Posted on 11/09/2005 1:39:04 PM PST by rdb3
Would you please list the dry wells drilled in the GOM in the past ten years? 3D seismic has come a long ways as well as drilling.
It amuses me when government officials grandstand like this, particularly the Democrats. Why don't they worry about our government gouging us and wasting our tax dollars. They could actually do something about that. My tax bill is five hundred times larger than my gasoline bill. High taxes good, high oil prices bad? Only on the mind of a bureaucrat.
The firm spent most of 2001 studying the Gulf of Mexico. In 2002 it participated in four wells -- three of which were dry -- and farmed into the successful Neptune acreage, operated by fellow Australian company BHP Billiton, and participated in Neptune 3, which discovered 137 meters of gross hydrocarbons and 40 meters of net oil pay.
In the Gulf of Mexico, we had five dry holes: Crested Butte, Main Pass 240, Shark, Fawkes and WindRiver. ... We expensed $39 million of well costs in the fourth quarter. In 2004, we drilled Main Pass 240 and found the objective sand wet. This well was abandoned in December 2004. Shark was an ultra-deep-shelf gas test on South Timbalier 174 that finished drilling during the first quarter of 2004. Following our evaluation, we expensed $25 million of well costs. While the well has been abandoned, we can re-enter it if required. Fawkes and Wind River, located in deep water, completed drilling and were abandoned in January 2005, resulting in a write-off of $13 million in 2004. Overall, dryhole and seismic costs in the Gulf of Mexico accounted for over 50% of our exploration expense. Margin text: Gulf of Mexico accounts for half our 2004 dry-hole and seismic costs.
For 2003, a total of 29,984 wells (19,722 natural gas wells, 6,284 oil wells, and 3,978 dry wells) were drilled in the United States.
in Aug 2005, 397,068,000 gallons per day. That is only gasoline. Total refined product 804,972,000 gallons per day.
Thanks for the info. I'm very surprised it is so high. I work on field development exploration is finished so I am only exposed to the successful wells.
Individual wells are not the same as a geological area. I will give you million to one odds there is oil to be produced out of ANWR 1002 area, the coastal plain. The oil seeping out of the ground is a likely indication of the presence of oil.
Economics
I agree with you, but you're only half right. Economics and Accounting.
Those folks who do not understand how to read a P&L and Balance Sheet, then they should shut up, and stop living in a dream world where facts are not relevant.
Anyone, and I mean ANYONE, can purchase oil, gasoline, heating oil, natural gas, or pork bellies, and take delivery of said commodity. If you think you can make more money with it than Exxon, then by all means go for it! The prices are "fixed" at auction with about a half billion people watching. The only people that have any chance of gouging are the retailers, and they have someone across the street to contend with.
One thing I was waiting for today was an executive to mention that about a third of gas price is tax! The gougers were right in front of the oilmen. If they tacked on 1/3 for extra profit with no effort in the fuel process, they would be tarred and feathered.
Dollar reporting is meaningless. Thers is no PERSPECTIVE. Last year the petroleum industry earned 7.7% on total revenue.
I'd like to know how many folks think this is "excess profits."
Then again the whiners probably are too lazy to go to work, contribute the maximum to their 401k, and are either school teachers, or are living on welfare.
Diall 1-800-CONGRESS. To ALLOW the oil companies to explore, drill, refine and distribute product to the market.
People who DO NOT UNDERSTAND this industry really twist my shorts. Everyone is a friggin' expert, but have no clue as to complexity of the industry. It is not as simple as thawing a sirloin in the microwave./rant
To compare to Big Oil, consider that Americans are willing to pay over $2 for a gallon of water, but complain about paying $2.50 for a gallon of gas. Think about how many jobs it takes to create that gallon of gas. Think about how many jobs it takes to create the plastic bottle that holds that gallon of water.
The usual retort is that people don't buy just one gallon of gas, and when you buy a full tank at close to $30, then it's a bigger deal than just that one bottle of water. This is the same with campaign ads. The individual ad may not cost that much (relative to "usual" ad costs), but the proliferation of ads is like the tank of gas in that it's a windfall to the MSM.
-PJ
God I hate the sanctimonious a-holes.
...wildcat success rate...is the percentage of wildcat wells drilled that successfully find new oil fields, regardless of field size. The average success rate for the U.S. from 1977 to 1996 is estimated at 18%... In other words, it is expected that, on average, for every five wildcat wells drilled between 1977 and 1996, one will discover a new oil field.
Because...prospects lie thousands of feet below the earth's surface, uncertainty and trial-and-error pervade the exploration process. It is a painstaking and hugely expensive enterprise, with low success rates. Historically, new field wildcat exploration has succeeded at a rate of one productive well for every five to 10 wells drilled....3-D seismic and 4-D time-lapse visualization, remote sensing, and other exploration technology allow explorationists to target higher-quality prospects and to improve success rates by as much as 50 percent or more.
Baseed on the above Blue Ridge Group statement, through use of the latest 3D & 4D technology, the 50% improvement advertised would imply that at least one out of every 5, to as many as 1 out of 2.5 wells sunk will strike oil (wildcat success).
"The oil companies owe the American people an explanation," he declared.
No, Mr. Domenici, it's MORONS LIKE YOU who need to explain to the American people why so-called "conservative leaders" have let the education system deteriorate to the point that even a cursory understanding of supply-and-demand economics (as well as the negative effect of excessive government regulation) is non-existent in this country.
The slow death of the Republican Party as a conservative movement marches on. It may not happen in my lifetime, but hopefully, someday, after the Republicans and the Democrats morph into one, perhaps a real conservative political party will emerge in this country.
American free-market capitalism. {{SIGH}}. It was nice while it lasted. Turn out the lights.
Well if these "lawmakers/tax raisers" were so darn concerned about the high price of oil/gas they sure could have cut their profiteering, I mean taxes.
One thing I was waiting for today was an executive to mention that about a third of gas price is tax! The gougers were right in front of the oilmen. If they tacked on 1/3 for extra profit with no effort in the fuel process, they would be tarred and feathered.
My wife lived in this industry at Texaco's World headquarters.
If there were any "gouging," it was at the Distributor part of the supply chain. It was well known that many of the large distributors were fukcing the retailers. She has told me thousands of stories of the Distributors hosing the retailers.
My wife and I knew four Texaco CEOs, and they dropped these bar flies like dead pidgeons.
The sheeple haven't a clue about the industry, the supply chain, and the retail market.
All we hear on the MSM is "price gouging" mantra.
The sheeple are dumber than wool.
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