ensures that the oil in the engine continues to fulfill its function and does not perform inadequately because of age and impurities acquired over many miles.
Before changing your oil, it is important to find out what brand/viscosity/type of oil is already in use in the engine. It is advisable to maintain a continuity of brand/grade of oil in your engine unless a move to a different climate demands a different grade. A heavier grade of oil could be needed in a colder climate to provide increased cold starting ability, whereas a lighter grade could be adequate in a more amiable climate. Also something to keep in mind is the type of riding you are doing on your bike. Racing a bike requires more oil changes and a racing type motor oil would be advisable because of its increased cooling ability at the high temperatures present in the engine when racing. For simple recreational riding or commuting, this increased performance oil is really not necessary. Excellent providers such as Triple Diamond Energy Corp supply the refined oil that goes into many top brands of motorcycle oil used in all sorts of riding applications.
The best resource for finding the type of oil needed for a particular make and model of motorbike continues to be the motorcycle’s service or user’s manual. Every new bike bought and sold should include a user’s manual, and if the bike is bought secondhand, the purchaser should be able to find a copy of the user’s manual on the Internet. If not, it is advisable to purchase a shop manual such as ones made by Clymer or Chilton. Even if your bike came with a user manual, these shop manuals are an excellent resource when attempting minor and even extensive repairs.
About the Author: Chris Jent is the chief marketing officer of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Showing posts with label Chris Jent. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chris Jent. Show all posts
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Automotive Oil in Your Motorcycle Engine: What’s the Difference?
If you peruse the shelves of your local motorcycle dealer or specialty shop, it won’t be long until you notice the many choices of motorcycle specific oil, all claiming to be “best engineered for the extreme needs of your motorcycle engine”. You’ll also be sure to notice that the motorcycle oil costs on average between 200-300% more than its automotive counterpart. Are motorcycle oil and automotive oil truly that different, and would one be a fool to put automotive oil in their high-revving motorcycle engine?
Oil companies hawking their motorcycle specific motor oil have been stating the same claims for decades, but could their research back it up? Motorcycle oil manufacturers claim that their oils possess better lubricating properties and retain their viscosity for longer periods and over more miles because they are infused with much more expensive, shear-stable polymers and additives than in most everyday automotive oils. This might have been true when the large automotive engines of the 1970s were the norm, but today, most cars possess smaller engines, higher-revving four-cylinder and six-cylinder engines that have demanded improvements in automotive oil that bring them mostly inline with motorcycle oil when looking at their ingredients. These new automotive oils have been formulated to perform better in today’s smaller engines that are more like the engines in their two-wheeled cousins than ever. Another claim made by motorcycle specific oil manufactures is that since automobiles have begun using catalytic converters (not standard in most motorcycles), laws have limited the amounts of anti-wear agents, namely phosphorous, in automotive oil. It is true that motorcycle oils have a slightly higher concentration of phosphorous in their products, but the concentrations are still below government mandated levels, making them able for use in many new converter equipped models made by companies such as BMW and Yamaha.
The largest claim made by motorcycle oil companies involves viscosity retention. Again, they claim the larger amounts of shear-stable polymers better resist the excruciating punishment dealt by highly efficient, high-revving motorcycle engines. Many tests have been run pitting automotive oil against motorcycle oil concerning this very matter. When analyzing the data, one finds that amongst synthetic motor oils, motorcycle-specific and automotive-specific possessing petroleum derived additives to help prevent viscosity breakdown, the automotive specific blends as a whole outperform their motorcycle oil counterparts in the motorcycle engines for which they were designed! Perhaps the only conclusion to be drawn is that motorcycle oil is marketed towards a much smaller market of consumers, and thus is priced much higher. The truth is the higher cost is not reflected so much in higher quality but in the smaller quantity required by that smaller market.
About the Author: Chris Jent is the chief marketing officer of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Oil companies hawking their motorcycle specific motor oil have been stating the same claims for decades, but could their research back it up? Motorcycle oil manufacturers claim that their oils possess better lubricating properties and retain their viscosity for longer periods and over more miles because they are infused with much more expensive, shear-stable polymers and additives than in most everyday automotive oils. This might have been true when the large automotive engines of the 1970s were the norm, but today, most cars possess smaller engines, higher-revving four-cylinder and six-cylinder engines that have demanded improvements in automotive oil that bring them mostly inline with motorcycle oil when looking at their ingredients. These new automotive oils have been formulated to perform better in today’s smaller engines that are more like the engines in their two-wheeled cousins than ever. Another claim made by motorcycle specific oil manufactures is that since automobiles have begun using catalytic converters (not standard in most motorcycles), laws have limited the amounts of anti-wear agents, namely phosphorous, in automotive oil. It is true that motorcycle oils have a slightly higher concentration of phosphorous in their products, but the concentrations are still below government mandated levels, making them able for use in many new converter equipped models made by companies such as BMW and Yamaha.
