This isn’t a long-term solution to the energy needs of the world, but it would certainly help the U.S. in the coming decades, as we try to find other energy sources. We need to drill our own oil.
“What to do about oil? First it went from $60 to $80 a barrel, then from $80 to $100 and now to $120. Perhaps we can persuade OPEC to raise production, as some senators suggest; but this seems unlikely. The truth is that we’re almost powerless to influence today’s prices. We are because we didn’t take sensible actions 10 or 20 years ago. If we persist, we will be even worse off in a decade or two. The first thing to do: Start drilling.
It may surprise Americans to discover that the United States is the third-largest oil producer, behind Saudi Arabia and Russia. We could be producing more, but Congress has put large areas of potential supply off-limits. These include the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and parts of Alaska and the Gulf of Mexico. By government estimates, these areas may contain 25 billion to 30 billion barrels of oil (against about 30 billion barrels of proven U.S. reserves today) and 80 trillion cubic feet or more of natural gas (compared with about 200 tcf of proven reserves).”
Read the entire article (with an open mind) here.
Yo. You’ll love this:
http://stuffwhitedbagslike.wordpress.com/2008/04/27/ethanol/
It explains politics to a T.
Dude
The phrase Energy Independence is a misnomer, as we cannot establish independence from foreign Oil Suppliers even if we explored and leveraged Coastal sources and Proven Reserves. The facts presented, 25 – 30 billion barrels are sufficient to maintain our current Daily Consumption for a little more than 4 years (20 mb/day). Conservatives, who fashion themselves as the party of reason, unfortunately maintain a consistent message of:
1. Gas Prices have elevated because Liberals don’t allow us to drill for more oil.
This assertion is a flat out Lie. The US currently relies upon almost 500,000 Oil Wells to produce approximately 8 mb/day, satisfying almost 40% if our daily consumption. If we were to bring on-line, today, enough platforms to extract the estimated 25 – 30B barrels we would only begin a steady walk towards depleting THE ONLY safety-net we have.
Let’s assume that we brought our production levels (of oil) back up to almost 9 mb/day, lessening our dependence on OPEC sources, the net result would likely be a decrease in OPEC production and a subsequent increase in the market price, enough so to offset the benefit of more domestic production.
2. The Liberals won’t let us build more Refineries, and that’s why Gas Prices are elevated.
Another Lie. Please verify the fact that the US currently refines approximately 17 mb/day, that’s a deficit of almost 3 mb/day, reflective of a Consumption Rate of 20 mb/day. Oil Companies seldom lobby hard for increased refineries as the Federal Government routinely produces data demonstrating no dire need for more refineries. While more refineries will mean more jobs for US workers, a definite benefit, the increased cost of these Higher Paid workers (compared to foreign workers) will result in slightly higher Gas prices.
The best alternative for the US is to leverage a Renewable Fuel Source that can be produced within our borders. While the push for Ethanol has resulted in lower production rates of Food Crops, and subsequent Exports, a clearer strategy can be devised so that we can be Energy Independent.
What I Learned This Week
Source: Energy Information Administration – EIA – US Statistics from the US Government, Petroleum Data, Reports, Analysis & Surveys
Energy Information Administration – EIA – Official Statistics from the U.S. Government – Petroleum Data, Reports, Analysis, Surveys
References: Energy Information Administration – EIA – Official Statistics from the U.S. Government – Petroleum Data, Reports, Analysis, Surveys
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