News Highlights

Steven Losh to discuss his research into underground movement of oil, gas

Douglas R. Moore research lecture

Steven Losh's research helps oil companies find undiscovered fields of oil, and the Geology faculty member talked about his work during the annual Douglas R. Moore Faculty Research Lecture.

2008-04-15
By Dan Linehan, Free Press Staff Writer [published in The Free Press, Mankato, MN, 4/13/2008]

There are between one and two trillion barrels of oil left in the Earth. There’s a fierce debate on how much crude is left and, therefore, how long life as we know it can continue.

For 20 years, Steven Losh hasn’t greatly concerned himself with how much oil is left. It’s his job to find it.

The assistant professor of Geology at Minnesota State University studies how oils and gases move beneath the Earth’s surface.

It sounds downright academic, until Losh starts talk­ing about his work, and what it means to us. Solar and wind power may be in vogue, but it’s oil and coal that provides 85 percent of our energy.

The internationally known researcher will give a pub­lic lecture on his research Monday at 7 p. m. at Ostrander Auditorium.

Given the vastness of the oil industry, Losh can only illustrate “a corner” of the work that goes into research like his.

“The easy stuff’s been found,” Losh said of oil. What’s left is typically under the ocean floor, and companies are moving far­ther offshore to find it.

It can cost $1 billion to prepare to tap an offshore oil field, so it pays to know where the oil is.

One method relies on “seismic reflection,” where sound waves are sent from the ocean’s surface. The waves bounce off the ocean floor and return back to the surface with data about whether liquid is present beneath the floor.

It’s allowed Losh to learn that, in one case, an oil patch moved about 500 feet per year. That sounds slow, but it’s fast in a geo­logical sense.

Another method relies on so- called “gas washing,” whereby natural gas seeps through underground oil, removing certain volatile chemical compounds from the oil.

A chemist can analyze that oil, and tell how deep the gas washing occurred. That can point to deeper pockets of oil.

While Losh’s research is funded both by the oil com­panies and the federal gov­ernment, he said he hopes the kind of money going into oil speculation can be spent on alternative ener­gy.

And instead of blaming oil companies — which are in business to satisfy our demands, after all — con­sumers should simply use less oil, he suggests.

Email this article | Permanent link | Topstories news | Topstories news archives