Is there any Iraqi oil drilling installation on key geologic faults in
the underlying oil basins?

Basically, considering the underlying geology of the Iraqi oil basins,
are there drilling installation which are located where they could
drill to underlying fault - or otherwise - weak geological structures
which may drain the oil basin into more porus layers.  Basically, is
Saddam drilling anywhere where he could potentially drain the oil
fields.

---

Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 11 Mar 2003 22:42 PST

Hello hellblazer-ga,

There's a lot of information available on the geology of the Iraqi oil
fields. What kind of information would constitute convincing evidence
for either a "yes" or "no" answer to your question.  Thanks.

czh

---

Request for Question Clarification by larre-ga on 16 Mar 2003 14:48 PST

Hi Hellblazer,

There's a wealth of speculation and also any number of sources of maps
and explanations on the layman's level. Real answers, backed up by
scientific analysis and engineering test data, are extraordinarily
expensive, since the primary consumers of such reports have the
resources to pay such prices (i.e. in the range of $40,000 and up - or
£25,000).

PGal.CO.UK Report List
http://www.pgal.co.uk/reports.htm

If you are interested in making the correlations yourself, I will be
happy to offer you a descriptive listing of well-chosen resources
that:

Define Middle Eastern oil fields with relation to political borders
Offer simplified stratigraphic maps, including fault zones
Provide Locations of Iraqi drilling sites

Most of these resources are available online, a few of the articles
and/or abstracts, plus several of the U.S.G.S. maps are available only
in print, at nominal cost.

larre-ga

---

Request for Question Clarification by larre-ga on 17 Mar 2003 00:43 PST

Thank you.

I've made significant progress on your listing. I've gathered a
comprehensive set of resources, and I will finish cataloging them, and
post the Answer for you tomorrow. (3/17/2003). I'm past the age to be
pulling all nighters.  :-)

Thanks for asking!

I'll organize this report into four sections, or listings. I'll start
with Basic Facts about Iraqi oil and its oil industry, as well as
resource for geologic concepts, plus Glossaries that will help you
understand what you're reading. I'll provide a list of targeted
articles and data on Iraq geology, explaining why each subject or
article is useful to your analysis. I will provide a list of maps and
mapping tools that you may use to investigate and analyse your
premise, as well as resources which will enable you to pinpoint the
current locations of Iraqi drilling activity.

I will also provide a bibliography of additional resources, should you
wish to study more technical or advanced scientific work in the field.
I hope I've correctly assessed the level of materials which will prove
most useful to you. I've tried to avoid both over simplification and
information that is too highly technical. If I've guessed incorrectly
about the technical level of any of the essential information, please
let me know, and I will locate a more appropriately understandable
resource as a replacement.


**********************************************************************
**********************************************************************
IRAQI OIL 	AND OIL INDUSTRY - BASIC FACTS
**********************************************************************


IRAQ OIL AND GAS RESERVES AND OIL INDUSTRY
******************************************

This document outlines the current state of Iraq's oil reserves and
oil industry. It provides background information about oil production,
foreign investment, and location of Iraq's oil drilling areas.
Clickable inline links lead to the original, in-depth reports from
which the outline info is derived.

Iraq currently possesses (as of March, 2003) some 113 billion gallons
of oil reserves (oil underground), making it the second largest
currently known oil supply in the world, following Saudi Arabia. Iraq
is almost literally floating on an underground sea of oil.

CooperativeResearch.org
Iraq Oil and Gas Reserves and Oil Industry. 
http://www.cooperativeresearch.org/oil/Iraqoilgas.htm


GEOLOGIC CONCEPTS AND GLOSSARIES
********************************

Odyssey - Petroleum Geology (Simple Overview)
http://www.totalfinaelf.com/ho/odyssee/us/index.htm (Requires FLASH)

Geologic Glossary (General)
http://www.amateurgeologist.com/content/glossary/glossary_a.html

Geologic Glossary (Petroleum Geology)
http://www.totalfinaelf.com/ho/odyssee/us/gloss/gloss.htm

I've assembled a collection of individual links to key concepts and
technologies. These would all be covered in a typical petroleum
geology textbook, however, such a compilation doesn't seem to be
available in its entirety, online. In the Additional Study Resources
section below, I've listed a couple of the better offerings in this
category of texts.

