Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : Foreign Affairs Discussion Group -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Noel de Leon who wrote (175877)	11/26/2005 10:43:36 PM
From: mistermj	Respond to of 281500

Its argued that the only reason Hubbert seemed to work for U.S. production is because the tree huggers and the lefties shut down US oil development in Alaska and on the coasts. That oil didn't disappear.

To: Noel de Leon who wrote (175877)	11/28/2005 11:42:29 PM
From: mistermj	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 281500

World has a lot of oil -- if we bother to look October 31, 2005 BY BARCLAY G. JONES In the national debate over energy, the idea that world oil production may peak within the next few years is gaining currency. But this notion rests on two persistent misconceptions about the oil situation: first, that there is not much oil left to be discovered, and second, that new technology won't make much of a difference. In fact, some of the most oil-rich areas in Russia, the Caspian Sea, the Middle East, the delta areas of Africa, Greenland, and the deepwater Gulf of Mexico have scarcely been explored. National and private oil companies are investing heavily in these areas because of the economic incentive. For every place like the North Sea and Texas that's in decline, there is increasing production elsewhere in the world. And since oil is a fungible product, an increase in oil reserves or production anywhere in the world, even in a country from which we buy little oil, will help us. This is not to ignore the central importance of opening up to exploration and production the potentially rich deposits of oil and natural gas that exist on land and offshore in the United States. Although U.S. oil production peaked in 1971 and gas production has been declining in recent years, experts say there is plenty of oil and gas still to be tapped. According to the latest estimates of the U.S. Geological Survey and the oil industry, more than 131 billion barrels of oil and 1,000 trillion cubic feet of natural gas remain to be discovered in this country. That's an amount greater than the known reserves of oil and natural gas in Central and South America. Now is the time to lift the ban on oil and gas production in areas that could make a real difference in our nation's energy future -- the eastern Gulf of Mexico, off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts, and on federally managed land, including areas of northern Alaska. If we fail to make use of these resources, we would pay a huge price for such shortsightedness and it will register in the cost of gasoline at the pump. And we will have only ourselves to blame, for there's no shortage of oil resources in the United States and globally. In fact, the U.S. Geological Survey, after a five-year study, recently raised its previous estimate of the world's crude oil reserves by 20 percent, to a total of 649 billion barrels. Based on the geology of the most promising areas for new discoveries, the agency believes that once exploration begins in earnest the oil reserve numbers are going to increase. The real problems are maintaining production at high levels and the growing demand for oil. Increasing production capacity enough to meet rising demand, especially by China and other fast-growing Asian economies, is the challenge. As the world's biggest oil consumer, America is broadening the sources of its oil supplies. New refineries are being built in a number of countries, and they will boost the supply of gasoline and other petroleum products available for the U.S. market and provide some price stability. The second misconception is that advances in technology won't matter that much. Russia, the new "hot" area for oil exploration, has significant reserves, and with better technology and management, has been able to significantly expand its production. Sophisticated drilling technologies are making it easier to find new supplies and to squeeze more oil out of existing fields. Remote sensing techniques now enable companies to drill in deep water 50 to 100 miles from shore. And advances in exploration and improved production operations have steadily reduced the environmental impact of oil development -- multiple wells can be drilled from a single pad, sometimes reaching sites as far as 10 miles away. New technology, meanwhile, promises to open up potentially vast resources of so-called "unconventional" oil in North America. According to recent news reports, the Pentagon is planning to set aside a portion of its fuel-purchasing budget for oil produced from shale in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming. There's an estimated two trillion barrels of oil beneath the soil in these states -- far surpassing Saudi Arabia's proven reserves of 261 billion barrels. And there's growing interest among oil companies in Canada's oil-bearing tar sands, which are believed to hold another 1.5 trillion barrels of oil. Canada is currently pumping one million barrels a day of low-grade oil from tar sands, almost all of it going to the U.S. market. Just how soon tar-sands deposits can begin to change the oil picture in North America will depend to some extent on a technology normally not associated with oil development -- nuclear power. Reactors are the best and cheapest source for extracting oil from tar sands and producing the large amounts of hydrogen needed to refine the oil into gasoline. In fact, Congress has earmarked $100 million to be spent on developing methods to produce hydrogen at existing nuclear power plants. And it has authorized $1 billion for a Department of Energy plan to build an advanced reactor in Idaho capable of producing large amounts of both hydrogen and electricity. Some of the hydrogen could be used to extract oil from Canada's tar sands or Colorado shale. To keep the U.S. economy going, our country will need all the energy that oil and natural gas can deliver. Fortunately, there are substantial reserves waiting to be tapped. Barclay G. Jones is professor of nuclear and mechanical engineering at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. suntimes.com