[milky]

Is everyone at FR like-minded on this issue? How may people here know the FACTS?

I’m wondering why, with 33 million acres of offshore already leased to oil and gas companies, are they not drilling THERE, already? They are only drilling some 17% of it, currently. There are a reported 25 billion barrels available, and they are not drilling A SINGLE BARREL OF IT.

Why do they want to drill in ANWR and offshore where there is a moritorium? They do not WANT to drill in ANWR - or anywhere else, OBVIOUSLY. What they DO want to do is consolidate assets and continue to hold these leases and limit the amount of drilling on them in order to both control and increase the price of oil for their own profits and purposes. Over the last eight years, drilling leases issued for development of public lands in the USA increased by more than 350%. Ask yourself - whose assets will increase more if domestic oil is NOT DRILLED in the USA? OPEC’s, or the “Seven Sisters’s”

[shove_it]

I guess that’s why Exxon announced they were getting out of the retail gasoline business - there’s too much money in it.

[bolobaby]

Milky - fine. Don’t give the oil leases to the oil giants. Give them to me. Believe me, I’ll start drilling and get rich and help the country.

If this is a real argument, then Congress can simply say “we aren’t going to allow any small group of companies to monopolize these resources. They are too important of an asset. So, if you are holding any undeveloped oil leases, you can’t bid.”

Believe me, I could easily find investment to drill the CRAP out of ANWR.

[Flycatcher]

I just hate capitalists that want to make money. And, yes, that was sarcasm, Milky.

(Your post was sarcasm too, right?)

[LOC1]

Where do you think the 5 million barrels of oil per day being produced within the US today came from? It came from oil companies finding and producing oil on US lands.

The oil companies have a long history of finding and producing when the reserves are actually there. Just because they have oil leases currently on federal land, does not mean that oil is under that land. All the oil companies did was pay for the right to look for oil, and the right to profit from it if they found any.

Chevron, for instance, has returned sizable amounts of leased property back to the federal government, because they looked for, and did not find, oil under on those leases. Chevron paid for the leases, incurred the expense of looking for the oil, concluded there was none available and then returned the leases. All it did was make money for the federal government.

[Clint Lippo]

milky-6/19/08

[2harddrive]

3-D seismic shows the fields where they have not yet drilled don’t contain formations large enough to justify the cost. Now you know someone in the industry.

[kcvl]

I’m wondering why, with 33 million acres of offshore already leased to oil and gas companies, are they not drilling THERE, already?

Because there is not oil on all 33 million acres! You don't just go drill a hole anywhere and find oil!

How Stuff Works:

Finding Oil

The task of finding oil is assigned to geologists, whether employed directly by an oil company or under contract from a private firm. Their task is to find the right conditions for an oil trap -- the right source rock, reservoir rock and entrapment. Many years ago, geologists interpreted surface features, surface rock and soil types, and perhaps some small core samples obtained by shallow drilling. Modern oil geologists also examine surface rocks and terrain, with the additional help of satellite images. However, they also use a variety of other methods to find oil. They can use sensitive gravity meters to measure tiny changes in the Earth's gravitational field that could indicate flowing oil, as well as sensitive magnetometers to measure tiny changes in the Earth's magnetic field caused by flowing oil. They can detect the smell of hydrocarbons using sensitive electronic noses called sniffers. Finally, and most commonly, they use seismology, creating shock waves that pass through hidden rock layers and interpreting the waves that are reflected back to the surface.

http://science.howstuffworks.com/oil-drilling1.htm

[RightWingConspirator]

(milky Since Jun 19, 2008)

You obviously do not know or understand much about oil exploration and drilling, especially deep water exploration and drilling where much of the 33 million acres you refer to are located. The fact is that you cannot just punch a hole into a leased parcel on the sea bed and expect to hit oil, just as you cannot do that on surface land. You first must map the underlying formations and make the best determination where, if any, oil reservoirs exist. Following that you will need to map the seabed to determine what infrastrucure is needed to pump, collect and retrieve the crude that is located.

If you had read the Wall Street Journal article several days ago that explained that, you might have not written your post. The article explained that, until the lessee has a producing well on a parcel--regardless if he has been actively exploring and surveying the parcel for the past five years, the government considers the parcel to be inactive--thus the disinformation the past week emanating from the Democrats. It does sound like, however, that you have already made up your mind and no amount of fact will change it.

[shove_it]

Here are facts - check it out:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2037974/posts

I would much rather American money go the “Seven Sisters” than OPEC. Google “OPEC members” for a list of these wonderful countries. The “Seven Sisters” may scam me some but they won't blow up my town or saw off my head.

Welcome to Free Republic. I'm keepin’ an eye on you, eh.

[count-your-change]

“Is everyone at FR like-minded on this issue? How may people here know the FACTS?”
No.
Most.
“They are only drilling some 17% of it, currently”
There isn't oil in every square foot of the lease?
Every square foot hasn't been explored?
Leases areas are large areas POTENTIALLY containing oil?
“Why do they want to drill in ANWR and offshore where there is a moritorium? They do not WANT to drill in ANWR - or anywhere else, OBVIOUSLY. What they DO want to do is consolidate”
Pick one or the other, either the oil companies DO want to drill or they DON'T. And nothing has kept them from consolidating in the past (they have already, Exxon-Mobil?).
“...continue to hold these leases and limit the amount of drilling on them in order to both control and increase the price of oil for their own profits and purposes.”
Non-producingg leases are often let go but with the price of oil up it's worthwhile to purchase more leases. Oil in ground is worthless without the capital to bring it to market hence producers take in lots of money and spend lots of it to bring in more oil.
“Ask yourself - whose assets will increase more if domestic oil is NOT DRILLED in the USA? OPEC’s, or the “Seven Sisters’s”
Opec’s. Price goes up on increased demand. Domestic oil in ground is worthless unless it can be brought to market.
My turn for a question. Would you compare logic to a cat fish in murky waters or to a shovel handle wrapped in tape and rosined up?

[kcvl]

"Why drill in ANWR?"

Why Not?!!!!