(Conversation recorded on December 19th, 2023)
Show Summary
On this episode, geologist and entrepreneur Gareth Roberts joins Nate on the podcast to discuss the geological science behind how we find, extract, and deplete fossil hydrocarbons. Gareth and Nate also unpack how financial policy, government, and an energy transition interact with an aging hydrocarbon-based grid. What does all of this mean for our energy future? How can we use humor to process and make sense of these societal challenges? How do scientists, communicators, and planners come together to respond to such challenges?
About Gareth Roberts
Gareth is an entrepreneur and successful founder and leader of a large public oil and gas company. He was born in the UK and studied geology at Oxford University before going on to work for Texaco and Murphy Oil in the US and UK. In the 1980s he became independent and subsequently founded Denbury Resources (NYSE: DNR), which grew into a $10 billion company under his leadership. Gareth stepped down from Denbury 10 years ago and has since been involved in the creation of various businesses, including ones involved in carbon sequestration and helium exploration.
To watch this video episode on Youtube → https://youtu.be/MNtmuFpdNlc
Show Notes and Links to learn more:
00:35 – Gareth Robert works + info
00:58 – Denbury Resources
01:15 – Geology
02:05 – Scarab Beetle/dung beetle in Ancient Egyptian culture
04:02 – Carbon sequestration in the North Sea
08:51 – How geology affects the quality of wine – the terroir
09:12 – Peter Ward + TGS Episode
11:15 – M King Hubbert
11:31 – Colin Campbell
12:51 – Geology of Shale Oil
13:32 – EROI
13:57 – Permian Basin
14:20 – Very cheap monetary policy of the last 10 years
14:30 – 100 million barrels of oil/day globally
14:42 – US produces about 6 million barrels of shale oil/day
18:45 – Shale oil fields aren’t really made of shale – and we don’t really know the resource pattern of the oil there
20:21 – There is a lot natural gas as a byproduct of oil drilling – 30-40% of hydrocarbons that come out
21:38 – The recovery of oil in a conventional field is already low, and the shale oil recovery is even lower (Section 16.5.1 Recovery)
22:26 – Brownfield site
24:10 – All the valuable ways we use oil that aren’t burning it for fuel
25:40 – Haber-Bosch Process
25:48 – 60% of the nitrogen in our bodies has been fixed by the Haber-Bosch process
26:48 – Art Berman + TGS Episode
27:15 – All the things in a barrel of oil
28:40 – A barrel of oil contains 4.5 years of human labor (section 4.3)
31:30 – Oil at $-37/barrel in 2020
32:55 – Jevons Paradox
33:45 – Wind power is installed using fossil energy
34:40 – Nate’s Phd thesis on net energy
39:55 – Monty Python
40:03 – Terry Jones
44:16 – Spike Milligan
44:41 – Nazi Germany was not a place that had humor
47:46 – Renewable intermittency requiring back up
48:50 – New nuclear fission innovations
50:01 – Resource restrictions for electrifying vehicles
51:48 – Permanent carbon sequestration
52:49 – Jennifer Granholm
52:51 – Strategic petroleum reserve
53:33 – Renewables in the Texas and the UK market
55:10 – 85% of world’s oil/gas reserves are owned by national companies
56:55 – Rationing during the World War 2
1:03:32 – Scientists are wrong 95% of the time
1:03:50 – Our species is taking ⅔ of NPP for ourselves
Teaser photo credit: By Varistor60 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=59368531
