The Deep, Hot Biosphere
by Thomas Gold
foreword by Freeman Dyson
1992 paper
Posted on 07/07/2006 10:51:47 PM PDT by Mister Politics
I have recently heard on Rush Limbaugh and a variety of other sources that the US is far more oil rich than what the media may lead us to believe. Specifically, I have heard that there is more oil in Wyoming, Utah, and Montana than in the entire Middle East. I have also heard that the VP or CEO or someone at BP said that there was that there is a huge amount of oil under the Gulf of Mexico.
I am interested in anyone out there has any links to confirm these rumors or anything that would essentially support the argument that it isn't that US doesn't have any oil, but more that our regulations or drilling abilities don't allow us to access it.
Many thanks in advance, www.misterpolitics.com
I don't know about the numbers and comparisons, but the U.S. does have large energy reserves, including oil.
The problem is a combination of the technical hurdles of extraction and infrastructure, as well as the arbitrary hurdles of wrongheaded environmental policies.
I believe the oil referred to in Montana, Wyoming and Utah is oil shale and is prohibitive to extract because of costs. There are some threads covering some of this here at FR. There are also some scams that have been run regarding these oil shale deposits.
It's in shale. We have a HUGE amount of it in my neck of the woods, but it's not economically feasable to extract it yet. And even if it were, the environmentalists would come up with some excuse to keep us tethered to the Middle East.
How about under Quebec and the Gulf of Mexico? Is there a good website or source for facts about US access to oil that is currently untapped or about general oil information that is UNBIASED?
Shale oil? Looks like my next stop is wikipedia.
Shale oil's been talked about since at least the late 1800s. The extraction has always been the bugaboo. The oil is certainly there, but not the profit. Yet.
An article in US News & World Report a few years ago said there were greater hydrocarbon reserves in Alberta province than in Saudi Arabia.
Three terms I have heard are Tar Sands (Canada), Oil Shale (Utah, Colorado, Wyoming) and Heavy Oil (Venezuela).
Canada has an economically profitable industry for extraction and processing from Tar Sands (Cold Lake, Alberta, etc.).
In the early 80s a few pilot projects were built in the US for Oil Shale extraction (Parachute Creek, Colorado, Union Oil/Dept. of Navy, etc.)
Another resource in abundance is Coal, and Bush has pushed for Clean Coal technology.
Bottom line: We have huge deposits. At $70 per barrel they may now be profitable. Just a few years ago oil was $15 and $20 per barrel. Not likely to go there again.
If the US truly wanted to be energy self-sufficient, it could be done. It could be on the order of the National Highways, development of the nuclear bomb, men on the moon, etc.
The middle-east could in the past increase production, to hold prices for oil down--thereby preventing alternates from being economically feasible.
But they have less excess capacity, and China plus India have emerged as rapidly growing economies, needing ever more oil.
I haven't mentioned natural gas, solar, wind, tides, ethanol, hydrogen or nuclear--all of which hold promise for at least a few percent each of our comsumption of energy.
We could do it. Years ago I worked in the energy sector, and read extensively about the technologies and feasibility of same. It is a two part analysis. First the technical feasibility, second the economic feasibility.
Here is one not often heard about these days: Ocean Thermal Gradient. The oceans hold huge energy potential, most of which is solar at the first source.
Ping to a new, interesting thread:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1662241/posts
Actually, it would be quite profitable to extract it at current prices. Cost is $20/barrel. The problem is the belief that oil will drop to below $60/barrel and take away the return on investment.
The Deep, Hot Biosphere
by Thomas Gold
foreword by Freeman Dyson
1992 paper
BLM has said the United States holds significant oil shale resources underlying a total area of 16,000 square miles. This represents the largest known concentration of oil shale in the world and holds an estimated 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil.
Oil Shale Development in the United States, Prospects and Policy Issues
http://www.rand.org/pubs/monographs/2005/RAND_MG414.sum.pdf
Oil Shale and Tar Sands Leasing Programmatic EIS Information Center
http://ostseis.anl.gov/
The reasons why it is not being so converted are A) fear that the vast quantities of oil available will, over fewer than 20 years, depress the price to below break-even levels, and B) the uncertainty of the 'legal' system, specifically, that a shale-conversion programme might well be stopped in its tracks by some activist envirodingbat 'judge', and the investment involved be either confiscated outright or turned into 'dead money'.
Sheesh.
That there are vast deposits of oil in American territory is well known. That much of that oil cannot compete economically with cheap ME oil is also well known. Even should the price of oil go above $100 or $1000 it would still not be able to compete economically since ME oil is Easy Oil and tar sands oil and oil shale oil are not Easy Oil.
The Middle East is only capable of supply about 1/3 of the worlds consumption of oil. It doesn't matter how cheap they can make it when the consumption is far greater than their supply.
Interesting. It sounds like from reading that link above that Israel is trying to get oil shale and it may be more affordable than we think.
"With oil prices hovering around $70 a barrel, Israel is looking for ways to reduce its near-total dependence on energy imports. It's pondering the use of the nation's huge reserves of oil shale — a dark, crumbly rock loaded with hydrocarbons — located in the central and southern parts of the country. Thanks to a technical breakthrough, it should be possible to extract fuel oil from the shale for less than $20 a barrel."
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