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Comment by MrJagil

9 years ago

How is it possible for the workers in There Will Be Blood to hack through a foot of oil to get to the vein, if a few seconds of exposure kills you?

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MrJagil

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VLM  9 years ago

Its not a contact poison but a breathed in poison, so given even the lightest breeze you're probably OK. In a sealed tank, of course, you're dead.

Also there is no such thing as the crude molecule or atom. Its like dirt, and I assure you not all dirt is equal. And some crude has so much sulfur you'd think it should be yellow like paint. Some has about none.

If you've ever heard economic discussion about "sour crude" now you know what they're talking about. If you build a refinery to process oil you don't waste money on a hydrotreater to eat the sulfur if you don't have to, then if the market floods with cheap worthless sour crude you can't process it without buying/building a hydrotreater cycle process. And they aren't cheap or built in a day, either.