[Bitwhacker]

No, what I am questioning is how can the estimate go from 175-500 billion barrels to 3-4 billion in ND just like that? Is it there or not? Before, the reason for not pursuing the oil was the 10$ per barrel price made it inefficient. We are at $109 a barrel, so maybe we should reexamine Bakken.

But more than that, have you considered how much off-shore has been off-limits? When was the last time we even looked for oil deposits near the areas declared off-limits?

I would like to know what is available, in real terms, and I don't think we know for sure...;-))

[Crystal Cove]

It sounds to me, from the little reading I did on it, that the estimates about the total oil there have not changed. It seems it is the extraction that is the problem. I don’t have time to look for more stuff on this right now, and the cost of gas doesn’t really bother me enough to care about it. I paid $3.73 a gallon the other day, and was happy it was so cheap, but it’s just not something I think about a lot, to be honest. Sometimes, though, it costs me triple digits to fill my tank and that does catch my eye.

I thought the areas that are off limits to drilling were mostly in the Gulf of Mexico, and that we already knew there was oil there.

I can see oil platforms from my windows, and we had the big Chevron oil fields down the street from me. We have refineries around here (Orange County, California). I always hear how off-shore drilling is forbidden, and that California enviro-wackos prevent it, but I can see it going on every day. We have a nuclear power plant 25 miles away, too.

But yes, we should know how much oil is available here in the US.