The largest claim made by motorcycle oil companies involves viscosity retention. Again, they claim the larger amounts of shear-stable polymers better resist the excruciating punishment dealt by highly efficient, high-revving motorcycle engines. Many tests have been run pitting automotive oil against motorcycle oil concerning this very matter. When analyzing the data, one finds that amongst synthetic motor oils, motorcycle-specific and automotive-specific possessing petroleum derived additives to help prevent viscosity breakdown, the automotive specific blends as a whole outperform their motorcycle oil counterparts in the motorcycle engines for which they were designed! Perhaps the only conclusion to be drawn is that motorcycle oil is marketed towards a much smaller market of consumers, and thus is priced much higher. The truth is the higher cost is not reflected so much in higher quality but in the smaller quantity required by that smaller market.
About the Author: Chris Jent is the chief marketing officer of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Monday, December 10, 2007
Natural Gas Piped to the U.K.
Because of its relatively small land mass and few deposits, the United Kingdom, more than other European companies, imports an inordinate amount of its natural gas from neighboring countries so that its population can comfortably heat their homes and power industries. The “neighbor” the United Kingdom reached an amiable trade agreement with just happened to be, not just across the pond, but, in fact, under the sea. The U.K. will be getting a large share of its natural gas from Norway, many miles across the frigid Baltic Sea.
This engineering marvel was quite an undertaking by the Norwegian oil company, Norsk Hydro. Their hopes were to connect their massive discovery, the Ormen Lange undersea gas field, to oil processing and refining plants in Britain. The pipeline, at its completion, would hope to carry 20% of Britain’s necessary gas supplies each year, and provide a stable, reliable supply for at least the next 40 years. Construction proved to be an enormous endeavor. The need to work, in some areas, at over a mile beneath the sea’s chilly, windswept surface, called for cutting edge technology. One of the advanced techniques employed because of the ruggedness of the ocean floor involved two remote control robots. These robots performed the necessary excavation duties in order to prepare the ocean floor for the piping. Deep, dark, and chilly, of course, but let’s not forget that at the deepest part, 2953 feet beneath the surface, the water pressure, exceeding 1500 psi would crush a human skull. Of course divers in a mini-sub or bell could do the job, but why waste the energy when there are remote controlled robots about? The enormous lengths of pipes were of course assembled above the surface. This required two of the world’s largest pipe-laying ships, working in tandem, assembling pipes and continuously laying them on the ocean floor.
Norsk Hydro obviously felt the risk and exertion of mind power and bank accounts was well worth it because the pipeline opened in 2006, and has been pumping its crude between Norway and the U.K. since then. The length of the pipeline is 746 miles in its entirety, and was assembled in two great sections. The cost of the project was 3.3 billion dollars and received financial backing from several companies, including Centrica, Statoil, Norsk Hydro, Royal Dutch Shell, and Conoco Phillips. The total annual capacity of the Langeled Pipeline is around 70 billion cubic feet of natural gas, supplying a fifth of Britain’s need.
About the Author: Robert Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
This engineering marvel was quite an undertaking by the Norwegian oil company, Norsk Hydro. Their hopes were to connect their massive discovery, the Ormen Lange undersea gas field, to oil processing and refining plants in Britain. The pipeline, at its completion, would hope to carry 20% of Britain’s necessary gas supplies each year, and provide a stable, reliable supply for at least the next 40 years. Construction proved to be an enormous endeavor. The need to work, in some areas, at over a mile beneath the sea’s chilly, windswept surface, called for cutting edge technology. One of the advanced techniques employed because of the ruggedness of the ocean floor involved two remote control robots. These robots performed the necessary excavation duties in order to prepare the ocean floor for the piping. Deep, dark, and chilly, of course, but let’s not forget that at the deepest part, 2953 feet beneath the surface, the water pressure, exceeding 1500 psi would crush a human skull. Of course divers in a mini-sub or bell could do the job, but why waste the energy when there are remote controlled robots about? The enormous lengths of pipes were of course assembled above the surface. This required two of the world’s largest pipe-laying ships, working in tandem, assembling pipes and continuously laying them on the ocean floor.