Seismic Surveying
What Is This Seismic Stuff? by Phonse Fagan
http://www.oilworks.com/New/explorec.html

Hydraulic Fracturing
American Association of Petroleum Geologists
http://www.aapg.org/divisions/dpa/gac/papers/hydraulic_fracturing.html

Oil Extraction (Simplified)
Conoco Phillips Teaching Tools
Extracting Oil: Advances in Technology
http://www.teachingtools.com/CrudeEnergy/AdvancedTechnology.htm

How Oil Drilling Works, by Craig C. Freudenrich, Ph.D. (Simplified)
http://www.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling.htm

Russian Experts on Seismic Consequences of Iraq War
Johnson's Russia List - January 25, 2003
http://www.cdi.org/russia/johnson/7033-18.cfm

STRATIRAPHY OF OIL BEARING FORMATIONS (Print)
McCabe, Peter J. (U. S. Geol. Surv., Denver, CO, United States),
Sequence stratigraphy in the search for hydrocarbons in nonmarine
strataCarter, L. M. H. (editor) (U. S. Geol. Surv., United States),
USGS research on energy resources 1992; program and abstracts, C 1074,
p. 50, 1992. Meeting: Eighth V. E. McKelvey forum on Mineral and
energy resources , USGS research on energy resources, 1992, Houston,
TX, United States, Feb. 17-20, 1992.
http://usgs-georef.cos.com/cgi-bin/getRec?un=1992-006657

EM Applications
Detection and/or Monitoring of Oil Movement Underground
EM in the 21st Century – Looking for Oil, Gas and Water, by Karen Rae
Christopherson
http://www.whoi.edu/science/AOPE/emworkshop/pdf/christopherson.pdf



**********************************************************************
**********************************************************************
PETROLEUM GEOLOGY IN IRAQ/SAUDI ARABIA
**********************************************************************

The definitive public resource describing the localized petroleum
geology of the Iraq region is: U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2202-E,
Petroleum Geology and Total Petroleum Systems of the Widyan Basin and
Interior Platform of Saudi Arabia and Iraq, by James E. Fox and Thomas
S. Ahlbrandt. The document (in .pdf format, requires Adobe Acrobat
Reader) is linked from the USGS Bulletin page. The 748K text document
contains all the same information in the 4.3M Bulletin format version.

The entire document is useful, specifically relative to your query,
the following sections are of particular interest:

Structural Setting
Stratigraphy
Migration
Seals and Overburden
Tectonics - Petroleum Field Iraq
Hydrocarbon Migration Model

U.S. Geological Survey Bulletin 2202-E
Petroleum Geology and Total Petroleum Systems of the Widyan Basin and
Interior Platform of Saudi Arabia and Iraq
By James E. Fox and Thomas S. Ahlbrandt
http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/b2202-e/


Stratigraphic Relations of Arabian Jurassic Oil

This is a generative document describing the major stratigraphy of
Saudi Arabia and Iraq. You may search on individual strata names to
acquire additional information about the permeability potential of
each strata. The ability of oil to migrate or be distributed from
sealed reservoirs would be dependent upon the permeability of
surrounding layers.


Stratigraphic Relations of Arabian Jurassic Oil
Max Steineke († 1898-1952), R.A. Bramkamp († 1910-1958) and N.J.
Sander
http://membres.lycos.fr/middle_east/Bramkamp/Bramkamp.html


**********************************************************************
**********************************************************************
IRAQ MAPS AND MAPPING TOOLS
**********************************************************************

Interactive Mapping Tool

Cornell University's Digital Earth project offers a mapping tool which
allows the integration of various sets of metadata onto a single map.
This is a Java application. You may superimpose various datasets upon
a map of the Mideast region, including oil production fields.

