Posted on 07/25/2008 12:50:31 PM PDT by kellynla
The Arctic holds as many as 90bn barrels of undiscovered oil and has as much undiscovered gas as all the reserves known to exist in Russia, US government scientists have said in the first state assessment of the region.
The estimates could fuel the race among polar nations, such as Russia, the US, Denmark, Norway and Canada, vying for control of the region, though the study said Russia and the Alaska platform appeared to have the most undiscovered resources.
Alaska's large estimated holdings are likely to stir the debate about opening protected areas of the state to development.
The 90bn barrels of undiscovered oil the US Geological Survey believes the Arctic holds is 13 per cent of the world's undiscovered oil - about the known reserves of the United Arab Emirates. The 1,669,000bn cubic feet of natural gas are equivalent to 30 per cent of undiscovered gas reserves.
"The extensive Arctic continental shelf may constitute the geographically largest unexplored prospective area for petroleum remaining on earth," the USGS said. Its report only makes estimates based on conventional resources recoverable through a well bore; there could be more trapped in heavy sands or shale.
Last August, Russia planted its flag on the seabed 4km under the North Pole, raising fears of a rush to grab the Arctic's mineral resources. Denmark in May called a summit of the five Arctic powers to try to reiterate the countries' commitment to the UN's Law of the Sea Convention that governs territorial waters.
Yet Donald Gautier, a USGS scientist, said most of the undiscovered resources were in areas already under territorial claims, and the Pole itself did not appear "very interesting" for fossil fuels.
Commercial interest in exploiting the Arctic has increased with Royal Dutch Shell, the Anglo-Dutch energy group, pushing to help Russia develop gas from the Yamal region, and Total having won the right to do so at Russia's giant Shtokman gas field.
In the US, companies are pushing into Arctic Alaska, while Denmark has drawn interest in exploring off Greenland.
Mr Gautier said: "Only Arctic Alaska really booms out.'' It shows the most promise for oil resources, while Russia shows the most for natural gas.
Consultants Wood Mackenzie in 2006 estimated the Arctic basins, including those being developed, held 233bn barrels of discovered oil and gas and another 166bn that had yet to be found, most of it gas.
Why, heck, we've got enough oil, gas & coal to last for a few hundred years or more! And that's before we build one more nuclear power plant!
... or shift back to coal or its derivatives.
Then let’s go get it.
DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL DRILL
A lot of that is on Russian offshore territory.
Comrade Pelosi will prevent the U.S. from drilling there.
“A lot of that is on Russian offshore territory.”
so...first come, first serve...I figure the Russkies owe us for liberating ‘em anyway...besides we’ve got more nukes than they have. And of course, the country with the most nukes wins! BIG SMILE
Hey, it’s Friday! T.G.I.F.!!!
Energy independence is made to sound like an impossible dream, but it really isn’t.
We get about 2mm bpd from the middle east. Thats it. Its about 10% of our total usage. The rest of our foreign oil comes in large part from this hemisphere, which is relatively secure. Replacing every barrel of foreign oil is tough short term, but replacing middle eastern oil is very doable on a short time line. We just have to want to do it.
If we really couldn’t drill our way out, why would it be necessary to ban drilling everywhere?
The usual cant is that drilling in “this” field is a panacea, it won’t make any difference in the price of oil. True, but irrelevant. It isn’t “this” field we’re talking about, its drilling nationwide. Opening up one field makes little difference; opening up every field makes a huge difference. Open up ANWR, thats 1/4 of what we get from the mideast. Open up offshore California, maybe 10%. Build half a dozen Sasol plants, thats maybe half. Offshore Alaska, another 1/4. A fourth here, a fourth there, pretty soon practically speaking you are energy independent.
The time line isn’t 16 years, its 5. You just have to want t do it, and then do it.
Thats not even talking about oil shale.
That's rather misleading. Most of our imported oil comes from OPEC. Nigeria and Venezuela are hardly secure sources of oil for the US.
U.S. Crude Oil Imports by Country of Origin
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_epc0_im0_mbblpd_m.htm
Yes, but the largest exporter of oil to this country is Canada.
They are the largest and I would say the most secure.
But most of our imported oil comes from OPEC. To only talk about the Persian Gulf is misleading. Libya certainly demonstrated that to Switzerland this week.
Not misleading. Trying to make a point.
The 5 million barrel OPEC figure is tough to replace. The 2 million barrel Persian Gulf figure, however, is doable in a relatively short term, if we want to.
The tendency is to look at the 60% we import as being an impossibility, and then to write off every alternative as being pointless. I just read something today that called drilling offshore California a “cynical sop” because it would only generate a small percentage of our total energy needs. You see similar things said with respect to ANWR, and oil shale, and every other alternative. Sure, the half-million bpd ANWR would generate is only a couple percent of our total usage, but its 25% of what we get from the Persian Gulf.
And so forth. The few hundred thousand bpd we’d get from increased drilling off California is only a couple percent of the total, but a fair percent of what we get from the middle east.
If merely announcing that we might open up drilling can stabilize prices, shifting another couple million bpd to our soil would do that much more. You want to get all 5mm bpd done? Fine, but it will take a little longer. 2mm bpd can be done relatively quickly, we just have to be serious enough to do it.
If your point is we need to replace all 5 million bpd, we’re in agreement. Sources in this hemisphere are not at risk in the way Persian Gulf sources are, but I’d like to see us completely independnent. Obviously 5 million takes longer than 2 million, but can be done. Do what we did to replace the 2 million, but do it twice.
If your point is that replacing 5 million is hopeless, then I beg to differ.
Okay, we seem to have the same goal in mind. Anything we do to produce more of our domestic resources helps. We don’t have to replace it all.
I suspect now that the oil we get from Iraq and Saudi Arabia is more secure than the supply from Venezuela, and probably Nigeria on a short term. That was what I was trying to point out.
Maybe. I wish the Saudis and the emirates could pipeline it out to the ocean through Oman or something, some way to get it outside the Persian Gulf.
I think Venezuela is secure in the sense that they don't have many choices aside from us, all of Hugo's threats aside. But insecure in the sense that civil strife could knock their production off line, and I suspect civil strife is coming. Nigeria is, as you say, insecure probably in the same sense, civil strife could knock them off line. And civil strife there is always coming.
I think we're on the same page, I want to see us aim for true energy independence as a national security imperative. I see so many remarks in the press and on the part of politicians to the effect that this or that project would only amount to x percent of our total needs, drawing the conclusion that the project is therefor pointless. Its like saying that this or that farmer will only provide a tiny percent of our grocery needs, so he may as well not plant or harvest at all.
Not true, already most of Venezuela Crude Oil is refined outside the US.
They produce 2.44 MMBPD and we import less than 1.1 MMBPD from Venezuela.
Total Oil Supply, Selected Countries, Most Recent Quarters and Years
http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/ipsr/t22.xls
U.S. Crude Oil Imports by Country of Origin
http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcus_a2_nus_epc0_im0_mbblpd_m.htm
Good links, thanks.
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