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Posted on 07/22/2008 10:23:38 AM PDT by SmithL
U.S. offshore oil fields could hold enough crude to supply all of the country's needs for more than 11 years.
Or they might not. No one knows for certain because, with new offshore oil drilling banned on the East and West coasts, no one has gone looking for oil there in years.
Now congressional Republicans are pushing hard to make offshore drilling a key issue in the presidential campaign, hoping to channel the anger Americans feel over historically high oil and gasoline prices. More oil, they argue, will bring lower prices.
The federal government estimates the nation's outer continental shelf might hold 85.9 billion barrels of crude, including 10.13 billion barrels off California. For comparison, the United States consumes about 7.56 billion barrels of oil per year. The nation's sea floor also could hold 419.9 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, equal to U.S. consumption for 14 1/2 years. But the federal estimates are just that - estimates.
"You don't really know what's there until you go out and drill a well," said Ken Medlock, an energy research fellow at Rice University's James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy. "And even then, you're not 100 percent sure of what you're going to get."
In addition, offshore oil exploration is slow and costly.
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, Medlock said. Bringing newly discovered oil fields into full production would take longer.
That means any new oil wouldn't arrive on the market until midway through the next decade, at the earliest.
..."It's a crock to say that's any kind of near-term solution for the pain drivers are feeling at the pump," said Bill Corcoran, senior regional representative for the Sierra Club.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Bloomberg has oil down 4.27 on the NYMEX exchange, and gasoline futures down close to 10 cents
True.. but estimates (as usual) could be WRONG there could be 114 years of oil or 214 years of domestic oil supply.. Especially off the EAST coast.. where almost ZERO effort has been expended to determine "estimates"..
Even worse when "some/various" federal party sources are and have been AGAINST drilling offshore and have been "spinning" estimates for 50 years.. Almost ALL of Alaska is OWNED by Washington D.C. ... OWNED not controlled but OWNED.. which itelf is obscene..
Federal estimates of KNOWN BAkken formation(N.Dakota) oil reserves have been SPUN like a top(to less than is really there).. not to speak of obscene federal control of oil shale and oil sands in mid America..
There is federal malfeance afoot with this Domestic Oil situation.. If the american villagers DON'T lite some torches and MARCH.. nothing will change.. The federal Frankenstein is running amuck and scaring the villagers.. I say grab some pitch forks and advance on the Capital.. with torches and everything.. YES singing the witch is dead too..
When a Republican administration wants to learn something about the oil bidness, they ask oilmen.
When a Democrat administration wants to learn something about the oil bidness, they ask academics and lawyers, i.e., "experts".
Trees take about 10 years to grow big enough for lumber.
Let’s stop planting new trees for lumber...
Whether through ignorance or intentionally, he is lying. There are rigs in place ready to start drill from when the ban was first put into place. Their progress was frozen in place. Those wells could be producing inside of a year. Since they are shallow water sites, they would not need the scarce drilling ships to drill additional wells.
I would prefer now to see the price of gas to stay at least at $4 until the election.If McCain could actually get on the issue and push it he would guarantee his own election by a big margin and it would bring a much better Congress, too. That, of course, is the hangup for McCain. A more conservative Congress would deny him McAmnesty which seems to be his primary issue. He would probably rather lose the election than lose Amnesty.
Let’s also stop researching cures for cancer and all the other diseases. Why bother? It takes too long. Why bother to do anything if it takes several years to accomplish?
If we had been utilizing all domestic energy sources for the past 30 years, we would not be so dependent on foreign oil now.
Has anyone noticed that the biggest oil producing countries have the lowest gas prices? Gee, I wonder why. Duh.
Actually yall can thank me for the decline in the oil price. As is usual when I make Big Decision the reason for the Decision disappears rapidly. I ordered a scooter and the next day the price of oil, of course, dropped. I expect that when the truck drops off the scoot at my door the price of oil will drop down to $1.99 gas, maybe lower. Just remember i’m the guy who did it.
That’s funny. I hear you bud. I was the guy that caused gold and silver to drop in the 80s. I didn’t get hurt at all, but I did talk one of my co-workers into buying a one ounce silver coin at $14.00. Within months it was worth $2.50. (well a few years, but you get the point)
I haven’t been tempted to get a scooter, but I can see where one would be a lot of fun.
Be careful. Folks won’t see you.
I don’t know whether it is feasible to drill off of the Oregon/Washington coastline, and I’m no greenie.
My concern is the deep subduction earthquakes that occur in those offshore areas coupled with storm driven waves throughout the winter which have been known to overtop the Tillamook Point Lighthouse, over a hundred feet above sea level.
This lighthouse’s nickname, Terrible Tilly, is well deserved. Located more than ten miles from shore and built upon a very tall spire of basalt rising from the sea floor, it is difficult to land there even under good weather conditions. Unmanned now and terribly battered by storms, it is a good example to consider when contemplating offshore drilling platforms.
Drilling platforms in the Gulf of Mexico are battered by the occasional hurricanes and have good records for durability. But the north Pacific is anything but pacific during the winter. The North Sea off Norway would be comparable but it lacks the huge long distances that the storms in the northern Pacific have that allows giant rollers to build up to incredible wave heights.
You said: What kind of expertise does a regional rep from the sierra club have markets, economics, or commodities? They should be embarrassed.
Where as it is much better near-term solution to just do nothing at all. That will bring relief at the pump immediately./SAR.
Anyone who listens to this sh** and doesn't want to puke has something wrong with them.
Your whole problem is you cannot accurately predict the course of events, for instance, the price won't drop when you get your scooter. It will drop immediately after you finish filling the tank the first time with 4.00 Gas.
We are awash in hydrocarbons that we can directly use and even more hydrocarbons we can use after conversion such as we are doing with corn to ethanol.
The only issue that is important is cost of bringing those hydrocarbons to the end user in a suitable form. The present world price is far above the break-even cost of many conversions technologies.
I rode two wheelers(I had 28 or 29 different ones, one even new) exclusively for many years and many thousands of miles a year before I got my first car. I also had 4 major trips to the hospital and there is enough steel and exotic metal in my body that I will not be buried when I die. I will be sold for scrap.
Sorry to hear about your trips to the hospital. I’m sure you got a lot of enjoyment out of those two wheelers though.
Take care bud.
My best ride was the Al Can on a CB-750 to Fairbanks then back around down to Juneau and the ferryboat to Prince Rupert. The CB was trash after that, though. I left it in a parking lot in Pocatello.
I’ll bet that was a lot of fun. I’ve wanted to do something like that by SUV. Were gravel or rocks from opposing traffic a problem?
children: why send them to school, it will take 12 years (at least) for them to graduate
an orchard: why plant trees, it will take from eight to ten years for them to produce fruit, nuts or whatever
a wind farm: why bother, it will take five years or more to order, produce and install enough of the windmills to be worthwhile and build the power distribution system
and on and on and on ...
But logic is not the Democrats' strong suit.
“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, Medlock said. Bringing newly discovered oil fields into full production would take longer.”
If they took the rock from the quary on Catalina and built an island on the Horseshoe Kelp which is 43 feet deep and 7 miles off San Pedro they could have it ready for drillng in less than 6 months!
Clear up into the late 70s there was a substantial amount of natural seepage there.
I’m sure that the wells on the Long Beach oil island and the platform off Seal Beach have reduced substantially the amount of natural flow.
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