It has just been announced that another huge oil reserve has been found here in the Home Counties, England with the potential to provide billions of barrels of oil, thus nodding donkeys will become more obvious. Good news for the UK as a whole I guess, but it made me wonder...

The oil is currently taking up 'x' space underground, so what happens as it is removed, what fills the void does anybody know? More oil maybe, natural water or do they pump something in to replace the oil? Maybe we are all sat on a big hole after the event?

Anybody know?

Thirty four views of this thread so far and nobody knows, or has an opinion? Nobody cares if the 'nodding donkeys' arrive in a field near you? I doubt that very much!

Your opinion members? 

Rocks have an average porosity of about 13 per cent. After oil is pumped out, the rock is unaffected.Oil, gas or water under pressure from the overburden fills the empty pores in the rock as oil is extracted.When a well goes "dry", it has started to produce too much water for economical oil extraction.There is often a lot of oil still to be extracted in old oil fields.

Oil doesn't exist in deep,black pools or underground lakes. An underground oil reservoir looks like any other rock formation.The pores and the oil droplets can only be seen through a microscope.When an oil well strikes an underground oil reservoir, the natural pressure is released and forces the oil through the rock and up the well to the surface.If there are fractures in the underground reservoir the oil squeezes into them .

Thanks for that explanation Ken - know that it's appreciated.

I honestly had no idea and I would bet that a lot who have been looking in were in a similar position, but felt they had nothing to add. Helloooo, that's what the forums are for, discuss it, ask questions...

All subjects (new threads) keep visitors and members informed with POE benefitting from the number of hits so if you're going to look, you might as well comment, unless you have a particular reason for not doing so of course.

What a place to drop the rubbish James! lol

I guess these old pits are 'maintained' still, but surely they remain dangerous areas and are suitably fenced off?