Norsk Hydro obviously felt the risk and exertion of mind power and bank accounts was well worth it because the pipeline opened in 2006, and has been pumping its crude between Norway and the U.K. since then. The length of the pipeline is 746 miles in its entirety, and was assembled in two great sections. The cost of the project was 3.3 billion dollars and received financial backing from several companies, including Centrica, Statoil, Norsk Hydro, Royal Dutch Shell, and Conoco Phillips. The total annual capacity of the Langeled Pipeline is around 70 billion cubic feet of natural gas, supplying a fifth of Britain’s need.
About the Author: Robert Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Russia and Algeria: Natural Gas Partners?
Natural gas price fluctuation in different areas is directly associated with the number of suppliers and distributors that are competing for shares of the market. Much in the same way that filling stations jockey for interchangeably lower prices one week and higher prices the next, large natural gas purveyors compete with each other for their consumers’ dollars. This competition is healthy and helps to create a healthier economy with more honest, realistic pricing because of different companies keeping each other in check. When companies band together and coordinate their prices, all competition is gone and the threat of skyrocketing prices is a very realistic one.
Russia controls over a quarter of the world’s gas reserves. No other single country possesses as many large fertile gas fields. Presently, however, Russia is experiencing a bit of a squeeze. The natural gas rich nation seems to have been overextending itself in exporting natural gas to other countries in the last decade, while needs at home have been exponentially increasing. The Russian gas giant, Gazprom has found itself deeply in debt and taking all sorts of options into consideration to heal its woes. Perhaps that explained the drastic measure taken in April 2006. All of Europe watched anxiously as Russia and Algeria, Europe’s two largest suppliers of natural gas, entered into talks in 2006 to form an alliance between the two nation’s natural gas companies. The two powerhouses signed an agreement, a “memorandum of understanding”, calling for a coordination of gas prices, which could have inevitably driven up prices in Europe and beyond. Perhaps the cooperation of Algeria could help Russia more immediately by helping raise prices of gas across Europe and help Gazprom get back into the black. With Gazprom supplying 25% of the European Union’s natural gas needs and Algeria providing another 10%, some countries within the EU, such as Italy, for instance, would experience unavoidable situations where dependence upon Russia and Algeria combined would reach a whopping 72% of market share. Corruption would be inevitable and smaller countries would experience cold winters or empty pockets. Could Russia and Algeria actually work together to create a natural gas cartel in Europe?
Apparently not. Europe collectively breathed a sigh of relief this week when the union was rendered null and void and the collective agreement between the two state-owned gas companies was dissolved. The threat is still a viable one, however. Once two countries enter talks that would collectively make themselves richer, the lure is strong to return to the table again until an agreement sticks.
About the Author: Robert Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Russia controls over a quarter of the world’s gas reserves. No other single country possesses as many large fertile gas fields. Presently, however, Russia is experiencing a bit of a squeeze. The natural gas rich nation seems to have been overextending itself in exporting natural gas to other countries in the last decade, while needs at home have been exponentially increasing. The Russian gas giant, Gazprom has found itself deeply in debt and taking all sorts of options into consideration to heal its woes. Perhaps that explained the drastic measure taken in April 2006. All of Europe watched anxiously as Russia and Algeria, Europe’s two largest suppliers of natural gas, entered into talks in 2006 to form an alliance between the two nation’s natural gas companies. The two powerhouses signed an agreement, a “memorandum of understanding”, calling for a coordination of gas prices, which could have inevitably driven up prices in Europe and beyond. Perhaps the cooperation of Algeria could help Russia more immediately by helping raise prices of gas across Europe and help Gazprom get back into the black. With Gazprom supplying 25% of the European Union’s natural gas needs and Algeria providing another 10%, some countries within the EU, such as Italy, for instance, would experience unavoidable situations where dependence upon Russia and Algeria combined would reach a whopping 72% of market share. Corruption would be inevitable and smaller countries would experience cold winters or empty pockets. Could Russia and Algeria actually work together to create a natural gas cartel in Europe?
