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Domestic Drilling

Additional domestic drilling will reduce oil prices

  • Total voters
    57
apdst said:
I guess the unemployment rate going back up to 9% tipped you off as to how much the economy has improved?
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The reversal of the unemployment spiral, the rebound of the stock market and the increase in GDP all tipped me off. I never expected Obama to be able to turn things around in a single term, yet he has! :sun
 
Catawba said:
Oil production in the US peaked 40 years ago, that's why they are drilling offshore.
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they're drilling offshore because that's where oil is. well, pause that. they are drilling offshore in the few area's where they are allowed to drill offshore because oil is in those areas as well as the giant ones that are forbidden.

I've looked at the risks versus benefits off-shore drilling and decided its no longer makes sense for the country. :sun
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:roll: i think i'll stick with the overwhelming opinion of the American people here on what makes sense for the country.
 
cpwill said:
they're drilling offshore because that's where oil is. well, pause that. they are drilling offshore in the few area's where they are allowed to drill offshore because oil is in those areas as well as the giant ones that are forbidden.
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There are no "giant" ones that are forbidden. All indications are, we passed world peak oil in 2006 since world production has never topped the peak produced in that year. Yet world consumption continues to grow. That is why China, the UK, and even Saudia Arabia are investing heavily in alternative energy.

What does it tell you when the country with the largest cheap oil reserves left on the planet is investing heavily in alternatives to oil? Do you worry about China getting the economic lead in with cheap energy?

If you want drilling on the beaches talk to the states, they don't seem to care much for it. I can't imagine why. :sun
 
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cpwill said:
yes. do you understand that demand is only one factor in price, and that the other is supply? that shipping costs money? that refinement does as well? that these things will also be built into the price?
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Transportation of crude oil from the Mideast to the US adds 1¢ per liter at the pump. Internal transportation, mostly by pipeline to distributors and truck transport from distributors to dispensers, adds 5-10% to the landed cost of oil, something that won't change regardless of where the oil comes from. Refining is also a fixed cost regardless of where the oil is produced.

Do you have any facts as to how increased domestic production would lower pump prices more than 1¢/liter on a globally traded commodity or just those erroneous assumptions? I suggest you research cost of domestic production and you'll better understand why oil companies have thousands of approved leases sitting in file cabinets waiting for world oil prices to go up so those leases can be acted on with acceptable ROI.
 
evanescence said:
What? No one likes the idea of air cars? I guess Big Oil wins.

It's not exactly as if other options don't exist.
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No serious effort will be made by the US to develop and mass produce any alternative with oil remaining relatively cheap. Once world demand pushes oil prices above $150-175/barrel, and it will, more research and development funding will be directed at feasible alternatives. Until then Americans, tied at the hip to fossil fueled vehicles and rejecting mass transit, will pay the price of inefficiency and a weak currency by watching their disposable income vanish.
 
croniccynic said:
No serious effort will be made by the US to develop and mass produce any alternative with oil remaining relatively cheap. Once world demand pushes oil prices above $150-175/barrel, and it will, more research and development funding will be directed at feasible alternatives. Until then Americans, tied at the hip to fossil fueled vehicles and rejecting mass transit, will pay the price of inefficiency and a weak currency by watching their disposable income vanish.
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So basically, people will wait until it's too late, and at the last minute attempt to develop more efficient alternative energy since profit is God. Sounds about right.
 
evanescence said:
So basically, people will wait until it's too late, and at the last minute attempt to develop more efficient alternative energy since profit is God. Sounds about right.
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I'm an atheist but in the private sector investment, including oil production, requires a tangible, positive return. Nationalism, idealism and other emotion won't provide that return.
 
Catawba said:
The reversal of the unemployment spiral, the rebound of the stock market and the increase in GDP all tipped me off. I never expected Obama to be able to turn things around in a single term, yet he has! :sun
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He turned the economy around with his wreckovery? :lamo

The economy would have turned itself around, had Obama not gotten in the way.
 
Oil is fungible and costs very little to ship. The large companies that pump it out of the ground are international. Therefore, oil pumped out of the ground in the US is an international ‘product’. Other international suppliers, esp. the Saudi’s can pump a lot more oil than they do, but they control the amount they pump to maintain price w/o hurting the world economies too much. If they cause recession or depression they make less money.

Speculators are having a wonderful time with oil. There seems to be the perfect time delay between the interruption of one of the many suppliers and the pick-up in production buy other suppliers to buy and sell. We made a nice amount with the BP blow out.

If we nationalized our oil sources and had enough production to supply our needs plus a significant percentage, we could be oil independent. Dream on.

So, nothing is going to change until there is an alternate to oil that doesn’t have the issues of oil. And we’ll need a lot of it to significantly displace oil to change the economics of oil.

Oil the way we are making a political issue of it makes no real sense, but those that don’t understand the basic issues can be manipulated by this issue. Drill baby drill! Simple, right? No.
 
With Gas Prices Soaring, Obama Looks to Ramp Up U.S. Oil Production
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Drill, baby... drill!!!!!!
 
evanescence said:
So basically, people will wait until it's too late, and at the last minute attempt to develop more efficient alternative energy since profit is God. Sounds about right.
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Yep. Welcome to America.
 
