Geochemical Analysis of Two Samples of Bitumen from Jars Discovered on Muhut and Masirah Islands (Oman)

Two samples of bitumen were obtained, one from a torpedo jar (c. 3rd–8th C. AD) from Masirah island and one from a Tunisian jar (c. 18th C. AD) from Muhut island off the central coast of Oman. Steranes and terpanes, as well as isotope data on chromatographic fractions, were used as tools to characterize the bitumen. Comparison of data with those already acquired on bitumen from torpedo jars from Thailand, Iran, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Saudi Arabia, India, and oil seeps from Iran and Iraq allowed us to conclude that the bitumen originated from different areas of southwest Iran. Those of the Muhut jar were likely from Khuzistan, whereas those from Masirah island appear to have been sourced from Kermanshah. These findings are in keeping with other similar geochemical studies undertaken on bitumen lined vessels from across the region (see more below).

Evaluación del uso de sensores remotos para identificar manchas de crudo en áreas costa afuera del Uruguay

El uso de Sensores Remotos para la captura de datos de la superficie terrestre y marina constituye un área de investigación muy activa en los últimos 20 años. Una de las posibles aplicaciones es la detección de hidrocarburos en cuerpos de agua, bien sea con fines ambientales o para la prospección de posibles yacimientos petrolíferos. Desde el punto de vista geológico, en el margen continental uruguayo se localizan tres cuencas sedimentarias: Punta del Este, Pelotas y Oriental del Plata, las cuales presentan posibilidades de contener acumulaciones de hidrocarburos. En este trabajo se propone la utilización de la teledetección para la identificación de manchas de crudo u oil seeps en áreas marinas. Se evalúan las distintas técnicas de percepción remota para la detección de oil seeps. Mediante una revisión del estado del arte, se establece que los sensores activos satelitales de radar de apertura sintética (SAR), presentan mejor desempeño en la detección de crudo que los pasivos. Posteriormente, se define una metodología sencilla y replicable que comprende el preprocesamiento y procesamiento de las imágenes SAR junto a la implementación de un algoritmo de detección de crudo que ha sido ampliamente probado y de fácil implementación, como lo es el de Brekke y Solberg de 2005. Luego de validar la metodología en áreas piloto del Canal de Santa Bárbara y el Río de la Plata se procede a aplicarla en el área de estudio, de 20.101 km2, en el offshore uruguayo, obteniéndose 2 detecciones que suman 18,7 ha, aunque con bajo nivel de confianza debido a que las polarizaciones disponibles (HH-HV) no son las óptimas para la detección. De los resultados obtenidos se concluye que la metodología empleada es viable para detectar oil seeps en grandes superficies de cuerpos de agua con costos relativamente bajos.

Python Earth Engine API as a new open-source ecosphere for characterizing offshore hydrocarbon seeps and spills

The Python Earth Engine application programming interface (API) provides a new open-source ecosphere for testing hydrocarbon detection algorithms on large volumes of images curated with the Google Earth Engine. We specifically demonstrate the Python Earth Engine API by calculating three hydrocarbon indices: fluorescence, rotation absorption, and normalized fluorescence. The Python Earth Engine API provides an ideal environment for testing these indices with varied oil seeps and spills by (1) removing barriers of proprietary software formats and (2) providing an extensive library of data analysis tools (e.g., Pandas and Seaborn) and classification algorithms (e.g., Scikit-learn and TensorFlow). Our results demonstrate end-member cases in which fluorescence and normalized fluorescence indices of seawater and oil are statistically similar and different. As expected, predictive classification is more effective and the calculated probability of oil is more accurate for scenarios in which seawater and oil are well separated in the fluorescence space.

Crude Oil Classification Based On Age And Provenance From The Southern Iraq: A Review

A collection of 165 crude oils, 12 oil seeps, and 24 extracts and recovered samples from 25 oil exploratory wells and 6 oil seeps in the Southern Mesopotamian Basin were studied. Biomarker configurations and other organic geochemistry parameters were used to discover the depositional environments and to classify the oil samples as provenance groups. Petroleum liquids were geochemically classified into four groups. The first group of oils, Middle Jurassic Zagros Fold Belt, is located in the Maysan, Basra, and Thi qar provinces of the basin that has pristane/phytane (Pr/Ph) proportions ≤0.97 and contains sufficient gammacerane. Methylphenanthrene index 1 (MPI 1) values show that the first group of oils is mature. Oils from Group 2, Upper Jurassic–Lower Cretaceous Sulaiy/Yamama, by disparity have Pr/Ph proportions between 0.72 and 1.12 and relatively moderate C28/C29 steranes, 0.52-0.88. Ts/Tm ratios indicate thermal maturity for Group 2 oils. Unlike oils from other groups, the oils from Group 3, Cretaceous to Tertiary oils, in Subba Field hold the highest canonical variable (CV) values that range between 0.43 and –2.30. The fourth group, Late Triassic-Middle Jurassic oil seeps, is the oldest among all groups. This group holds an average carbon isotope ratio –28.25‰ and –28.10‰ for saturates and aromatics respectively, which are the lowest values among all oils in the studied region. The Tithonian-Berriasian Sulaiy/Yamama oils further divided into three subgroups. The first subgroup, A, has carbon preference index (CPI) values of ≤1.08 (average 0.86) and C28/C29 sterane of 0.56-1.13 with an average of 0.65. Second subgroup, B, holds CPI ≤1.18 (average 0.99) and C28/C29 sterane 0.55-0.82 with an average of 0.63. The last subgroup, C, has CPI values ≤0.93 (average 0.85) and high C27 and C29 steranes (average 46.5% and 39.61%, respectively). In the same way, the Group 3 can be further subdivided into two subgroups based on values of carbon isotopes for saturates and aromatics. The oils from this group are heterogeneous and can be further divided into Tertiary Subgroup and Cretaceous Subgroup.

DEVELOPMENT OF GROUNDNUT OIL EXPELLING MACHINE

The need for new designs of Groundnut oil expeller is based on the cost and efficiency of the machine especially for the usage in small and medium size industries. It has to be cost effective and light weight to accommodate such demands. The existing Groundnut Oil Expellers in the market are too big and too expensive for these small medium size businesses to invest on. Other limitations are its maintenances aspect as well as its operations. Therefore, series of survey and research have been done to identify the needs and base on that, the Final Design and Specifications were synthesized. The Groundnut Oil Expeller is a screw type machine, which presses groundnut through a barrel-like cavity. Raw material (groundnut) enters one side of the press and by product (cake) exit the other side. The machine uses friction and continuous pressure from the screw drives to move and compress the groundnut. The oil seeps through small openings that do not allow groundnut fibre solids to pass through. Afterward, the pressed groundnuts are formed into a hardened cake, which is removed from the machine. This machine will satisfy the demand for the small and medium size industries because of its design, functionality and price. The measurements of the performance also being analyze by calculating the design efficiency.