America's untapped oil

[DesertFox]

Oil companies and many lawmakers are pressing to open up more U.S. areas for drilling. But the industry is drilling on just a fraction of areas it already has access to.

Of the 90 million offshore acres the industry has leases to, mostly in the Gulf of Mexico, it is estimated that upwards of 70 million are not producing oil, according to both Democrats and oil-industry sources.

One Democrat staffer said if all these existing areas were being drilled, U.S. oil production could be boosted by nearly 5 million barrels a day, although the oil industry said that number is far too high and one government agency said it was impossible to estimate production.

Recent proposals to open up offshore coastal areas near Florida and California, as well as Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, might yield 2 million additional barrels, according to estimates from various government sources that also stressed the difficulty in making forecasts. The United States currently produces 8 million barrels of oil and other petroleum liquids a day and consumes about 21 million.

More (http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/23/news/economy/oil_drilling/index.htm?cnn=yes)

[The_Sonarman]

There are a couple problems with your "straw man" argument about "plenty of leases", Dimwit O'crats. Here is just three.


a. Most of these leases have been checked and do not have oil. Hence, there is no drilling happening there.


b. Only some 15% of federal offshore areas are available for lease. That means 85% is under artificial Congress-imposed restriction.


c. Some of these leases don't have enough years left to make drilling worthwhile. The leases will expire during the years spent doing environmental impact paperwork, not to mention the need for the initial test hole drilling.

Just announcing that the USA was going to go after additional sources of oil, offshore, onshore, oil shale, coal gasification, etc., would probably have an immediate effect on price. That would all happen just by announcing our intention to start drilling.

d. :"We" the US already have some 21 billion barrels of proven reserves. "Proven Reserves". What does that mean, TS? Proven Reserves means the oil is known to be there and exist. All that needs to happen is to drill for it.... except for yet again more Congressional interference.


The USA has many enemies. The worst ones are our own dimwit neighbors, who are intentionally trying to topple and destroy us from within. This includes but is not limited to the current Democratic politicians in power.. If we could get our own domestic traitors under control, it would limit "the enemy" to the just the rest of the world. We might be able to survive fighting on that one front, without having to withstand the constant backstabbing from our own ranks.

[DesertFox]

What that man just said.

[Maggie_T]

a. Most of these leases have been checked and do not have oil. Hence, there is no drilling happening there.


Are your listening, Joe Effing Six-Pack, you bloody, gullible, unimformed fool? :cuss:

Oh, what's the use? :banghead: :flame:

[DesertFox]

The OP is typical for a liberal. It sounds perfectly reasonable until you do just the slightest checking. This is how liberals live their lives, all on the surface, skimming along like gulls over the ocean. They think about as well as gulls think. It doesn't seem ever to occur to them that there's more than just what meets the eye at that surface level. They just skim along, refusing to grasp that beneath that surface is a whole lotta stuff they'll never see and therefore never understand; but that others DO understand.

But they're too arrogant and too lazy to ask.

[Maggie_T]

Darling, I'm not talking about liberals. We all know what to expect of them (not much).

It's the average voters that scare the sugar out of me. You ever heard those cretins talk? :(

[DesertFox]

Oh, the average voter is perfect lib bait. He's the fish that the skimming liberal predator is looking for.

[Wyatt_Junker]

I tend to be a bit more jaded about it. I don't think Senator Biden is ignorant of how the oil exploration lease process works. I think he knows very well how it works.

Obviously you can't predict to the precise acre and a half of land where the oil is. So, you buy up 50 acre lots at a time hoping to get in close enough to where you think it might be. So, you do the Price Club approach and buy bulk, shoring up enough land to make the exploration economically feasible and get your equipment on site ready for business. Its the same for any business. You can't exactly go around one acre at a time and play nostradamus. (nice try Biden)

Biden, and the rest of the democrats for that matter, just needed a script, something convenient, somthing small enough for a soundbite. That is all. And so they locked onto this one piece of deliberate misinformation and used it.

