Posted on 11/26/2011 8:24:04 AM PST by Eleutheria5
The chief executive of Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil company- Aramco- has admitted that the development of large oil shale reserves in North America looks set to shift the monopoly over global energy supplies increasingly away from the Middle East.
To preface, when it comes to global petroleum supplies, a distinction is drawn between “conventional” and “unconventional” oil reserves. The former are still in abundance in oil fields throughout the Middle East, and petroleum is produced from them simply by drilling at oil wells. Unconventional reserves include tar sands and oil shale: the latter is a form of sedimentary rock that must first be decomposed at high temperatures before crude oil can be obtained for refinement.
In terms of reserves, it is estimated that conventional sources across the world can yield around 1.2 trillion barrels, while in the United States alone, anywhere between 500 billion and 1.1 trillion barrels are thought to be recoverable from oil shale. An immediately astonishing observation to draw is the low-end of the estimates for U.S. oil shale, which is still around twice as large as Saudi Arabia’s total reserves.
What makes this issue particularly relevant now is the emergence of reports on a potential breakthrough in oil shale extraction technology. .....
(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...
In short, therefore, growing energy independence for the West via oil shale (a pleasing development in its own right) seems unlikely to hamper significantly the problem of Islamist ideology.
The only real solution- necessary, but difficult and almost certainly long-term- is honest reform within mainstream Islam to counter appeal to traditional notions of waging jihad against non-Muslims and imposing Shari’a in the public realm."
He forgets one small detail, though. As the importance of Saudi Arabia and OPEC diminishes, and the West becomes independent of Middle Eastern oil, the West will stop pussyfooting around and deal decisively with the barbaric morons who are bent on conquering it.
Rioting in Paris? Tear gas, water cannon, mass arrests and transit back to Algeria, Libya, or wherever, French citizenship revoked.
Refuse to make piece with Israel? OK. That's over. We're annexing J&S and anyone who won't behave leaves.
There is evidence aplenty that despite all the Obama and Progressive Marxists will do to block our petroleum developments the US will be petroleum self-sufficient by 2020.
I have been making this argument as well but I have to admit I do so with very thin data for support.
The idea of self-sufficiency should be a major plank in the GOP's 2012 campaign. The relationship to national security, the preservation of the American standard of living and our need to create real jobs should be obvious. So it is important that we start to make real, supportable arguments in favor of that position. And then push for the GOP to run hard on the issue.
So ... can you point me to any credible sources to support your argument for the achievement of self-sufficiency in energy production in the relatively near term?
I think we can at least agree that merely the possibility of energy independence based on shale reserves is enough for Obama and his minions to do everything they possibly can to restrict that development.
Which is one of the most important reasons to make sure he is not re-elected.
With the U.S. maintaining long-term trade deficits with almost every country in the world, those countries have a lot of U.S. dollars to invest and will likely end up using them to buy our oil.
As the US becomes more energy independent (and more based on friendly sources) OPEC will be forced to drop prices in hopes of regaining market share.
Regardless, it will be good for our economy to have low-cost energy and abundance sources at home and from friends.
Great analysis.
These breakthroughs in technology and the size of the reserves are so great as hard as the liberals try to stop this resource development they will fail. Energy, jobs, independence will push aside the liberals and the courts. The local communities and the states that will see the immediate benefits will push it through.
Which explains Obama's reluctance to allow the development of energy resources within the US. Obama was raised believing that America was the root of evil in the world, and he's hell-bent on taking the US "down a notch." Or ten. I think he's a believer in Said's "Orientalism," certainly a believer in "liberation theology," as well as having a deep belief in the supremacy of islam.
Mark
Israel is one of the shale rich regions, and I think we even devised a process to extract it underground that produces water, whether potable or arable I don’t know. Sooner or later, somebody will develop cold fusion, and oil will go the way of cotton, once “king,” now just a useful raw material among many others. Then the Saudis can go back to diddling goats.
What will they find wrong with it, I wonder? Will they pretend that the technological advances haven’t happened yet, like they do with stem cel from skin tissue and directional drilling? Or will they admit that they’ve taken place, but claim they’re still experimental, risky schemes? Or will they say that it’s just a delaying tactic by ‘big oil’ to stave off development of solar and wind energy?
Even if that happens, see No. 7.
What they find wrong with it has nothing to do with its success for failure as a technology. The mere fact that it might help support the American economic system is enough for them to say it is wrong.
But they have to have an official pretext. They can’t just come out and say, “if it’s good for Haliberton, it’s bad for America” or “whatever it is, I’m against it.”
The official pretext is that fracking pollutes the aquifer and causes earthquakes. Neither of which has been proven. But facts are only barely necessary today and if Obama is re-elected, especially if Congress remains divided or worse, both chambers wind up in the Dem column, then there will be very little short of pitchforks and torches to stop them.
Get pitch forks, get torches. Keep them handy against the day they’re needed.
;-)
The chief executive of Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company- Aramco- has admitted that the development of large oil shale reserves in North America looks set to shift the monopoly over global energy supplies increasingly away from the Middle East... Unconventional reserves include tar sands and oil shale: the latter is a form of sedimentary rock that must first be decomposed at high temperatures before crude oil can be obtained for refinement. In terms of reserves, it is estimated that conventional sources across the world can yield around 1.2 trillion barrels, while in the United States alone, anywhere between 500 billion and 1.1 trillion barrels are thought to be recoverable from oil shale... for U.S. oil shale... twice as large as Saudi Arabia's total reserves.
“Thirty years from now there will be a huge amount of oil - and no buyers. Oil will be left in the ground. The Stone Age came to an end, not because we had a lack of stones, and the oil age will come to an end not because we have a lack of oil.” — Sheikh Yamani, June 2000
*and*
Proven Oil Reserves Will Continue to Increase With Time
Written by Al Fin
Tuesday, 02 November 2010 18:17
http://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/Proven-Oil-Reserves-Will-Continue-to-Increase-With-Time.html
Proved oil reserves at the end of 2008 are estimated to have been 1258.0 thousand million (billion) barrels. That represented an increase of 17.7% over the 1997 figure of 1068.5 billion barrels, despite estimated cumulative production of 290 billion barrels during the intervening ten years, ie global reserves additions amounted to around 480 billion barrels between end-1998 and end-2008.
Seriously, there have been so many articles I’m afraid I cannot point to one. However, you can Google, energy self-sufficiency USA. To get a real understanding of the situation, you might want to spend some time investigating the oilfield shale oil activity in: the Bakken, of North Dakota; the Eagleford of Texas; the Niobrara of the eastern Rocky Mts; the Marcellus of Pennsylvania. To my personal knowledge, I believe horizontal drilling has begun to give new life to oilfields in Kern County, California. Then there were two recent offshore oil bonanzas in the Gulf by Shell and BP. The two states that appear to be gaining jobs rather than losing them are North Dakota and Texas where drilling is moving at a fast pace. Usings an economic indicator of just how fast things are progressing you can check the daily market price for natural gas. At its current price it is quite cheap, and that alone demonstrates that the United States can be within five years an exporter of liquified natural gas. Generally speaking, most Americans are ignoraant of the situation because the Obama Admininstration is so set against petroleum developments. However, progress is occuring on privately held land and in states the Feds cannot control. Saludos.
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