Apparently not. Europe collectively breathed a sigh of relief this week when the union was rendered null and void and the collective agreement between the two state-owned gas companies was dissolved. The threat is still a viable one, however. Once two countries enter talks that would collectively make themselves richer, the lure is strong to return to the table again until an agreement sticks.
About the Author: Robert Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Caspian Sea Oil and Gas Reserves
The Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water in the entire world. It provides beautiful views to the countries that border it, and an essential port for trade between these countries. A large amount of the world’s caviar is harvested from the large sturgeon population that thrives in its murky depths. The largest reason for dissention and political dispute between the neighboring nations of the Caspian is its enormous potential for some of the largest natural resource yields in the entire world.
The Caspian Sea is bordered by five nations. Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, and Turkmenistan, all have interest in the development of this huge body of water. The three northern countries, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan, signed a 2003 agreement dividing the northern 64% of the sea amongst themselves. Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have steadily increased their oil exploration in the region since the 1990s and have been rewarded with a 70% increase in oil production.
The Caspian, in terms of oil output, is believed to hold up to 200 billion barrels of oil. This amount would be as much as a quarter of the entire Earth’s reserves and would be worth upwards of 10 trillion dollars in today’s market. Controversy erupted with the dissolution of the Soviet Union; many of the newly independent states did not recognize the ancient treaty signed by Russia and Persia that divided the lake in the middle. Preliminary solutions have been reached in the interim, dividing the region amongst the five nations, but of course, not every nation feels the new terms of division are satisfactory.
Conflicts are sure to arise between all five nations in the future because of the current situation. Currently, several oil fields are in dispute because they are shared between two or three of the countries. Iran and Azerbaijan both claim exploratory rights to the same fields; Iran has even opened fire on Azerbaijani ships venturing into this disputed area. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are grappling over a shared field because one country feels the other is pumping much more than its fair share of oil.
The natural gas deposits in this area can also be seen as over 25% of the entire Earth’s proven supplies. The profit from the extraction of natural gas is a point of contention between these countries as well. The United States and other countries that import resources from the region are watching closely as these discussions take place, because the outcome weighs heavily upon the future energy supplies of the world.
About the Author: Robert Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
The Caspian Sea is bordered by five nations. Russia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Iran, and Turkmenistan, all have interest in the development of this huge body of water. The three northern countries, Russia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan, signed a 2003 agreement dividing the northern 64% of the sea amongst themselves. Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan have steadily increased their oil exploration in the region since the 1990s and have been rewarded with a 70% increase in oil production.
The Caspian, in terms of oil output, is believed to hold up to 200 billion barrels of oil. This amount would be as much as a quarter of the entire Earth’s reserves and would be worth upwards of 10 trillion dollars in today’s market. Controversy erupted with the dissolution of the Soviet Union; many of the newly independent states did not recognize the ancient treaty signed by Russia and Persia that divided the lake in the middle. Preliminary solutions have been reached in the interim, dividing the region amongst the five nations, but of course, not every nation feels the new terms of division are satisfactory.
Conflicts are sure to arise between all five nations in the future because of the current situation. Currently, several oil fields are in dispute because they are shared between two or three of the countries. Iran and Azerbaijan both claim exploratory rights to the same fields; Iran has even opened fire on Azerbaijani ships venturing into this disputed area. Meanwhile, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan are grappling over a shared field because one country feels the other is pumping much more than its fair share of oil.
The natural gas deposits in this area can also be seen as over 25% of the entire Earth’s proven supplies. The profit from the extraction of natural gas is a point of contention between these countries as well. The United States and other countries that import resources from the region are watching closely as these discussions take place, because the outcome weighs heavily upon the future energy supplies of the world.
About the Author: Robert Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Sunday, December 9, 2007
Bolivia: Natural Gas Wealthy
The South American nation of Bolivia is second only to Venezuela in natural gas reserves in South America; third to the United States in the Western Hemisphere. The way these large supplies are managed, distributed, and moderated changed on May 1, 2006, when Bolivian President Evo Morales revoked all allowance of private companies capitalizing on Bolivia’s natural gas rich land. Until that day, private companies such as the Brazilian company, Petrobas, and American company, Exxon Mobile, had been allowed to amass much wealth by exploiting Bolivia’s bountiful natural gas reserves. Morales reflected this idea, remarking, “the time has come, the awaited day, a historic day in which Bolivia retakes absolute control of our natural resources.” Going even further, saying, “the looting by foreign companies has ended.”