I doubt they're stupid. They're beyond that. They're something much worse than simple stupidity, and if that's all they were I'd almost pity them the way I do retarded children whose scoop of ice cream falls off their cone. No. They're saboteurs. They're enemies of the state. Liars. Beasts. Demons. Strongholds. Slavemasters. Traitors. Pirates. Whorebags. Perverts. Sadists. Evil clowns. Publicity sluts. And not a public servant among them.

Its the same with Obama. He doesn't believe a lick of what he says. But, he says it. Mostly with a straight face. He's strictly in this game for the psychosexual rush of his own egomania, end of sentence. The reason he was the most liberal Senator in America was because he was still using Chicago as his training wheels for political adulthood. He needed them more than they needed him in order for him to get to where he wanted to go(which was the hell out). And then, on up the ladder of graft, obsequiously clinging to whoever he needed to like ass hairs on dried shit, then ditching them just as fast as their usefulness expired. America is about to elect the biggest WHORE it has ever dreamed of since its beginning and people like Biden or Blammo know perfectly well the morons within their own base, nutroots or otherwise. They know they can lie to them and they will eat the lie and smack their lips and ask for more. They understand the electorate's willingness to place their hope in empty slogans, so they give them what they want... pure air. Empty as carbon monoxide, you can't see it or smell it. You can't detect it, but it will kill you. Empty rhetoric in order to lock onto power like a Mako shark on chum.

To the Left, politics has become a huge one night stand. The voters are the drunks in the smokey bar. The john will say anything in order to get laid. They'll tell you you're beautiful, buy you a drink etc. Then, once they get you home and take care of business, once they F#$% you, they kick you out of bed. That's how it works. And the electorate knows this, at least the 50% who are easy. They know its a bunch of lies, but it doesn't matter because to them it is just a game, and as long as its not Bush, rah rah rah, they will be the fans screaming in the bleachers. This is nothing more than a sports event. This is not democracy. This is not even about politics, traditionally speaking. And, the last thing this is about is America.

[Penguin]

d. :"We" the US already have some 21 billion barrels of proven reserves. "Proven Reserves". What does that mean, TS? Proven Reserves means the oil is known to be there and exist. All that needs to happen is to drill for it.... except for yet again more Congressional interference.

Actually, there is potentially 10-20 times that amount. As reported here in Bloomberg and finally by the USGS, the Bakken formation could possibly contain contain over 400 billion (billion as in Ross Perot) barrels. If the estimates are even close to accurate, the U.S. and Canada could literally control the bulk of the world's oil supply and render the ragheads and sand monkeys impotent since their only revenue source could dry up in a big way.

Of course, all liberal politicos, judges and EnivroMarxists would need to be rounded up, interred and then piled into a series of rocket ships and sent hurling towards Pluto. Better yet, the Sun.

From the Bloomberg Report
Dakota Oil Fields of Saudi-Sized Reserves Make Farmers Drillers
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601170&refer=home&sid=ayj1uo_gdNI4

And unlike the tar from Canada's oil sands, Bakken crude needs little refining. Swirl some of it in a Mason jar and it leaves a thin, honey-colored film along the sides. It's light - -almost like gasoline -- and sweet, meaning it's low in sulfur.

Best of all, the Bakken could be huge. The U.S. Geological Survey (http://www.usgs.gov/)'s Leigh Price, a Denver geochemist who died of a heart attack in 2000, estimated that the Bakken might hold a whopping 413 billion barrels. If so, it would dwarf Saudi Arabia's Ghawar (http://www.aapg.org/explorer/2005/01jan/ghawar.cfm), the world's biggest field, which has produced about 55 billion barrels.


I have been reading about the Bakken Formation for awhile. Of course, our Tokyo Rose/Tass Media have totally ignored it and I am sure that better than 50% of our Congress are not even aware of it.

With the American finally waking up and even the liberals finally finding their price ($4/gallon), stories like these need to been blared and shouted from the rooftops.

[DoctorDoom]

I suspect that it will take $5/gallon or higher before the neo-Luddites in Congress pull their thumbs out of their asses and get the hell out of the way.

[DesertFox]

Yep. And the day will come we'll actually be glad that we used all the Mideast oil before starting on our own. The Middle East will run dry and we'll be sitting on this ocean of oil over here.

