Oil in NON-accesible places.

*Sorry for the delay of posting...
*This is strictly a blog for information of the sciences.
*I will not continue any previous blogs that do not include direct information about science.

Why the world is "running out of oil" when most of the world’s oilfields have only been half emptied? Some of the oil that has been located is trapped as droplets of oil in small cavities in the surrounding rock or is stuck to the walls of the underground cavity and cannot be accessed by the techniques currently used in the oil industry. To me, this does not by any means indicate that these oils are not able to accessed. This is simply a motivation to advance our knowledge about what CAN break through these bonding states which hold in the oil and to ultimately be able to use it since it is "such a necessity right now" that we have it...

The research from the Institute of Chemistry at University of Copenhagen may have come up with an explanation as to where and how North Sea(image of location shown below)

oil clings to underground rocks. This explanation could turn out to be the first step on the way to developing improved oil production techniques with the intent of increasing oil production from Danish oil fields.

This nano-science... --wiki. The study of the control of matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally nanotechnology deals with structures of the size 100 nanometers or smaller, and involves developing materials or devices within that size.

...(continued) group has investigated drill cores collected from North Sea oil fields using an atomic force microscope(a form of what was shown in an earlier post). Their investigations show that the spaces which contain oil have totally different surface qualities than expected from our knowledge of the minerals which make up the rock. The rocks which contain oil in the Danish part of the North Sea are primarily chalk(sort of like what we use on a chalkboard) For the first time investigations of this type have been carried out on chalk from an oil field in the North Sea. Pure mineral crystals, like this chalky substance have been tested in previous experiments, but investigation has shown that this specific chalk has a different and more complex structure.

The oil bearing layers in the subsurface are reminiscent of a sponge. The oil "hides" in tiny pores and gaps and only some of the oil can be pressed out of the chalk and into the borehole by injecting water into the chalk layer (water, really? That's it??). The rest is left behind as small droplets of oil surrounded by water either in small gaps in the rock or stuck to the walls of the pores. The chalk particles ought to repel oil if they act like particles of the mineral...

calcite--The main constituent of sedimentary rocks, like limestone(lots in Indiana),

...which chalk is almost 100% made up of. However the new investigations, carried out with a particularly powerful microscope, have shown that the surfaces of the pores in the chalk are partially covered in a material which oil can stick to. I guess the real question here is "How was the surface formed which acts as an adhesive to this rock?" Chalk is actually the casings of ancient algae. The algae gave their cases a type of "surface coating" to make them resistant to water. And it is probably this surface coating that we can see in action here, though I am not sure. I am just assuming so.

An understanding of how the oil clings to the chalk can possibly help develop a method to release it. If we can manage to squeeze even a few percent more oil out of the seabed under the North Sea it could be worth millions of Danish crowns (DKK) for Denmark...and I am sure Denmark wouldn't have much to complain about on its behalf.