Morales statement had been expected but the further action taken, namely, deploying state troops to gas fields, ensuring the companies adhered to his edict, had not been expected. Bolivian reclamation of natural gas resources followed shortly behind similar action taken by their larger neighbor, Venezuela, which recently voided private companies’ drilling contracts at 32 oil fields, evicting them permanently if they would not agree to cede 60 percent stake in all future oil yields to the state owned oil company. Another South American neighbor, Ecuador, has also taken legal action to limit profits made by foreign companies while drilling on Ecuadorian land.
Morales and Bolivia cannot completely sever their ties to these foreign natural gas companies as much as they wish to. In some ways, Morales’ move can be seen as a sort of bluff, because, Bolivia does not possess the technology, geologists, or equipment to extract the natural gas from their sturdy reserves on their own. His assertion can be seen as merely a move that reflects the nationalist attitudes prevalent in many South American countries in the present day. These ideas evoke feelings of pride within citizens of each country, empowering them with the desire to take back all these special resources that previous leaders had so freely given away for capital gain. To truly be free from the fetters of these foreign natural gas companies, Morales will most certainly encourage the scientific population of his citizenry to become more knowledgeable themselves in the methodology of exploration and extraction of these reserves, in order to seize not only control of the reserves, but to control the means of production that would keep the wealth provided by these rich natural resources within the borders of Bolivia.
About the Author: Robert Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Morales statement had been expected but the further action taken, namely, deploying state troops to gas fields, ensuring the companies adhered to his edict, had not been expected. Bolivian reclamation of natural gas resources followed shortly behind similar action taken by their larger neighbor, Venezuela, which recently voided private companies’ drilling contracts at 32 oil fields, evicting them permanently if they would not agree to cede 60 percent stake in all future oil yields to the state owned oil company. Another South American neighbor, Ecuador, has also taken legal action to limit profits made by foreign companies while drilling on Ecuadorian land.
Morales and Bolivia cannot completely sever their ties to these foreign natural gas companies as much as they wish to. In some ways, Morales’ move can be seen as a sort of bluff, because, Bolivia does not possess the technology, geologists, or equipment to extract the natural gas from their sturdy reserves on their own. His assertion can be seen as merely a move that reflects the nationalist attitudes prevalent in many South American countries in the present day. These ideas evoke feelings of pride within citizens of each country, empowering them with the desire to take back all these special resources that previous leaders had so freely given away for capital gain. To truly be free from the fetters of these foreign natural gas companies, Morales will most certainly encourage the scientific population of his citizenry to become more knowledgeable themselves in the methodology of exploration and extraction of these reserves, in order to seize not only control of the reserves, but to control the means of production that would keep the wealth provided by these rich natural resources within the borders of Bolivia.
About the Author: Robert Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Saturday, December 1, 2007
The Military: United States’ Oil Consuming Lion
Perhaps all Americans are aware that the United States is in no way threatened of losing it’s place as the top oil consuming nation in the world. What some may not be aware of is the immense amount of oil the United States military itself uses each and every year. In fact, if the U.S. military were a country, it would be the 38th largest consumer of petroleum in the world, consuming around 160 million barrels of oil each year. This gargantuan usage amounts to over $10 billion of oil by today’s price levels.
The United States government consumes 2% of the entire amount of oil used in the nation each year; 97% of that usage swallowed by the Department of Defense. The Department of Defense used an average of 440,000 barrels of oil each and every day in 2004. That amount of oil is greater than the daily output of one of the nation’s most generously producing oil fields, Prudhoe Bay in Alaska.
All of the military usage is not for tanks, ships, aircraft, and the like, but most of it is. Only 25% of the military oil usage is for heating and powering their many large government buildings. The other 75% of military oil usage is for what is referred to as “mobility” type fuel. This includes all the fuel the military uses for every type of moving machinery, from attack vehicles to essential power generators.
Truth be told, as of late, the U.S. military has taken various productive steps in efforts to curb its seemingly unquenchable appetite for petroleum. The Department of Defense has spent many hours researching and implementing renewable energy sources in many of their facilities across the nation and world. They have recently become one of the largest single generators and consumers of renewable power in the entire nation. For example, at the U.S. Naval installation near Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval engineers have successfully installed and brought into operation a pair of wind powered turbines that are able to meet a quarter of the base’s power needs during the windy months of the year. They are even recycling their used cooking oil at the base and mixing it with diesel fuel, producing a biodiesel blend that fuels many of the base’s service vehicles. With these efforts and more, the U.S. military hopes to decrease its usage and also its need for foreign oil. Private business and transportation companies could profit by adopting new renewable strategies as well.
