OffShore Drilling = Oil Independence in 6 yrs?

[hillclimber]

Originally Posted By: bcossa2001
More drilling is more oil...

More oil is less dependence...


Yes, but how much less? "Less dependence" is a far cry from the fantasy of oil independence.

At least the potential new finds would help offset declines from existing fields, maybe even result in a modest overall boost in output by the mid-2010's. Good for some oil companies (who I have no problem with), good for some states tax revenues, but far from independence and probably no significant impact on prices.

 

[Steve S]

Take the oil from Iraq till the trillions $$$ cost of the Iraqi freedom is repaid to the U.S.tax payers and the care to the soldiers who have been injured/killed fighting to give the wonderful Iraqi people their freedom and a democratic government they did not have to fight for.

 

[Panzerman]

Who cares if the oil companies get rich and the states get rich? These are American companiies. I dont believe in Conservation. Conservation means slowing the economy, means less people going places, less spending and less revenue in general. Iam so sick of hearing how much of the worlds oil supply the U.S uses, I wish we used 100% of it. I could care less how they get around in China. Everybody that has guity conscience about living high in the United States, is welcome to move to Mexico and live a very conservative lfe, you wont even have to make the choice to. Everybody worries about everyone else, what they drive,SUVs are evil now, what they eat, what they buy, I heard a commercial for Tobacco free Florida the other day, who is that, surely not smokers, so why are they trying to put the tobacco companies out of bussiness, all American companies, that they have no interest in, but the interest of others(I dont smoke or chew, but I respect your right to) and if you want to drive a SUV, I think you deserve that right. I think conservation does no one good, not car companies, not oil companies, not local bussinesses and not Americans, who have the jobs with car companies, oil companies etc.. When you spend someone else sells and they spend, see where Iam going here..

 

[Panzerman]

P.S I also think Global warming, is a big money making scam. That gives all you tree huggin hippies woodies. But feel free to build your Arks and round up area animals, just dont use any electricity when you do it.

 

[Chris71]

Even if we had enough crude in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska to become self-sufficient we all know what the oil companies would do. Same thing they have been doing for decades. They sell all of our domestic oil to Japan, China, and India. America will NEVER be self reliant on domestic oil. The oil companies sell where the highest profit comes from and that's not here.

 

[moribundman]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
I dont believe in Conservation.


Then go and spend your endless resources.

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
I dont believe in Conservation. Conservation means slowing the economy, means less people going places, less spending and less revenue in general.


You are joking right?

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
Everybody that has guity (sic) conscience about living high in the United States....


We definitely should not feel guilty about having a good life, and actually a way to help preserve that is, indeed, conservation!

 

[Big O Dave]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
P.S I also think Global warming, is a big money making scam. That gives all you tree huggin hippies woodies. But feel free to build your Arks and round up area animals, just dont use any electricity when you do it.

Hilarious! Be careful where you point that thing - if it hits too close to home, people might get hurt feelings, and they might even get mad...

BTW, Panzerman, do you really mean "conservation" or do you mean "environmental religion?"

 

[Duffman77]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
Iam so sick of hearing how much of the worlds oil supply the U.S uses, I wish we used 100% of it.


Originally Posted By: Steve S
Take the oil from Iraq till the trillions $$$ cost of the Iraqi freedom is repaid to the U.S.tax payers and the care to the soldiers who have been injured/killed fighting to give the wonderful Iraqi people their freedom and a democratic government they did not have to fight for.


Its attidtudes like these 2 that give americans their great reputation around the world. Do you honestly wonder why some people in the world hate americans?

 

[Cutehumor]

Originally Posted By: Steve S
Take the oil from Iraq till the trillions $$$ cost of the Iraqi freedom is repaid to the U.S.tax payers and the care to the soldiers who have been injured/killed fighting to give the wonderful Iraqi people their freedom and a democratic government they did not have to fight for.


then the antiwar folks will say "the war was all about oil"

 

[Cutehumor]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
Everybody worries about everyone else, what they drive,SUVs are evil now, what they eat, what they buy, I heard a commercial for Tobacco free Florida the other day, who is that, surely not smokers, so why are they trying to put the tobacco companies out of bussiness, all American companies, that they have no interest in, but the interest of others(I dont smoke or chew, but I respect your right to)


Everyone has a right to get cancer, I respect that too. My job relies on people not taking themselves. I'm with you bro!

 

[Panzerman]

Does it really matter if other countries like us? France is a perfect example, they should love us for what we did for them, do they stand behind us at all? France is for France. America should start being for America. Just how much money do the oil rich countries like Saudia Arabia give to Africa for food? Think countries like that care about their popularity in the world? Pablo. your going to have to explain to me how conservation preserves the good life. Your just falling for the old, We are going to use all our grandkids oil philosophy, what will they do [censored]. When and I should say if, we ever run out of oil, which none of us will ever see, I dont feel anybody is going to have to walk. Future generations grow up with better education and better tools to deal with bigger problems quicker more efficent than any of us will ever be able to in our current generation, so they are not helpless. How about you worry about problems at hand now and let them deal with problems in their generation a hundred years down the road.

 

[Shannow]

Panzerman, we ARE the future generation that is supposed to be sorting out the mess that the baby boomers are leaving us. These are OUR problems NOW.

