Posted on 06/20/2008 3:16:28 PM PDT by kellynla
A bill introduced in Congress this week would "compel" oil and natural gas companies to produce from federal lands they are leasing. If only it were that easy to find and produce oil. Imagine, an act of Congress that could do what geology could not.
These lawmakers ask why oil and gas companies want more access to federal lands to drill if they aren't using all of the 68 million acres they already have? Anyone with even the most basic understanding of how oil and natural gas are produced – and this should include many members of Congress – knows that claims of "idle" leases are a diversionary feint.
A company bids for and buys a lease because it believes there is a possibility that it may yield enough oil or natural gas to make the cost of the lease, and the costs of exploration and production, commercially viable. The U.S. government received $3.7 billion from company bids in a single lease sale in March 2008.
However, until the actual exploration is complete, a company does not know whether the lease will be productive. If, through exploration, it finds there is no oil or natural gas underneath a lease – or that there is not enough to justify the tremendous investment required to bring it to the surface – the company cuts its losses by moving on to more promising leases. Yet it continues to pay rent on the lease, atop a leasing bonus fee.
In addition, if the company does not develop the lease within a certain period of time, it must return it to the federal government, forfeiting all its costs. All during this active exploration and evaluation phase, however, the lease is listed as "nonproducing."
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
ping
Yes, the new buzzword/phrase (besides “Drilling now wouldn’t change anything”) is “68 MILLION ACRES!!!! that the oil companies are ignoring—they should develop all those places first—there’s no need to drill in places like ANWR or off of Florida or California!!”
Neal Cavuto highlighted this on his show today.
The Democrats and the MSM make it sound like all of the current leased land definitely has significant amounts of oil, and that all they have to do is start drilling tomorrow. There are a lot of costs and activities such as geologic studies of the land involved with drilling an oil well. And then once they drill, it may come up dry.
The Dems. over simplify this whole energy debate. They are so in love with solar panels and windmills (except those that block Ted Kennedy’s ocean view) that they really want to obstruct further development of our own energy resources.
Congressman Dumbshjt: Drill 'em anyway, and be certain, before we open up any more leases to you.
I saw a Dem on TV yesterday insisting that the oil companies weren’t drilling what they already leased. I guess their knowlege about oil exploration is lacking because why would you try to compell a company to drill where there is no oil?
That sure sounds like an 'obscene profit by the government to me.
I got a letter from Senator Bill Nelson (Socialist-FL) today, saying the same thing. He is trying to divert the blame for failure to utilize our domestic resources away from Congress. He says the oil companies fail to utilize the areas they are currently allowed to drill in, and that the main cause of high oil and gas prices are speculators. He says Congress should rein in the speculators. Apparently he wants to ignore the fact that prices are up due to worldwide demand exceeding supply available on the market. He says Congress is considering new legislation to rein in speculators. Perhaps he thinks Congress can pass laws which regulate traders in foreign countries? He says that President Bush’s proposal to lift the ban on offshore drilling is too little too late, saying it will take decades to get oil. Well, if Congress had not been obstructing the use of domestic energy for the past 30 years, we would now be far less dependent on foreign oil. If Congress had not made the construction of nuclear power plants next to impossible, we would be far less dependent on foreign oil. France currently generates most of its electricity with nuclear plants, but in the US we only generate about 20% with nuclear. Congress is the main reason we are in the current mess.
Ping
Here’s a great idea that I’ve been suggesting to people I meet at the gas pump:
Three easy steps to energy independence.
1. Make a list of prominent environmentalists, the entire Sierra Club, Green Peace and all congressmen/senators who have voted against domestic oil production.
2. Pick one from the list at random.
3. Hang one a day in a public place until the limits are removed from domestic oil production.
That should get their attention.
I do exactly that, maybe not in the same version as youstated.. but I have copied off a lot and put them in lots of places... and put them in pre paid envelopes..and I bought some stick up notes and write on them to put on the gas pump, so the next person sees them when they pump gas..
The more these leftist loonies talk about this, the more idiotic they make themselves appear. Do they not think that your average guy understands that you can’t pump oil out of land that has no oil under it?
Keep talkin’ Dems. You’re just digging yourself a deeper grave.
Let me just say that if you weren’t planning to vote for McCain because you did not think he was any different from the Dems, then this issue ought to persuade you otherwise. And if you are still not persuaded, then you should seriously examine whether you’re really a conservative.
I heard this discovery being discussed today on talk radio. The secret is now common knowledge. Maybe it will even be discussed on the floor of Congress. The cat's out of the bag now.
Sorry to extract a portion of your sentence construction since that might miss the intent of the sentence. But, the article says that the leases need to be explored and if they turn up commercial quantities they would be developed; otherwise the land is worthless but the oil company owns the lease anyway. Congress doesn't know if oil/gas is present on those leases when they offer them for sale.
Exactly why we should have term limits. With each term they get re-elected to, many of these Congress critters develop an increasing sense of omnipotence. It's scary to think that many of them actually BELIEVE they can legislate "solutions" to problems, either real or perceived.
The other big lie... we shouldn’t drill in ANWR (or anywhere) because it will be 10 years before we see any oil. Thats like saying we are hungry now, but we should not waste time planting seeds because we will not be able to harvest a crop until Fall.