About the Author: Robert Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
The United States government consumes 2% of the entire amount of oil used in the nation each year; 97% of that usage swallowed by the Department of Defense. The Department of Defense used an average of 440,000 barrels of oil each and every day in 2004. That amount of oil is greater than the daily output of one of the nation’s most generously producing oil fields, Prudhoe Bay in Alaska.
All of the military usage is not for tanks, ships, aircraft, and the like, but most of it is. Only 25% of the military oil usage is for heating and powering their many large government buildings. The other 75% of military oil usage is for what is referred to as “mobility” type fuel. This includes all the fuel the military uses for every type of moving machinery, from attack vehicles to essential power generators.
Truth be told, as of late, the U.S. military has taken various productive steps in efforts to curb its seemingly unquenchable appetite for petroleum. The Department of Defense has spent many hours researching and implementing renewable energy sources in many of their facilities across the nation and world. They have recently become one of the largest single generators and consumers of renewable power in the entire nation. For example, at the U.S. Naval installation near Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, naval engineers have successfully installed and brought into operation a pair of wind powered turbines that are able to meet a quarter of the base’s power needs during the windy months of the year. They are even recycling their used cooking oil at the base and mixing it with diesel fuel, producing a biodiesel blend that fuels many of the base’s service vehicles. With these efforts and more, the U.S. military hopes to decrease its usage and also its need for foreign oil. Private business and transportation companies could profit by adopting new renewable strategies as well.
About the Author: Robert Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
Differences Between Types of Offshore Oil Platforms
The continuous need for oil in all parts of the world has motivated the development of new ways to discover and obtain it. Because large supplies of oil are often found offshore, in oceans and lakes where fault lines and specific rock formations occur, oil companies and their engineers have pioneered new ways of drilling by developing many different types of offshore oil rigs.
The first oil platform in the world was built in 1947. The Oil Rocks platform was built 25 miles off the coast of Azerbaijan in the Caspian Sea and is a functional city with a population of 5000 people. There are over 100 miles of paved streets on this, the world’s largest oil platform. There are shops, restaurants, even a library. With all workers living and working together, this engineering marvel has been in existence for 60 years.
There are basically three types of offshore platforms that have developed over the years. Concrete platform types have concrete legs made on land and towed out to see by tugboats and once in place, extend all the way to the sea floor; the platform is then simply mounted atop them. Jack up platform types have a concrete foundation on the ocean floor but sit atop metal legs that can often telescope and retract as the surface of the sea rises and falls, depending on the season and weather patterns. The last type of oil platform actually floats and is held in place by enormous sea anchors that rest on the ocean floor. These floating platforms are the largest movable structures on Earth. The Petronius platform, an oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico, depending on criteria could be considered the world’s tallest structure, standing 2000 feet above the floor of the ocean. It is partially a floating structure, so the title still rests safely with more typical earthbound structures such as the Petronus Towers in Malaysia.
The drilling for oil on these rigs works much the same as their land based cousins. The largest difference between the two is the offshore rig must find a place to store the oil when it is released. The Hibernia platform, an oil and gas platform off the coast of Newfoundland, stores its precious crude in large storage tanks that fill the empty space underneath the floating oil production island. These tanks are housed beneath along with ballast to help the 1.2 million ton island stay aright.
As oil exploration continues in this century, new engineering feats will surely be performed so that all nations’ thirst for oil can be continuously quenched.
About the Author: Robert Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
The first oil platform in the world was built in 1947. The Oil Rocks platform was built 25 miles off the coast of Azerbaijan in the Caspian Sea and is a functional city with a population of 5000 people. There are over 100 miles of paved streets on this, the world’s largest oil platform. There are shops, restaurants, even a library. With all workers living and working together, this engineering marvel has been in existence for 60 years.