[mu'min]

Yep. And the day will come we'll actually be glad that we used all the Mideast oil before starting on our own. The Middle East will run dry and we'll be sitting on this ocean of oil over here.

It's like sitting on a trust fund but only being able to take out a $100 a week. Not exactly going to be the easy life.

[Beowulf]

Drilling more domestic supplies is only part of the problem. Oil is quite useless until it is refined and we haven't built a refinery in America in 30 years. Until we do that, the demand for gasoline will only be worse.

[mu'min]

Drilling more domestic supplies is only part of the problem. Oil is quite useless until it is refined and we haven't built a refinery in America in 30 years. Until we do that, the demand for gasoline will only be worse.

Say you have a 2000 sq-ft house but just had your first baby and now need a 2500 sq-ft house. Is it more economical to sell your house and buy a bigger one, with all of the expenses involved or to just add onto your house for half the cost?

We went from having 15 mpd capacity to 17.5 mpd between the start of Clinton's term and today. There's generally little need to building new refineries when it takes longer and costs more.

[DoctorDoom]

Say you have a 1970s car. Is it more economical to keep repairing and upgrading it or to buy a new car?

Since our refineries are all built with 1970s technology at the latest, logic dictates that they are approaching or at the point where it is economically unjustifiable to continue to extend their life by repairs and modifications.

Thusfar your arguments read more like Greenpeace handouts and libeRAT talking poiints than objective commentaries on the crucial need for US energy independence. Why is that?

[mu'min]

Thusfar your arguments read more like Greenpeace handouts and libeRAT talking poiints than objective commentaries on the crucial need for US energy independence. Why is that?

Funny, I'm getting my information from refiners and their actions over the past several years.

Motiva's expansion at Port Arthur to make it the largest in the US (http://www.portarthurrefinery.com/go/doc/96/177338/&printerfriendly=1)

Houston, Texas - September 21, 2007 - Motiva Enterprises LLC announced today that its owners authorized the company to proceed with a 325,000 barrel-per-day (b/d) capacity expansion at its Port Arthur, Texas refinery. The expansion will increase the refinery's crude oil throughput capacity to 600,000 b/d, making it the largest refinery in the U.S. and one of the largest in the world.

"The expansion is designed to strengthen our nation's supply of gasoline, diesel, aviation fuels and high quality base oils," said William B. Welte, Motiva President and Chief Executive Officer. "As the demand for a variety of fuels continues to grow, Motiva is committed to being the supplier of choice in the eastern and southern U.S. for conventional fuels as well as biofuels."

The 325,000 b/d expansion at Port Arthur is equivalent to building the first new refinery in the U.S. in more than 30 years. The new production capacity is expected to be online in 2010 and will increase Motiva's supply of Shell-branded fuels to the company's wholesale and direct supply markets.

Motiva's expansion will lower most types of emissions from refinery operations on a per barrel basis by utilizing advanced technology in all new system installations and replacing existing systems. The expansion of the refinery will decrease emissions from present day levels for ozone precursors, specifically nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.

So we have the equivalent of a new refinery (a quite large one at that) that is highly advanced and will only take three years to complete. A new refinery in Kuwait is estimated to cost $19 bln and its output is going to be roughly 600,000 bpd. Assuming a similar ratio of cost to capacity, we'd expect an expansion of 300,000 bpd (in Motiva) to cost about $10 bln, but it's in fact only $7 bln. Hey, who really cares about $3 billion dollars, right? Just chump change.

Another example is Saudi Arabia which is building (or has built) two new refineries with costs about $30,000 per barrel capacity which would translate into roughly $9 bln for a 300,000 bpd refinery. So we get similar figures either way and the result is the same: it's cheaper for an expansion, rather than a new refinery, to increase US refining capacity.

[Lazarus]

Excellent observations, Sonar... Just the kind of minor facts that the Leftists like to casually leave out when they lie to the public... Like this one, which i found very significant......
c. Some of these leases don't have enough years left to make drilling worthwhile. The leases will expire during the years spent doing environmental impact paperwork, not to mention the need for the initial test hole drilling.As usual the Leftists conveniently leave out the business side of the equation... The oil companies are in the business to make money - if those leases were viable business investments, they'd be all over them... There is no motivation for them to sit on them, especially in a day when oil is selling at its historical highest...