Oh, yes! That’s all I’ve heard the past few days, that damn 68 MILLION ACRES!!! The idiots all stare at the camera like they’re Stepford wives, droning on and on about the blasted 68 million acres. Geez, they’re so STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!! Not an original thought, phrase, or the truth for that matter, ever comes out of their sorry mouths.
Like the article said, that depends on if there is proven (recoverable) oil there. If there is, then fine, go get it. If there isn’t, then they’ve got to go elsewhere.
Just between us chickens, though, I imagine as soon as they find it and set up shop to go get it, that someone will file an environmental lawsuit about the endangered medium light brown earthworm.
Cavuto had some oil company exec or expert on today who said that a good majority of those acres ARE being explored but do not have the promise already shown by ANWR, etc. He also showed a boatload of demmies using the phrase “68 MILLION ACRES!!!” like that explains why it’s okay for them to screw the average consumer by not allowing drilling in the most promising places.
Haven’t heard a Dem being right about anything if he is in office above local level. Not for many years anyway.
I just don’t understand where this 68 million acres of undrilled leases comes from.
I work for one of the biggest oil companies in America, and we don’t have anywhere near even a million acres of undrilled federal leases. It might be a couple hundred thousand acres, most of which was recently purchased with plans to drill.
Why has no one demanded to hear how they came up with this number?
Cavuto was demanding today :-) and he also mentioned a rumor that the oil companies would be willing to ‘trade’ leases on those 68 MILLION ACRES!!! for those in ANWR, off of Florida, etc. It wasn’t verified yet, but since Congress WANTS the consumers paying high prices for foreign oil, I doubt they’d agree to the trades—like someone else wrote here, there’d be no end to the lawsuits from the ‘environmentalists’ over the endangered hairy peat moss catepillar or something. ;-)
Sorry but that comment has me laughing my arse off. It only shows the ignorance of those that have no knowledge of oil. Just because you lease it, doesn’t mean there oil!
Exactly! Which was Cavuto’s point. :-)
And the oil exec/expert’s point as well. Apparently the early
studies show that yes, there is *some* oil on those acres, but NOWHERE near what ANWR, etc. promises!!
Dopey demmies.
Look up Chevron “Jack” field in the gulf of mexico. This is being developed right now. There are other’s right behind it. There is oil out there, and the Dem’s are too stupid to let us drill for it. For that reason alone, they should be voted out of office. If the republicans don’t have enough sense to make this an issue, shame on em!
Look oil exploration is a very cheap and fast process. You take out the old Winchester squirrel rifle and fire bullets into the ground. Out comes a bubbling crude, every time. Then you rape American consumers by making a whopping 8% profit.
Wait a moment, yer not saying that the ultra rare medium light brown earthworm is endangered, are you? I've actually studied this (in College, of course) and have determined that its the uber rare green warted light to dark medium somewhat pink spotted Kgnat with asymmetric gills and a piercing stare which is endangered by oil drilling. This is a very important species, and not one to be written off so easily in order to feed our collective gluttony for oil derived fuels .....
/sarc off
Then ya move you and yer kin to Beverly Hills and star in a TV show :)
Why can’t the Reps and McCain explain this simple fact to the public instead of letting the Dems get away with lies about 68,000,000 idle acres under lease?
Stupid is as stupid does.
It's the piercing stare that really separates it from other Kgnat's. Others say it's all in the eye of the beholder.
:>)
Mr. Cavaney’s article needs to reported on every MSM outlet in the country. Knowing the MSM, however, and their derelict ways, they will probably never report it!
I remain utterly convinced that we have SUPER VAST RESERVES that have been secretly idled since Ike’s Administration and often since then additional secret reserves have been capped and kept quiet about.
Hence, my new tagline.
Congressional Democrats are such a pack of liars. Why can’t they just come out and say that they are socialists/Marxists/communists? Of course, knowing about all the sheeple out there, that question practically answers itself! :-)
Others say it's all in the eye of the beerholder.
How do you know the potential exists if you haven't explored? You can't have it both ways...unless potential is not really a good guide to actual.
This is a good explaination of how oil leases work, but the Democrat talking point of “the oil companies have not used the leases they have” is a quick and easy lie that works with the masses.
And don’t you just KNOW that if oil WAS discovered to be plentiful in any of those areas, suddenly the govt would step in and declare it to be a “protected wetland” or national park or some crap like that.
I have to wonder how many of our Congressment own substantial oil stock and are reaping huge profits themselves by these high gas prices!
Would not surprise me one bit.
Exactly! The environmentalist libbies would jump all over that like a duck on a June bug the minute a LOT of oil was found, claiming that some endangered micro-organism would be extinct if drilling continued, lawsuits would fly right and left, and the American consumer would be doubly hit in the wallet because the gas prices would continue to go up—
Oy. :-(
For the life of me, I don’t know why these people are so anti-American. I just don’t get it! Don’t they understand that if they accomplished all they want to do in this country, then THEY would be out in the cold as well?!?
(And I don’t mean global cooling/warming/BS, you know what I mean!) Talk about biting the hand that feeds you!!
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