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FedEx CEO: use of foreign (Arab) oil threatens US economy
ap ^ | Feb 23, 2009

Posted on 02/24/2009 6:45:44 PM PST by PRePublic

FedEx CEO: use of foreign oil threatens US economy The Associated Press - Feb 23, 2009 Chief Executive Fred Smith said Monday that US reliance on foreign oil is the biggest threat to the nation's economy after terrorism.

(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: 111th; araboil; bho44; bhoenergy; ceo; drillheredrillnow; economy; energyindependence; fedex; fredsmith; oil; opec

1 posted on 02/24/2009 6:45:44 PM PST by PRePublic
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To: PRePublic

I bet Fred wants to drill at home.


2 posted on 02/24/2009 6:46:27 PM PST by armymarinemom (My sons freed Iraqi and Afghan Honor Roll students.)
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To: PRePublic

Then lets drill our own!!!

At what price per barrel does oil have to be at to make it “worth” producing our own?


3 posted on 02/24/2009 6:48:10 PM PST by TheBattman (Pray for our country....)
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To: PRePublic

brilliant deduction

our throat is in the grasp of Wahabis who despise us. Isn’t that smart?


4 posted on 02/24/2009 6:48:37 PM PST by yldstrk (My heros have always been cowboys--Reagan and Bush)
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To: TheBattman

The answer is “They want us to live in caves.”


5 posted on 02/24/2009 6:48:53 PM PST by Eric in the Ozarks
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To: PRePublic

Last September, Democrats said that increasing U.S. domestic wouldn’t help matters; because it would take 10 years to show any results.

A prediction for 2018: Democrats oppose drilling because it will “take 10 years to show any results”.


6 posted on 02/24/2009 6:52:00 PM PST by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: yldstrk

“brilliant deduction”

There’s a reason he’s paid the millions, and it’s certainly not his company’s stock performance.


7 posted on 02/24/2009 6:55:57 PM PST by BobL (Drop a comment: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2180357/posts)
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To: PRePublic

My kid’s 16 and knows this.


8 posted on 02/24/2009 7:03:05 PM PST by NoLibZone (To preserve this nation a strongly worded email is in order!)
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To: PRePublic

Fortunately America has lots of coal, and coal to oil technology has been well known since WWII.

Now, how can we actually get the politicians to actually allow it.


9 posted on 02/24/2009 7:06:58 PM PST by I_Like_Spam
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To: NoLibZone
My kid’s 16 and knows this.

But not all politicians have the guts to say it.

10 posted on 02/24/2009 7:12:23 PM PST by PRePublic
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To: I_Like_Spam
America has lots of coal, and coal to oil technology has been well known since WWII.

Bad way to go. Coal is for electrical energy.

For transportation: Oil shale in Montana, oil sand in Canada, and oil drilling everywhere.

11 posted on 02/24/2009 7:33:59 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (PIE FIGHT!!!!!)
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA
Democrats said that increasing U.S. domestic wouldn’t help matters; because it would take 10 years to show any results.

But windmills and solar will be ready to take over immediately... well maybe in ten or twenty years or longer.

12 posted on 02/24/2009 7:59:38 PM PST by RJL
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA

But, we will have all the wind energy we want is 20 years. The economy means nothing compared to the threat from global warming from carbon based fuels. If is saves one polar bear it is worth it.


13 posted on 02/24/2009 8:13:03 PM PST by depressed in 06 (I'm becoming nostalgic for the incompetence of Carter.)
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To: RJL
But windmills and solar will be ready to take over immediately... well maybe in ten or twenty years or longer.

That assumes favorable technology breakthroughs (always hard to predict). It also means covering say, the entire state of Nevada or Utah with solar arrays, and maybe Ohio with wind farms to account for some energy use growth. But those are just details, the O is an idea man, he can't be bothered with the little things like science and engineering...

14 posted on 02/24/2009 8:21:30 PM PST by CodeMasterPhilzar (I'll keep my money, my guns, and my freedom. You can keep the "change.")
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To: PRePublic

The Jihadis won’t starve for much longer for the worldly bailout recipients, and our kids aren’t going to die to keep their freight fuel cheap.

So either do Iran now, or don’t even think about trying to make us play cops and robbers with the mullahs for decades for you later. And do it right. And stop sending hundreds of billions of tax dollars to foreign manufacturing plants and herding millions of third-world slaves into my country. ...no morale for American men, then no fighty.

Here’s your first lesson on real manhood in leadership.

Denazification, cumulative review. Report, 1 April 1947-30 April 1948.
http://digital.library.wisc.edu/1711.dl/History.Denazi


15 posted on 02/24/2009 8:47:47 PM PST by familyop (combat engineer (combat), National Guard, '89-'96, Duncan Hunter or no-vote, http://falconparty.com/)
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To: TheBattman

~$100


16 posted on 02/24/2009 8:53:21 PM PST by A.A. Cunningham
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To: A.A. Cunningham
~$100

I assume you are kidding. I remember a number bantered around last year when prices had gotten so high... something around $60.

But I assume that your $100 figure includes the court battles it would take to get the permits do even start drilling???

17 posted on 02/24/2009 8:56:18 PM PST by TheBattman (Pray for our country....)
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA

Have you ever calculated how long the estimated 20 billion barrels of American recoverable oil would last?