OhIsee.Then said:
Oil is fungible and costs very little to ship. The large companies that pump it out of the ground are international. Therefore, oil pumped out of the ground in the US is an international ‘product’. Other international suppliers, esp. the Saudi’s can pump a lot more oil than they do, but they control the amount they pump to maintain price w/o hurting the world economies too much. If they cause recession or depression they make less money.

Speculators are having a wonderful time with oil. There seems to be the perfect time delay between the interruption of one of the many suppliers and the pick-up in production buy other suppliers to buy and sell. We made a nice amount with the BP blow out.

If we nationalized our oil sources and had enough production to supply our needs plus a significant percentage, we could be oil independent. Dream on.

So, nothing is going to change until there is an alternate to oil that doesn’t have the issues of oil. And we’ll need a lot of it to significantly displace oil to change the economics of oil.

Oil the way we are making a political issue of it makes no real sense, but those that don’t understand the basic issues can be manipulated by this issue. Drill baby drill! Simple, right? No.
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Agreed. Many posters in this thread display a defined lack of business knowledge, in this instance the economic structure of producing a global commodity by source, but there's certainly no lack of nationalistic emotion. All politicians react to emotion driven issues like a rat to cheese; easy pickings.
 
evanescence said:
So basically, people will wait until it's too late, and at the last minute attempt to develop more efficient alternative energy since profit is God. Sounds about right.
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rocket88 said:
Yep. Welcome to America.
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:) If you don't like it, feel free to move to Spain. They've been pouring tons into Green Jobs - feel free to go check out how that's working for them.
 
If you don't like it, feel free to move to Spain. They've been pouring tons into Green Jobs - feel free to go check out how that's working for them.

Yes please do...for all our faults this is the best stop on the planet :)
 
Catawba said:
There are no "giant" ones that are forbidden
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I'd call the entire coast of california pretty large. I would call the largest single oil reserve in the world pretty good-sized too.

All indications are, we passed world peak oil in 2006 since world production has never topped the peak produced in that year.
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the problem being that that metric is dependent on a static amount of available supply; which history shows to be a false conclusion. we're constantly finding new reserves, and new ways to get more from the old.

What does it tell you when the country with the largest cheap oil reserves left on the planet is investing heavily in alternatives to oil? Do you worry about China getting the economic lead in with cheap energy?
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nope. if by some odd Malthusian revenge you peak oil nuts bugs out to be right, we'll just buy it from them, reverse engineer it, and make it better.
 
cpwill said:
the problem being that that metric is dependent on a static amount of available supply; which history shows to be a false conclusion. we're constantly finding new reserves, and new ways to get more from the old.[
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Do you know what these alternative methods are?
 
what, you want the specifics of drilling innovation? of the ways we are discovering to squeeze oil out of rock, sand, and other places we never thought possible?
 
cpwill said:
I'd call the entire coast of california pretty large. I would call the largest single oil reserve in the world pretty good-sized too.
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hey and whattya know? it looks like the New York Times agrees with me :)

...The Obama administration is proposing to open vast expanses of water along the Atlantic coastline, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the north coast of Alaska to oil and natural gas drilling, much of it for the first time, officials said Tuesday...

The proposal is intended to reduce dependence on oil imports, generate revenue from the sale of offshore leases and help win political support for comprehensive energy and climate legislation.

But while Mr. Obama has staked out middle ground on other environmental matters — supporting nuclear power, for example — the sheer breadth of the offshore drilling decision will take some of his supporters aback. And it is no sure thing that it will win support for a climate bill from undecided senators close to the oil industry, like Lisa Murkowski, Republican of Alaska, or Mary L. Landrieu, Democrat of Louisiana.

The Senate is expected to take up a climate bill in the next few weeks — the last chance to enact such legislation before midterm election concerns take over. Mr. Obama and his allies in the Senate have already made significant concessions on coal and nuclear power to try to win votes from Republicans and moderate Democrats. The new plan now grants one of the biggest items on the oil industry’s wish list — access to vast areas of the Outer Continental Shelf for drilling...
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good for him. now we'll see if he means it.
 
croniccynic said:
No serious effort will be made by the US to develop and mass produce any alternative with oil remaining relatively cheap.
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And no reason why it should. And all the more reason why the United States should be drilling our own domestic reserves, to ensure that our national need for inexpensive oil is not meddled with by foreign despots and terrorists.
 
Mayor Snorkum said:
And no reason why it should. And all the more reason why the United States should be drilling our own domestic reserves, to ensure that our national need for inexpensive oil is not meddled with by foreign despots and terrorists.
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Yes. If we nationalized our oil sources and had enough production to supply our needs plus a significant percentage, we could be oil independent. We agree!
 
how has that worked out for Venezuela?
 
evanescence said:
Theism has nothing to do with this issue. And there is no doubt that there could be positive return with alternative energy.
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Of course there could be a positive return with alternative energy, assuming demand was there. Oil is still too inexpensive for current methods of producing alternative energy to be competitive so you're stuck with lack of investment due to no market demand.

Another interesting development on that subject is US states beginning to formulate tax structures for electric and other alternative fuel vehicles. Since those vehicles don't use petroleum byproducts as fuel, they theoretically don't pay any taxes to maintain the roads they travel on.
 
OhIsee.Then said:
Yes. If we nationalized our oil sources and had enough production to supply our needs plus a significant percentage, we could be oil independent. We agree!
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The impossible dream lusted after by misguided and uninformed nationalists.
 
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