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Politics : Politics of Energy -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Road Walker who wrote (294)	6/12/2008 3:04:29 PM
From: TimF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86355

When they import oil, the oil they bring in is likely cheaper at the source, but not cheaper for the US oil companies. If the Saudis spend $5 barrel to drill the oil but sell it for $130, the US oil companies are paying the $130 (also it cost them a bit, I'd guess a few dollars, to transport the oil). If they drill in a place like ANWR or offshore of the US it might cost $20/barell to get it out of the ground, but they would have the rights to that oil, and wouldn't have to pay someone else's markup. The problem is that once you exclude places like ANWR and most of the offshore areas (only limited offshore drilling is allowed in American waters), then there are few if any good candidates for exploration and drilling in the US). To give one example, if we opened ANWR you would get oil investment in ANWR, its not like the American oil companies are not drilling and relying on imports as a choice.

To: Road Walker who wrote (294)	6/12/2008 3:15:48 PM
From: Brumar89	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86355

Total US proven oil reserves are something close to 20 billion barrels. The US uses 7.5 billion barrels a year. Even if all the proven reserves could be produced all immediately at the same time, it wouldn't be a solution to the problem (and of course they can't). Proven reserves are a fluctuating number, dependent on drilling that h/b done to prove them. Its not like the proven reserve number is a fixed quantity of oil that represents all we can ever use. There are literally thousands of approved leases and the oil companies are doing nothing. In 2006 the new compromise regarding the GOM opened 84,000 prime acres in the GOM to exploration; the oil companies have done nothing. Companies don't spend money to lease acreage for the purpose of sitting on it and doing "nothing". Leased acreage may or may not be drilled though depending on seismic work, estimates of recoverability, availability of rigs, financing, the mix of possible projects in a companies portfolio, lots and lots of things. It certainly won't necessarily be drilled immediately. And even if drilling never happens on a lease, it doesn't mean "nothing" happened. I'm not sure what you're talking about re. the 84K acres leased in 2006, but it doesn't surprise me at all that acreage leased in '06 hasn't been drilled yet. Doesn't mean it won't be. I remember in the '80's there had been a lot of acreage leased in the Gulf and a natural gas "bubble" occurred after price decontrol. So much natural gas was found after decontrol, the price collapsed and stayed low for years. People were thinking the companies won't let those leases expire so a catchup drilling boom would occur, but it didn't happen and indeed lots of leases were turned back unexplored. Course that was a situation that was the opposite of the current one. We can open ANWAR, we can allow drilling to with 50 miles, but that doesn't mean the oil companies are going to invest in drilling for hard to get oil. Nope, they're only gonna drill what they think they can make money on. But the more acreage open, the more likely more drilling will happen. It seems like they like their current business model of importing oil... it's certainly isn't hurting their profits. There are lots of US E&P companies not in the importing business at all. Even multinationals that import oil make most of their profits on the upstream side producing their own resources. Bottom line is that the US cannot drill it's way out of this mess. I hear that argument lamely used to justify not opening up ANWR for exploration and etc. Doesn't make sense. So what if we can't achieve 100% energy independence from domestic reserves alone. We're still better off producing as much as we can here. If only for balance of payments reasons. The low hanging fruit is improving oil efficiency. You don't have to ban drilling to improve oil efficiency. Saying we should be more efficient is not an argument against drilling.

To: Road Walker who wrote (294)	6/12/2008 3:27:45 PM
From: miraje	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 86355

Total US proven oil reserves are something close to 20 billion barrels. North America is awash in hydrocarbon resources. Not just the oil and gas reserves that are currently off limits, but add in oil sands, shale and coal to the mix and we have enough to easily last through the multiple decades it will take to transition to other alternative energy sources. Even if all the proven reserves could be produced all immediately at the same time, it wouldn't be a solution to the problem (and of course they can't). That's not the point. Any small incremental increase in supply can have a big effect on price. A large part of todays high prices reflects the fact that the historical cushion of excess supply capacity is gone. There is no margin of safety for any supply disruption. We're tiptoeing on the edge... We can open ANWAR, we can allow drilling to with 50 miles, but that doesn't mean the oil companies are going to invest in drilling for hard to get oil. Hard telling, not knowing. Open the areas that are now off limits and see what happens. Bottom line is that the US cannot drill it's way out of this mess. That's the same old spin and mantra right out of the Sierra Club's handbook. Silliness. Getting serious about drilling and developing more of our own resources will certainly help to brings prices to a more reasonable level, as well as taking the edge off of sky rocketing food prices and inflation in general..