Assume there is 3 times as much and then divide it by 20 million barrels per day (let’s assume efficiency allows for growth of the economy without growth in oil demand).

How many years did you get?


18 posted on 02/25/2009 1:07:57 AM PST by Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit (Yup, yup, sometimes it is nice to go a few days without having to hear from Gov. Palin, you betcha)
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To: Jeff Chandler

Oil shale is messy to open mine, requires heat and lots of water to drill, and is very expensive to refine.


19 posted on 02/25/2009 9:02:26 AM PST by FBD (My carbon footprint is bigger then yours)
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To: RJL; depressed in 06

You guys do sarcasim well. I’m glad you didn’t spoil it with a </sarc> tag. People here get it.


20 posted on 02/25/2009 9:48:10 AM PST by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit; depressed in 06; RJL
You're obviously talking about “conventional” oil.

Let's set aside the fact that proved estimates are probably quite low (because little exploration has been done in undeveloped areas) — conventional oil isn't the only resource being left in the ground.

Canada's conventional oil reserves are about equal to those of the U.S. Our proved reserves in the oil sands are currently at least 139 billion barrels. That estimate is based on today's extraction and refining technology. The proven reserves are actually *growing* faster than extraction. The total potential reserves are over 10 times today's estimates.

The situation is similar, but even more dramatic in the U.S. Best estimates of U.S. oil-shale reserves are 800 billion barrels — recoverable at under $30.00/bbl.

I said “help matters” — not replace *all* foreign imports. Oil is fungible & highly price inelastic (in the short term, at least). A small amount of extra supply would make a huge difference in the world price. That's why OPEC is trying to *reduce* output. They know that a small reduction in supply results in a large increase in price.

However, if the U.S. wants to continue to keep it's reserves underground & help prop up the world price — Canada remains ready to sell you all the over-priced oil we can pump. We'll be able to continue doing that for hundreds of years too. (Unless BHO shuts us down — and either helps OPEC drive the world price of oil over $200/bbl; or destroys the world's economy completely.)

21 posted on 02/25/2009 9:48:19 AM PST by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: FBD
You've used a lot of qualitative adjectives — here's a link to a report with some actual quantitative data.

http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2005/RAND_MG414.pdf

Most of the recovery would be done using in-situ retorting (i.e. pumping steam heat into a drill hole & pumping up oil). Some would be mined underground. Any open-pit mining would be subject to stringent environmental protection regulations.

The heat could come from many sources — nuclear being the best choice. Extracted bitumen could even be used as fuel for the process. Water is recyclable. “Very expensive” is a relative term. Shale oil production would be profitable with oil prices around $25 — $30/bbl. Production would help keep the world price down to around that level.

22 posted on 02/25/2009 9:59:04 AM PST by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA

“Very expensive” is a relative term. Shale oil production would be profitable with oil prices around $25 — $30/bbl. Production would help keep the world price down to around that level.”


Thanks for the comment.

Yes, I used terms that were relative, and qualitative.
But industry articles have used similar terms. I’m not saying there isn’t a need for heavy oil, but my understanding is that the price has to be up around at least $80 barrel for extraction to be profitable.

My reference source is at the rigzone.com

http://www.rigzone.com/howitworks/heavyoil/insight.asp?i_id=288

see PDF “Heavy Oil recovery, The road ahead.”

“...heavy crude is notoriously difficult to recover, transport, and refine.”

Those could be considered qualitative terms, yes?

Here’s another article that details the expense and scaling back of oils sands projects due to low oil prices:

Testing times for Alberta’s oil sands
http://www.heavyoilinfo.com/feature_items/pe_oilsands.pdf/view


23 posted on 02/26/2009 6:19:06 AM PST by FBD (My carbon footprint is bigger then yours)
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To: FBD
Thanks for the links to the articles.

My main point was (and remains) that there are huge reserves of heavy oil in the oil shales. IMHO, locking them up is going to prove harmful to the U.S. economy.

Determining the cost of extracting the resource is complex — you have to consider capital costs, long-run average costs, operating costs, sunk costs, etc. etc. — to say nothing of variable royalties and taxes. Suffice it to say that the oil companies (and their major investors) would look at all these factors (and more) before making any investment (or disinvestment) decisions.

While some reserves may cost $80/bbl to extract — others will be much cheaper. The report I linked to earlier mentions costs of under $30/bbl.

Oil companies want to see higher prices, before committing to a project — to give them a cushion, and to ensure a rapid pay back of start-up costs. The oil sands have similar economics — it can cost billions to begin production; but the operating costs from then on are quite low.

The oil companies may or may not have actually developed the oil shales. We won't know now, because they've been locked up by government fiat.

If the U.S. were to develop a part of the oil shales; the additional supply would help keep the world price low for a long time. Instead, under BHO, the U.S. has locked up the shales & a campaign is mounting to have the Alberta oil sands shut down.

24 posted on 02/26/2009 8:56:35 AM PST by USFRIENDINVICTORIA
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To: BobL
There’s a reason he’s paid the millions, and it’s certainly not his company’s stock performance.

In his defense, I'd say part of it is the fact that he FOUNDED FedEx. He also just took a 20% pay cut.

25 posted on 02/26/2009 9:03:56 AM PST by Centurion2000 (01-20-2009 : The end of the PAX AMERICANA.)
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