Paul,
I had some fun surfing. Nothing definitive, but it seems they re-use a lot of their water.
I can see what you're saying about cracks and fissures holding more water, but it still must be about the same volume as what is removed (maybe doubled or tripled, but not increased by orders of magnitude).
I couldn't believe the water/Btu figures!
...and we generate heat to create the energy to heat the water to get the oil to generate the heat to create the end=ergy....
...save that typo, it seems appropriate.......anyway, I'm posting" all" of that little surfing journey on another thread here on Climate Change:
http://www.scienceagogo.com/forum/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=26199#Post26199It's very disjointed, but it all "relates" to this stuff.
A lot of it is promo stuff from the oil companies, but the few figures that they quote can be used to convert to some net totals, I think. Between their "total saved" and the percentage of "reduction" you should be able to get a total used. But notice that all they use does not go underground.
I especially liked:
...Congressional Testimony:
The area proposed for drilling is the coastal plain that has been called the "biological heart" of the
[ANWR] Refuge because it is the primary calving grounds for the Porcupine Caribou Herd. Unlike the Prudhoe Bay area, the coastal plain narrows significantly in the Arctic Refuge, inviting a direct conflict between the untouched wilderness and proposed oil and gas drilling, pipeline infrastructure, and related industrial activities. In addition, because it appears that oil and gas reserves in the Arctic Refuge are spread out in several pools, rather than in one large formation like Prudhoe Bay, additional "footprints" and pipeline connections may be required to develop oil and gas resources in the area. Finally, water resources are much more limited in the coastal plain area of the Arctic Refuge, as compared with the Prudhoe Bay region. Substantial water consumption is required for oil and gas activities; utilizing the limited available water supplies would likely negatively impact the existing ecosystem. (The construction of ice roads requires approximately 1.35 million gallons of water per mile and 30,000 gallons of water per day is necessary to support a drilling rig. Exploratory wells require approximately 15 million gallons of water per well.)
Enjoy....
...Later,
~SA
