Posted on 02/09/2011 1:07:50 PM PST by Son-Joshua
A new drilling technique is opening up vast fields of previously out-of-reach oil in the western United States, helping reverse a two-decade decline in domestic production of crude.
Companies are investing billions of dollars to get at oil deposits scattered across North Dakota, Colorado, Texas and California. By 2015, oil executives and analysts say, the new fields could yield as much as 2 million barrels of oil a day — more than the entire Gulf of Mexico produces now.
This new drilling is expected to raise U.S. production by at least 20 percent over the next five years. And within 10 years, it could help reduce oil imports by more than half, advancing a goal that has long eluded policymakers.
"That's a significant contribution to energy security," says Ed Morse, head of commodities research at Credit Suisse.
Oil engineers are applying what critics say is an environmentally questionable method developed in recent years to tap natural gas trapped in underground shale. They drill down and horizontally into the rock, then pump water, sand and chemicals into the hole to crack the shale and allow gas to flow up.
This is an insult to all the experts!
Given Obama as President, it won’t happen.
Link?
DIMS:"QUICK, Tax the hell out of these evil companies!"
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110209/ap_on_re_us/us_shale_oil
Where’s the article?
Its called fracking here in the Marcellus Shale country. Never been a documented contamination other than a brine truck wrecking. Greenies hate it.
And the EPA and DOE will both deny permits for anything remotely resembling this for the next 250 years.
Frac’ing is not new by a long shot. Even water well driller knew to do this long ago by dropping dynamite down a slow producing well. I saw this as a boy at my grandmother’s. And hydro frac’ing was in use over 20 years ago when I started my geo career.
He'll do what Clinton did with one of the largest coal deposits in the world (right here in the US), designate the prime areas as national parks.
Obama Fracked My Wallet
Our field well was fairly shallow and would get slow every know and then. I found that firing a round or two down the casing would restore flow pretty consistantly.... glad I never alerted the EPA!
Ha....I was just typing the exact same question. What about peak oil? Exactly right.
“They drill down and horizontally into the rock, then pump water, sand and chemicals into the hole to crack the shale and allow gas to flow up”
The horror.....the horror. It’s better we give our money to the Islamic death cult for oil, so they can continue financing world peace. Besides, they care so much more for the environment than our evil U.S. companies.
CNOOC is a big player investor in Chesapeak. The oil will be shipped right past your gas station on the way to China.
Oil ping
But we have definitely passed the point of "peak cheap oil".
A company called Canadian Fracmaster was using distillate oil and CO2 to stimulate old wells in western Canada back in the 70s.
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