It will be at least 2 decades before Canada has the production surplus to match what we get from OPEC today.
Posted on 04/26/2011 7:16:36 AM PDT by IbJensen
EPA Blocks Oil Drilling in Alaska
There are an estimated 27 billion barrels of oil waiting to be tapped in the Arctic Ocean, off the coast of Alaska. But after spending five years and nearly $4 billion, Shell Oil Company has been forced to abandon its efforts to drill for oil in the region.
(Related: 3 Inch Lizard May Shut Down Texas and New Mexico Oil and Gas Operations)
With gas at $4 per gallon and higher, one might think that more oil would be a good thing. So what’s the road block? The Environmental Protection Agency. Fox News reports that the EPA is withholding necessary air permits because of a one square mile village of 245 people, 70 miles from the off-shore drilling site. From Fox News’ Dan Springer:
The EPA’s appeals board ruled that Shell had not taken into consideration emissions from an ice-breaking vessel when calculating overall greenhouse gas emissions from the project. Environmental groups were thrilled by the ruling.
“What the modeling showed was in communities like Kaktovik, Shell’s drilling would increase air pollution levels close to air quality standards,” said Eric Grafe, Earthjustice’s lead attorney on the case.
Who at the EPA made the decision? Springer writes:
The Environmental Appeals Board has four members: Edward Reich, Charles Sheehan, Kathie Stein and Anna Wolgast. All are registered Democrats and Kathie Stein was an activist attorney for the Environmental Defense Fund. Members are appointed by the EPA administrator.
President Barack Obama said in his weekly address on Saturday that “there’s no silver bullet that can bring down gas prices right away,” but that one thing America can do is pursue “safe and responsible production of oil at home.” Too bad his words and his actions are not one and the same. Aside for the EPA’s decision on Shell, the Obama administration has imposed a months-long moratorium on deepwater offshore drilling that curtailed domestic production and sent some seven drilling rigs elsewhere.
The Heritage Foundation’s Nicolas Loris recommends the following actions for Congress and President Obama if they truly want to expand access to America’s domestic energy supply:
Allow access to domestic reserves. Permitting exploration of reserves in Alaska, Colorado, Wyoming, and federal waters offshore would inject confidence into the market, create jobs, and stimulate the economy. Roll back regulatory burdens on companies. Strapping companies with onerous regulatory processes only hinders access. Litigation opportunities should be limited and the permitting process made more rational. Issue offshore drilling permits. Lifting the de facto moratorium on offshore drilling permits would gain companies access to domestic resources and increase our domestic energy supply.
TGO hit Obama hard last night on this issue starting with Cho the EPA chief’s statements in 2008 and Salazar blocking stuff..
the illegal Obama regime is orchestrating the crisis with their insane ideas on warming....
Good one. Been my theme for the past two years (see post #11). I want to be like Ronald Reagan. It doesn’t matter who gets the credit as long as it gets done. Whatever it takes to wake this country up, I hope it happens sooner, not later.
I thought "close to" only counted in horseshoes, darts, and hand grenades.
That’s changing as we type——Canada has vast energy supplies and is increasing supplies of oil to the US. We will soon get the bulk of our oil in our own backyard-—right off the country roads of peaceful, bucolic New England.
Knowledgeable Americans don’t give a fig about antediluvian Mideast hellholes.....some of them too stupid to govern themselves without trillions of US tax dollars.
To get their hands on US tax dollars, they con the US, and propagandize the lie that we are “dependent” on Mideast oil....and that the US cannot access our vast energy supplies b/c of enviro concerns.
These con artists oughta go perform an anatomical impossibility with themselves.
It will be at least 2 decades before Canada has the production surplus to match what we get from OPEC today.
Oh please, knowledgeable Americans no longer believe the propaganda designed to keep the US pouring trillions into the Mideast.
The red-hot center of the 21st century's gold rush is the western Canadian province of Alberta. Spread under 54,363 square miles of boreal forest -- a little less than the land area of Florida -- lie proven reserves of 174 billion barrels, second only to Saudi Arabia's.
Do you think those fields are magic? That no infrastructure has to be built? That no capital investment in of nearly $100 Billion is needed to get that type of production.
The Keystone XL pipeline has been trying to get approval for year.
Oil in the ground is not oil being supplied. We have plenty of reserves ourselves if we were only allowed access to them.
Exactly.
” The US gets THE BULK of its oil from nearby Canada——which now provides a large percentage of US needs.
Enviro issues are strictly agit-prop. “
Exactly!
” Every time I hear the word “pristine” I want to smack John McLame in the the head. “
Funny thing........I get that feeling almost every day ;-)
bump
Amen.
What with engineering know-how, huge advances in technology, and the $$$$trillions to be made----a small $100 billion investment will get the Canadian reserves out of the ground in no time....
And it's all in in our own backyard, just down a country road in bucolic, peaceful New England.
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US oil companies have had tremendous success unlocking big quantities of natural gas from dense shale rock formations in North America. We're talking about TRILLIONS of barrels of oil equivalent in shale natural gas.
THE US HAS REAMS OF ENERGY RESERVES---BUT ENVIROS WONT LET US GET AT IT the US has vast reserves of energy ---- offshore oil, natural gas, coal. We must now consider that the Mideast types are colluding with enviros to keep the US dependent on these violent Mideast backwaters.
A few questions if you care to offer an opinion.
Do we have a shortage of available crude today?
Do we have refinery capacity to increase output production? If so, by how much?
Who sets the price of crude?
What is the average supply/storage of crude onhand at any given time? Where would additional supply be stored?
As I see it if there isn’t a shortage of available crude or a shortage of supply of refined product on hand then additional supplies aren’t going to get refined or into the market place. As long as the market is an open market then the speculators will drive the price. What are we going to do with all the reserves in the US? Set a price on what it can be sold for and require it be used only for product in the US?
At current prices? No. Try to price it at $20 and you will have a heck of a shortage. Supply and demand are curves based on price, not a fixed amount.
Do we have refinery capacity to increase output production? If so, by how much?
Do you mean capacity to increase domestic oil production? Sure! We could nearly triple our domestic oil production before reaching our current refinery capacity. We would substitute that imported oil with our domestic oil if we reached that amount.
Who sets the price of crude?
The market. Most oil is not bought and sold over the NY stock exchange. Most oil used in refineries is long term contracts.
What is the average supply/storage of crude onhand at any given time?
The US, outside of the strategic reserve, typically has 20~30 day supply in commercial stocks.
http://eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=W_EPC0_VSD_NUS_DAYS&f=W
Where would additional supply be stored?
What additional supply? If we increase domestic production, as we have slightly the last couple years, we would reduce imports, as we have.
http://eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MCRFPUS2&f=A
http://eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MTTIMUS2&f=A
As long as the market is an open market then the speculators will drive the price.
If you believe it is only speculation driving market prices, why is the spot market, which requires taking immediate delivery of the oil bought, at nearly the same price?
Thanks for your responses. I don’t necessarily think it is only speculation driving the price but I don’t see how you reduce the consumer price without price controls on what crude produced in the US can be sold at and specify that it can only be consumed in the US.
Just trying to get a grip on this drill more thing when there are many other factors included in what the final price at the pump becomes.
We will be a net exporter of Natural Gas in about a decade, in my opinion.
Transportation cost will effect pricing some, but to a limited amount. Which is why WTI which historically is more than Brent has been running about $10 cheaper lately. That is near the limit of the difference. More than that an it can be loaded on rail and ship to be transported to higher priced areas.
The EPA has prevented drilling in Alaska, yet George Soros buys rights to Alaskan oil. Gee, I wonder what might happen next?
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