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 ...
That is why the Honda was trash at the end. You have to do it with a fairing and screen. It gets all beat to pieces but keeps most of the rocks off the rider.
Eight years, rubbish. The location of the oil of CA is already known and could come on line in two years. Also, from what I’ve heard, preliminary exploration has already been done in many areas of the Gulf of Mexico.
Thanks. I had always considered that to be a real down side to traveling over AlCan.
“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...for the sierra club.”
another brilliant, self-appointed intellectual, who knows all, has decided for the rest of us that any reasoning that doesn’t coincide with his is a “crock”.
their arrogance knows no bounds and is becoming totally disgusting and filled with hubris to the point of insanity.
IMHO
There has to be a vote in Sept. to continue the drilling moratorium currently in effect. Bush should call a presser the day before and announce and sign an Executive Order in anticipation of Congress “doing the right thing” and voting to ALLOW drilling to proceed. The EO should contain all and anything necessary to expedite getting land leased, drlled, producing, refined and to the pump to help the “suffering American public”. Then Pelosi and Reid can scream like stuck pigs and twist in the wind after they vote to renew the moratorium. Bush can then call another presser and say I really tried to help get the price down, but...
Depending on the metal and if prices hold up, you may be able to finance most of your own funeral!
Surgical steel and a lot of titanium. I clank when I fall down.
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