US could increase it's electricity generation by 20% (or reduce it's fuel consumption by 25% to maintain the status quo) simply by utilising high grade waste heat. The plant would cost less to build than new coal fired stuff, and the fuel costs are nothing.

There would be decent jobs in design, manufacture and construction. Great jobs (ever been involved in building power stations...it's awesome work). Can't outsource construction to anybody else, unless you import the workers.

Got a problem with France, then chop up that stupid statue and send it back...start a petition right now to get it done.

 

[swalve]

Originally Posted By: Titan
Anyone else think it fishy when the CEO of the company (BP) that is the most aggressive hedger of all the oil companies says it's NOT speculation that is responsible for the run-up of prices?


Hedging and speculation are related, but different. Hedgers by definition must be consumers of the commodity. Southwest airlines is a good example- they hedge their fuel purchases so that when the time comes to sell tickets, they know what price they will be paying for fuel. That's why they are profitable.

Speculators have no need for the commodity, they are simply trying to make money off of the rise and fall in the commodity prices. They WANT big swings in price, or at least a constant rise. That's how they make their money. It's as if you were to go to a store to buy tires and the "salesman" had already bought all the tires. Now he's going to resell them to you at a profit.

The problem with speculators is that the market system is set up where they don't have to pay the full price of the commodity until delivery- I don't understand it completely, but that has the effect of inflating prices. It doesn't cost them very much to get a "hold" on supply.

 

[swalve]

Originally Posted By: Panzerman
P.S I also think Global warming, is a big money making scam. That gives all you tree huggin hippies woodies. But feel free to build your Arks and round up area animals, just dont use any electricity when you do it.


No doubt, some people are using environmentalism to make money. Darn those guys who make the scrubbers that clean up the awful [censored] that comes out of smokestacks! Darn those legislators who mandated that cars ought not create smog!

 

[swalve]

Originally Posted By: Duffman77
I dont know how anyone could think that a country that uses 1/4 of the world supply could ever be energy independent by more drilling.


I agree- we have a very, very good life compared to the rest of the world, and certainly compared to any other time in history. We want to maintain that, we have to find a way to fuel that lifestyle. Maybe more drilling is the answer, but I don't think it is- we have already used up all the easy oil- anything we drill for now is only economically feasible at these high prices.

We no longer have the luxury of being able to feed all our enegry wants from the One True Source of oil. We need to be energy independant, that is true. The way to do that is to be more efficient at using it, and be innovative in creating more. And NEVER AGAIN be stuck on one industry for (nearly) all our energy. Ethanol, biodiesel, biobutanol, nuclear to hydrogen, solar, etc. We must innovate and find ways to make all these things work.

I AM a "believer" in ethanol- it is a better fuel than gasoline. Our gasoline engines are purposely detuned to be able to run on [censored] 87 octane. Some of the MPG people on forums have modified their cars to run completely on ethanol, and are getting good results. But for ethanol to work its best, you need to increase compression, advance timing, etc. That's why flex-fuel cars do so bad- the manufacturers have to make them idiot proof. They are making the things so that Joe Consumer can put any [censored] fuel in them and they will perform as expected- they are built to the lowest common denominator.

Yeah, ethanol has fewer BTUs per gallon. But that's not the whole story- after all, most of those BTUs go out the tailpipe and out the radiator. I've seen studies where ethanol makes MORE horsepower per BTU than gasoline. So if we start designing cars to actually use ethanol more efficiently, I think we'll see it become the fuel of choice. After all, it already is in some racing circuits...

 

[pajim17057]

Originally Posted By: Chris71
Even if we had enough crude in the Gulf of Mexico and Alaska to become self-sufficient we all know what the oil companies would do. Same thing they have been doing for decades. They sell all of our domestic oil to Japan, China, and India. America will NEVER be self reliant on domestic oil. The oil companies sell where the highest profit comes from and that's not here.
That is a very short sited statement. The oil market is worldwide. If the U.S. taped all our reserves. The price of oil would go down around the world. Oil is sold to the refinerys that need sertain grades of crude. The point isn't to use only U.S. crude its to produce as much as we us. The little secret the libs and greenies don't want you to know is we do have enough oil. Between Alaska, Off shore and oil shale. Oh and we can't forget the trillions of tons of coal that could be turned to oil. If we had more nucular plants we could use the coal.

 

[javacontour]

Originally Posted By: Big O Dave

BTW, Panzerman, do you really mean "conservation" or do you mean "environmental religion?"


Bing, bing, bing.

That would be me. As a conservative, I believe in conservation. Or maybe I'm more libertarian these days.

It just doesn't make sense to consume, consume, consume. I don't believe it's sustainable.

Conservation means we'll have places to hunt and fish, and I'm all for that.

But I don't worship the trees...

 

[Pablo]

Ding-ding-ding! We have a winner.

Let's set some goals and get to work. Enough talk already. Gaining back 5-10% per year....maybe the first 3-5 years will be hard and slow, but not so hard if we do real conservation - then as the wind turbines, nukes, new wells, new sources come on line that joy line slope will increase. So we will need to import for the future, just not some dam desparately.

 

[Scott P]

They aren't drilling on the leases they currently hold. [censored], all the quipemnt needed to drill already has a full scedule. If they won't do anything with what they currently have, what makes people think they'll do anything by giving them more leases?