Just announcing that the USA was going to go after additional sources of oil, offshore, onshore, oil shale, coal gasification, etc., would probably have an immediate effect on price. That would all happen just by announcing our intention to start drilling.Exactly!!! A point I've been preaching for weeks... And one that was validated a few days back by a Commodities broker who called in to Rush Limbaugh's show... According to the trader, just the announcement that the US Government is opening up drilling in these areas would have the effect of a drop of $30-40 per barrel over the space of about a week...

Which just demonstrates one of two things - Either the Leftists are grossly ignorant of the laws of economics, specifically regarding commodities markets, or they are willfully lying to the public, with the help of their willing accomplices in the media...

[Lazarus]

We need an increase in refinery capacity equal to the increse in fuel demand that has occurred since 1976 JUST to keep up with today's demand - And to build ONLY that capacity would be foolishness in that future needs would be ignored - With only that increase alone, we'd find ourselves in the same boat 10-20 years down the road... We cannot do that with expansion of current refineries alone... And there is NO logical reason for anyone outside of the oil companies to be imposing their opinions on the business of oil refining...

What we need is for the Government to get OUT of the way of the free market... Let the oil companies determine what the demand is and when it is viable and necessary to expand - WITHOUT government interferance...

This entire crisis can be laid at the feet of the United States Government... Oil prices are high because Congress has artificially limited oil production - Gasoline prices are spiralling out of control because Congress has artificially limited the supply of refined gasoline...

Its all about pandering to the Enviro-nazis and about controlling the behavior of the people of this country... Its more blatant and obvious now since we are in such clear crisis - Everyone is hurting (except for the members of Congress who live like royalty and removed from the day to day realities we live with), and yet Congress still arrogantly dogs its heels in and refuses to relent...

They care nothing about America, its prosperity or the welfare of its people - Its all about control... We are seeing the plain and ugly face of power lust...

We are in a BIG election season - right now is the time Congress should be pressed to remove the obstacles to the free market to bring these fuel prices down... Right now is the best time we can possibly get Congress to act... And the President and the Republican party should be leading that fight...

But I hear nothing but the sound of crickets coming from the Pubs... :flame:

[Penguin]

Another example is Saudi Arabia which is building (or has built) two new refineries with costs about $30,000 per barrel capacity which would translate into roughly $9 bln for a 300,000 bpd refinery. So we get similar figures either way and the result is the same: it's cheaper for an expansion, rather than a new refinery, to increase US refining capacity.

What is left out here is that U.S. oil companies are charged the same tax rate whether they build a new refinery is or retrofit/upgrade an existing one.

Would it not make more sense for these companies to be given a tax break for proposing and building a new refinery from scratch that can incorporate the latest technology as opposed to constantly applying band-aids to an aging and becoming more obsolete infrastructure?

Doc's car analogy is sound. It can also apply to any commodity. I just had to buy a new power supply and RAM stick, because this PC was rebooting randomly and some files and folders were being corrupted. As it turned out, it was a bad RAM stick and not a power supply problem. However, I spent about 1/3 as much on those two items as it would cost to build a newer and faster system. And even with these repairs, the system itself is no faster or efficient than it was before the stick went bad.

[Beowulf]

Say you have a 2000 sq-ft house but just had your first baby and now need a 2500 sq-ft house. Is it more economical to sell your house and buy a bigger one, with all of the expenses involved or to just add onto your house for half the cost?

We went from having 15 mpd capacity to 17.5 mpd between the start of Clinton's term and today. There's generally little need to building new refineries when it takes longer and costs more.

Irrelevant to the argument that I've made. You're talking the hypothetical addition of one child to my family (which won't be happening here, BTW) vs. the addition of millions of new cars and even more drivers onto our roadways. An addition 100's of thousands of barrels of gasoline a day into the system won't help much. We need:

-Many new refineries in America.
-One standard blend of gasoline, not a winter blend, a summer blend, a California blend, an Iowa blend and so forth.
-Domestic drilling. With OPEC holding us hostage, U.S. supplies would help this.

[DesertFox]

We need to cobble together a rough energy policy to send to Congress and the prez, who don't seem to be getting the message. Here's my start.

