Gas at 99-Cents a Gallon and Oil at $16 a Barrel
74USGS Podcast
I don’t often rant about something, but I get dreadfully tired of watching gasoline prices go up a heck of a lot and down just a little without a rational explanation.
When the U.S. apparently has enough untapped oil reserves in Montana and North Dakota to last us for over 2,000 years, then
1 - Why are gas prices so high,
2 - Why are we buying oil from the Middle East at such high prices, and
3 - Why are we fighting over off-shore drilling?
Think I’m crazy? Read on…
The U. S. Geological Service issued a report on April 10, 2008 that only the oil men and the scientists knew was coming. This report was HUGE news. It revised the original 1995 report on how much oil was in the western 2/3 of North Dakota; western South Dakota ; and extreme eastern Montana. This oil reserve is called the Bakken.
While fellow hubber Crawling Surface was correct in stating that the U.S. has the largest untapped oil reserves reserves in the world; [see hub at http://hubpages.com/hub/oilshale] there is an even bigger reserve than the one mentioned that isn't being talked about.
The U.S. Government Geological survey estimates the amount of oil in the Bakken Reserve to be 3 – 4 TRILLION barrels. You can see the U.S. Geological Survey Report Released 4/10/2008 here http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911
The report is jaw-dropping… get a load of this:
'North Dakota and Montana have an estimated 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil in an area known as the Bakken Formation.
A U.S. Geological Survey assessment, released April 10, shows a 25-fold increase in the amount of oil that can be recovered compared to the agency's 1995 estimate of 151 million barrels of oil.
Technically recoverable oil resources are those producible using currently available technology and industry practices. USGS is the only provider of publicly available estimates of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and gas resources
The USGS estimate of 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil has a mean value of 3.65 billion barrels. That equates to many trillions of dollars worth of oil.'
Folks, that's enough crude to fully fuel the American
economy for many generations.
There was a pseudo-scientific Stansberry
online report from 4/20/2006 that has since been tagged as a partially true
urban legend and was removed from their web site, but
you can still still see a copy of the report here:http://www.cco.net/~trufax/pdf/colorado.pdf
Despite the fact that the Stansberry Report has some disputable information in it, the fact remains that the Bakken is very real, and it is a vast oil resource that is not being talked about.
While not all of that is ‘technically recoverable,’ the questions that beg to be asked are these. HOW can we NOT BE more aggressively extracting this oil? Despite the apparent expense, we have the technology available to cut the extraction costs. WHO is blocking all efforts to help America become independent of foreign oil, and WHY? WHO is funding the groups that are blocking this? OPEC possibly?
Heck, if the U.S. Government can spend trillions on cash for
clunker cars and clunker car companies, clunker banks, clunker mortgage
companies, clunker insurance companies, and clunker investment firms – all coming
out of your and my taxpaying pockets, then why not spend some of the bailout
money to tap this oil reserve and cut our oil and gas prices to stimulate the
economy?
Would OPEC drop its
price if the U.S. aggressively tapped this reserve? It's all about the
competitive marketplace - so I think they would.
Are you , like me are tired of paying high prices for gas and oil? Tired of complaining about them too?
There is no doubt someone has a long term plan in this madness. Why is this oil reserve not being more aggressively tapped?
I’ll make a couple of guesses:
1 – The U.S. will help the other countries use up their oil while we sit on our untapped resources, in effect turning the tables on OPEC.
2 – Keeping the cost of gas and oil high means we pay more embedded federal and state taxes at the pump.
3 – OPEC is funding environmentalist groups who are actively trying to block the U.S. from fully tapping this resource.
Leave a comment and tell me why YOU think tapping into this oil reserve is being blocked.
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Comments
Good point; money and power are both certainly driving forces behind government politics.
Too many special interest groups. Here in Fla. some make the claim the oil rigs would hurt tourism...like you can even see a rig 15 miles out??? And I just have this to add, the dreamer in the White House wants green cars, he can't have his way if there is an oil. Ignorance, money and power, I agree.
