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To: RWR8189
"Who would have guessed that in just Colorado and Utah, there is more recoverable oil than in the Middle East?"

FWIW, I think we should deplete the oil reserves from the Middle East before we tap into our stash.

12 posted on 04/21/2005 3:41:17 AM PDT by Drew68
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To: Drew68

Sen. Hatch is a complete buffoon.

I was a cost engineer on the original Exxon/TOSCO Colony Shale Oil project in 1980-81. Since the 1920s, petroleum engineers have been saying that if the price of oil was just $20-$30 per barrel higher, shale oil conversion would be economical. In 1980-81, with Exxon and everybody else expecting the price of oil to go to $80-$100 per barrel, a huge project was started up in Western Colorado near Parachute Creek and Rifle (Grand Junction is the closest real town) to turn shale oil into crude.

There are a million reasons why the project failed, including but not limited to technical problems, cost overruns on an extremely large and complex project, uneconomical location (over 9,000 foot altitude in many places) and when shale oil is heated and pressurized to crack open the rock to release the crude the rock pops like popcorn and you end up with a lot more detritus than you started with.

The tar sands in Canada are so completely different from shale oil that it's laughable. Hatch is a buffoon and should keep his mouth shut - which is asking too much of a Senator, I realize.

"Better to keep your mouth shut and look like an idiot than open it and remove all doubt" . . . . . . .


15 posted on 04/21/2005 3:58:08 AM PDT by Anarchus
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To: Drew68; Reform4Bush
FWIW, I think we should deplete the oil reserves from the Middle East before we tap into our stash.

That is an interesting viewpoint, and one I have not yet considered.

Maybe in 100 years, the Middle East will be buying oil from us, and we will be able to charge them whatever we wish.

28 posted on 04/21/2005 5:22:31 AM PDT by Skooz (Host organism for the State parasite)
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To: Drew68

FWIW, I think we should deplete the oil reserves from the Middle East before we tap into our stash.
======


I agree completely. Tapping the shale oil now will do nothing but drop Saudi sweet crude to back to $30/barrel, making the shale oil/tar sands not economically viable.

If we don't buy the Saudi oil, China will at about a 40% discount, putting us at another economic disadvantage to them.

Not using Mideast oil just prolongs there staying power. The faster we use up their oil, the sooner the leaders in the region (Including the Mullahs in Iran) crumble.


Burn up there oil first.








34 posted on 04/21/2005 5:35:21 AM PDT by Josh in PA
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