4-step energy policy:

1. Executive order: Drill where the oil is, regardless, starting today. Fock the Greens.

2. Order new exploration (not necessarily drilling) on all federal lands and release half of all federal lands to bidding by all comers, not just oil people. Time to have an energy plan for the people themselves -- something that unleashes their energy to build and create wealth.

3. 30 new refineries: 10 East of the Mississippi and 10 West, five north of I-70 and five south, locations and all particulars left to the private sector.

4. Tax breaks for oil companies. This, btw, will also boost the economy hugely.

[Maggie_T]

1-step energy policy:

Get rid of ALL eco-nazis! NOW!

Once that simple step is taken the rest will neatly fall into place.

[DesertFox]

:lol:

[Lazarus]

...-Domestic drilling. With OPEC holding us hostage, U.S. supplies would help this.US supplies alone could completely replace OPEC supplies... We have that much oil... If we entered the market at that level of aggressiveness, the price of oil would drop like a lead weight...

[Lazarus]

We need to cobble together a rough energy policy to send to Congress and the prez, who don't seem to be getting the message. Here's my start.

4-step energy policy:
1. Executive order: Drill where the oil is, regardless, starting today. Fock the Greens.

2. Order new exploration (not necessarily drilling) on all federal lands and release half of all federal lands to bidding by all comers, not just oil people. Time to have an energy plan for the people themselves -- something that unleashes their energy to build and create wealth.

3. 30 new refineries: 10 East of the Mississippi and 10 West, five north of I-70 and five south, locations and all particulars left to the private sector.

4. Tax breaks for oil companies. This, btw, will also boost the economy hugely.
That's not a ROUGH policy - That's THE FINAL version, as far as I'm concerned... Part of our problem with CONGRESS is that every problem they attack ends up being a 5000 page legal and bureaucratic nightmare... We need every bill in Congress to be this simple...

In fact I'll simplify it even more: Congress and all Federal agencies will remove themselves from the business of oil exploration and fuel refinement, allowing free market forces to stablize the price of fuel using natural laws of Supply vs Demand...

[TheIrishman]

How about ANWR? Lindsey Williams, who wrote a book titled "The Energy Non-Crisis in 1980," continues to argue that one of the richest oil finds on earth has been found on off the North Shore of Alaska. Gull Island was so named because the only inhabitants of the desolate place are a flock of seagulls that go there in the summer. For over 25 years, Williams has argued that this oil find has been suppressed by the U.S. government itself. Why don't we go see if Lindsay Williams is right? Very possibly the North Shore of Alaska has more oil than Saudi Arabia. Why don't we go find out?

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=14571

I personally feel that if he is right about the oil and the government closing it down, I would help with the revolution!!

[Wyatt_Junker]

I think this is going to hurt the no drill dems big time. We have what? 5 months until we vote?

As gas prices climb, Americans will no longer be able to nod their heads to dem scripts. The lies they are recycling are not working.

'We can't drill because it won't help' just doesn't make sense. Not to oil execs, not to cons, not to lefties and not even to small children.

And yet, there's Pelosi reading from her Maoist crib sheets again, her hand trying to keep the paper from shaking as the cameras zoom in.

Its pathetic.

[Penguin]

And yet, there's Pelosi reading from her Maoist crib sheets again, her hand trying to keep the paper from shaking as the cameras zoom in.

She would be more convincing if she was wearing her Syrian Burkha while channeling Mao from the lower reaches of the 9th Circle of Hell.

[Wyatt_Junker]

She would be more convincing if she was wearing her Syrian Burkha while channeling Mao from the lower reaches of the 9th Circle of Hell.

In her case the burka is a requirement.

http://farm1.static.flickr.com/208/446240410_dd069206fa_o.jpg

Protecting us from this...

http://www.moonbattery.com/archives/nancy_pelosi.jpg

Careful. Do not stare at this for too long. Its likely that this hunk of uncooked tri-tip is carrying samonella.

[DesertFox]

If McCain wants to win, he need only insist on drilling in ANWR and opening up more fed lands for drilling. We'll see if he's serious about wanting to be president or if he's just playing another of his old-man games.