There are basically three types of offshore platforms that have developed over the years. Concrete platform types have concrete legs made on land and towed out to see by tugboats and once in place, extend all the way to the sea floor; the platform is then simply mounted atop them. Jack up platform types have a concrete foundation on the ocean floor but sit atop metal legs that can often telescope and retract as the surface of the sea rises and falls, depending on the season and weather patterns. The last type of oil platform actually floats and is held in place by enormous sea anchors that rest on the ocean floor. These floating platforms are the largest movable structures on Earth. The Petronius platform, an oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico, depending on criteria could be considered the world’s tallest structure, standing 2000 feet above the floor of the ocean. It is partially a floating structure, so the title still rests safely with more typical earthbound structures such as the Petronus Towers in Malaysia.
The drilling for oil on these rigs works much the same as their land based cousins. The largest difference between the two is the offshore rig must find a place to store the oil when it is released. The Hibernia platform, an oil and gas platform off the coast of Newfoundland, stores its precious crude in large storage tanks that fill the empty space underneath the floating oil production island. These tanks are housed beneath along with ballast to help the 1.2 million ton island stay aright.
As oil exploration continues in this century, new engineering feats will surely be performed so that all nations’ thirst for oil can be continuously quenched.
About the Author: Robert Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com.
Oil and the Supertanker
From the beginning of oil exploration and discovery, the need to transport oil to consumers existed. The first successful oil tanker to be built and successfully carry crude was the Zoroaster, which in 1878 shuttled petroleum across the Caspian Sea for what was then the Russian Empire. The idea for this tanker was spawned in the mind of Ludwig Nobel, brother of Alfred Nobel, noted Swedish chemist for whom the esteemed Nobel Prize was named. The free surface effect of liquids in ships had proven the end of all previous ships. The intense movement of waves in the sea would make the liquid shift from one side to the other within the ships, offsetting the ballast and forcing ships to tip and often sink. Nobel solved these problems, and the impressive tanker was built. The Nobel brothers had four years prior developed quite an interest in oil exploration and distribution, forming the Nobel Brothers Oil Extracting Partnership. The brothers built upon the success of this first ship by designing and building a whole fleet of ships to transport the large amounts of oil they were extracting in the Caspian Basin of the Russian Empire.
The next century saw more advancement in shipbuilding for oil transport. These ships became larger and larger over the next few decades, building upon the Nobel brothers’ initial advances. The largest ships were referred to informally as supertankers. These ships carry over 250,000 tons of weight, capable of transporting over two million barrels of oil. The largest supertanker ever built was the Jahre Viking, weighing 564,763 tons. Initially, most tankers were single-hulled. In single-hulled tankers, the hull also acts as the wall of the oil tanks, making any collision a threat of leakage or spilling. Most new tankers are double hulled, possessing a space between the walls of the oil storage tanks and the outer wall of the ships, making outer hull damage not such a threat for inner oil leakage. Proponents of double hull ships use the property which makes oil and water repel each other, hydrostatic balance, as part of their argument, insisting that this pressure exists at such a high level within double hulled tankers, and allows them a better chance at preventing oil spillage should a collision occur. Research has shown that through the development of these double hulled ships, oil has reached its destination in a much safer manner, with collisions resulting in a third less spills compared to single hulled ships. Continued development of tankers is necessary to insure the safe transport of this valuable resource across waters to consumers.
About the Author: Robert Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com
The next century saw more advancement in shipbuilding for oil transport. These ships became larger and larger over the next few decades, building upon the Nobel brothers’ initial advances. The largest ships were referred to informally as supertankers. These ships carry over 250,000 tons of weight, capable of transporting over two million barrels of oil. The largest supertanker ever built was the Jahre Viking, weighing 564,763 tons. Initially, most tankers were single-hulled. In single-hulled tankers, the hull also acts as the wall of the oil tanks, making any collision a threat of leakage or spilling. Most new tankers are double hulled, possessing a space between the walls of the oil storage tanks and the outer wall of the ships, making outer hull damage not such a threat for inner oil leakage. Proponents of double hull ships use the property which makes oil and water repel each other, hydrostatic balance, as part of their argument, insisting that this pressure exists at such a high level within double hulled tankers, and allows them a better chance at preventing oil spillage should a collision occur. Research has shown that through the development of these double hulled ships, oil has reached its destination in a much safer manner, with collisions resulting in a third less spills compared to single hulled ships. Continued development of tankers is necessary to insure the safe transport of this valuable resource across waters to consumers.
About the Author: Robert Jent is the president of Triple Diamond Energy Corp. Triple Diamond Energy specializes in acquiring the highest quality prime oil and gas properties. For more information, visit http://www.triplediamondenergycorp.blogspot.com
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