If the federal government opened California's coast to drilling tomorrow, the first exploratory wells probably wouldn't be drilled for at least six years
There are offshore areas where exploratory wells where already drilled, and environmental impact statements filed. Physically we could probably start drilling in just a matter of months after political/legal approval is given, I expanded that to two years because of various judicial and regulatory delays that can be used by opponents of drilling. Your probably talking about a very small amount of oil, the vast majority of offshore areas that aren't currently being drilled are more like a decade away, that's why I said two to fifteen years, to clarify, it would mostly be more like eight to 15. Two years would probably be a fraction of a percent of the potential oil capacity (and only the beginnings of that oil, so its like a fraction of a percent of a fraction of a percent of all the oil we might get), and even then only under certain rather optimistic scenarios, which is why I put it as the lower bound for the first drop, not the highpoint, or the midpoint, or simply saying "we will have oil in two years. Its also possible that we won't have any of this new oil for 10 years (or ever, if it doesn't get approved by congress). |
