And back to oil/gas for a minute....This just received from a good source.... My husband emailed some folks, and sent me a copy....
It is sobering to say the least when one considers some of the realities that bear on the petroleum industry. At the rate things are going, our prospects as a people would appear to be dominated by additional dollar erosion, economic malaise, exporting of our economic "value" (and future)created and,ultimately, loss of control over our destiny.
All the while, the US government skims 42% ($.15 of every industry gasoline sales dollar)of the industry's profits off the top (plus state and local taxes) while attacking the industry for making some money (4-10% of sales pre tax/pre inflation depending on whose numbers you believe).
I wonder how far this has to proceed before the American public decides that it has had enough and this Alice in Wonderland situation has to change ($5, $6, $7, $10 per gallon?)
Keep in mind that the off limits proven off shore reserves in the US locked up by the government totals 88 - 112 billion bbls. plus 420 TRILLION cubic feet of natural gas.
This in addition to the 1.5 - 1.7 TRILLION bbls. (800 - 1,000 billion bbls. recoverable) of high grade shale oil resource identified to date and 400 - 530 billion bbls. of recoverable oil projected in the "Bakken Oil Field) in North Dakota, Wyoming and Montana.
Admittedly, some of these reserves are more costly to recover and process ($40 - 60 per bbl.). However, at this is well within reach at a fraction of the cost of crude in today's markets.
What an insane situation when such politics are allowed to trump the country's interests. One wonders just what is the real motivation (ignorance?) behind such thinking. |