Cornell University Digital Earth
Interactive Mapping Tool
http://atlas.geo.cornell.edu/ima.html

Iraq Oil Fields and Facilities
http://www.iraqresearch.com/html/map24.html

Iraq Oilfields Map
http://www.iraqresearch.com/html/map16.html

Iraq Oil Infrastructures
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/middle_east_and_asia/iraq_oil_2003.jpg

University of Texas Iraqi Map Directory
Perry-Castañeda Library Map Collection
Links to over 100 Iraq maps
http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/iraq.html

USGS Digital Map Compilation
Maps Showing Geology, Oil and Gas Fields and Geologic Provinces of the
Arabian Peninsula, Richard M. Pollastro, Amy S. Karshbaum, and Roland
J. Viger
http://geology.cr.usgs.gov/energy/WorldEnergy/OF97-470B/

Satellite Images of Important Locations in Iraq
Iraq From Space
http://www.methaz.com/blogpics/iraq.html


**********************************************************************
**********************************************************************
ADDITIONAL STUDY RESOURCES
**********************************************************************

Reports and Articles:

Mapping Geologic Structure of Basement and Role of Basement in
Hydrocarbon Entrapment*, by Parker Gay1
http://www.searchanddiscovery.com/documents/geophysical/gay/index.htm

Background Briefing on Oil as a Weapon of Terror
U.S. Department of Defense
http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jan2003/t01242003_t0124sdo.html


Bibliographies:

Oil and Gas Production Induced Earthquake References
http://www.nyx.net/~dcypser/induceq/pis.html

AAPG HEDBERG CONFERENCE
“Evaluating the Hydrocarbon Sealing Potential of Faults and Caprocks”
http://www.nyx.net/~dcypser/induceq/pis.html

Geology of the Middle East Oil Province 
http://membres.lycos.fr/middle_east/entrez.html


Books:

Nontechnical Guide to Petroleum Geology, Exploration, Drilling, and
Production, 2nd Ed., by Norman J. Hyne, Ph.D.
http://www.rigzone.com/store/product.asp?p_id=98

Fundamentals of Petroleum, 4th Edition, by Kate Van Dyke 
http://www.rigzone.com/store/product.asp?p_id=364&c_id=6


**********************************************************************
**********************************************************************
SEARCH STRAGEGY

Google Search Terms:

"petroleum geology" exploration OR drilling OR "field development"
"oil fields" wells iraq locations
iraq geology petroleum OR oil
iraq geology stratigraphy
iraq geology sedimentology

It's been a particular pleasure to prepare this report for you. My
personal opinion of the feasibility of such a maneuver trends toward
the negative side. The technology and capability exist, yes. However,
time factors, monitoring and delectability are such that if would be
difficult to accomplish as a real world scenario. I hope the resources
I've gathered provide the knowledge for you to study the subject more
thoroughly than I, and draw your own conclusions.

Should you have any questions about the materials or links provided,
please, feel free to ask.

--larre

This is great!  The best thing about getting this answer is the tools
I can use for the many other geodetic data questions I have.

Many thanks!

Interesting question and thought...
I have no idea, but let's hope not...

ragingacademic

That sounds what I'm looking for.  If the information is such that I
can spend the work correllating it myself, that's a good enough
answer.

Thanks, Hellblazer. I appreciate your rating and we appreciate your
patronage, also.

--larre

I'm confused by the loaded question. Isn't the point of drilling for
oil to "potentially drain the oil fields"?

Well, there is a small difference.  In one case, drilling for oil
drains the oil from the geology and uses the oil for
fuel/plastics/whatever.  In the case I was concerned about, the
drilling rig is used to drill into a weak structure, place explosives,
and drain the oil out of the geological pocket.  This would at minimum
increase the cost of extracting the oil.  Any time it takes more than
a barrel of oil to extract a barrel of oil, you mine as well leave it
alone.