What do you think Jiberish, would the tourists be more willing to visit Florida if there were off-shore oil rigs they couldn't see and gas was back at 99-cents a gallon instead of the $4.20 they paid last summer?
Wake up people! Get a life! To put it simply. The rich (Big Business/Old Money Families) have controlled our government for many years. You all know it!! They want world wide control and have only one way to get it. They must put all the countries on an even economic level. Since they cannot bring the third world countries up to the United States level of economy, it must bring us down to them. Open borders to Mexico, 700 Billion Dollar giveaways (where has it gone), flu pandemic promoted using government/funds(untested vaccines which could lead to the deaths of many or the infertility of a generation). Why would they want to help the United States stand on its own by boosting it's oil reserves. If you think I'm crazy google these items I just gave you. The great thing about the internet is they can try and coverup, but they cannot get rid of the truth.
I agree, and it becomes more evident every day. Have you seen this short video where Congresswoman Maxine Waters, explains with an unintentional slip of the tongue the REAL liberal agenda the current administration has for our great nation? She stops dead in her tracks and tries to fix what she said, but it was too late. OOPS, she let it all slip out, and notice the reaction of the people around her. You can see that video here, and feel free to share it with others as well.
Do you guys seriously believe this stuff? FYI, the Bakken oil shale play has been in development for many years. Thanks to new technology, it is indeed under very aggressive development - one of the most active plays in the country.
Now, let's do a little simple math. First, let's assume the most optimistic recovery estimates. There was an independent assessment a few years ago by a geochemist estimating original oil in place of between 300-500 billion barrels. Recoverable reserve estimates range from 1% to 10%, so let's assume we can extract 50 billion barrels over the life of the field. How many year's supply is that? Well, we consume about 22 million barrels per day (bpd)in this country. 50 billion/22 billion = 2,273 days or about 6 years (assuming demand does not rise in this country) - a far cry from 2000+ years - and this is by the most optimistic, reasonable estimate, reality might be much lower. Shale production is complicated and difficult, hence the term "nonconventional resource" and harder to reliably predict.
Of course, there is definitely a significant recoverable volume, but the other caveat is that it cannot be produced at 22 million bdp and it cannot all be developed simultaneously. Right now, production is about 75,000 bpd and it might peak at a few hundred thousand bpd by the most optimistic estimates. So, the Bakken shale reserve referred to, at its peak, will still only contribute a small percentage of our daily consumption.
Also, the assertion that it is cheap to produce does not take into account the cost of exploration and development. The fact is, industry needs upwards of $50/barrel for development for it to make sense. Fortunately (not so fortunately for consumers), oil prices are high enough - and likely to remain high enough - to allow aggressive development.
While technology will continue to allow us to re-classify those reserves previously thought to be unrecoverable as recoverable, as long as we put all our eggs in the oil & gas basket, the best we can hope for is to keep our dependence on foreign oil from rising too fast. Decades of shortsighted energy policy that has not included renewable resource development and aggressive conservation (i.e. efficiency) policy has left us energy-starved and scrambling. Sure, if we choose, we can burn more coal, strip mine oil & tar sands and drive our Hummers into the wasteland of our future. Even that will not last forever, though. It is not a matter of "if" but "when" and, when we do finally make the transition, I, for one, would prefer to still be able to enjoy the beauty so much of our country has to offer.
By the way, I am an oil & gas producer and profit from favorable legislation. Still, I recognize that favorable oil & gas laws need to be balanced by sensible, forward-thinking & sustainable energy policy. It takes millions and millions of years to replace every barrel we extract. Ridiculous assertions like those in the Stansberry Report only stoke the fires of ignorance which, in turn, drives policy. The old adage still holds up: "If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is".
someonewhoknows says:
4 months ago
All of the above is my guess.Money and power two of the driving forces in this world of ours.