[JCEccles]

The oil locked up in the oil shale and tar sands in eastern Utah, western Colorado, and northern Alberta dwarfs in size the crude oil reserves of Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. When the cost of a gallon of gasoline reaches about $5 a gallon, it will be economically feasible to exploit these reserves. That’s with current technology. As the technology improves, the economic break-even point will drop.

[Michael.SF.]

When the cost of a gallon of gasoline reaches about $5 a gallon, it will be economically feasible to exploit these reserves.

The 'break even' point on the oil from the tar sands is about $50.00 a barrell. We past the awhile ago and Alberta is booming!

[Petronski]

Technology will reduce the breakeven price, and when the spot market approaches that price—when gas prices have made life intolerable to the fat center of the American constituency—those reserves will be opened up and the world will stabilize in a new paradigm. Prices will drift lower from there.

That’s fundamental economics/politics. The chicken little crowd just wants something to scare the living ***k out of Congress to preserve their funding.

[Rick_Michael]

“The oil locked up in the oil shale and tar sands in eastern Utah, western Colorado, and northern Alberta dwarfs in size the crude oil reserves of Iran, Iraq, and Saudi Arabia. When the cost of a gallon of gasoline reaches about $5 a gallon, it will be economically feasible to exploit these reserves. That’s with current technology. As the technology improves, the economic break-even point will drop.”

Yes, America need not worry. I’d rather make it competitive now, and end the power in the middle east.

[RayChuang88]

Didn't we hear this "doom and gloom" too many times in the past?

Thanks to improving oil extraction technology--especially gas injection using steam and CO2--we can turn supposedly tapped-out oilfields back to profitably again. And we've barely exploited the oilfield offshore, and yet to really exploit the oilfields in Siberia and in northern Canada. All these could increase the known reserves by 300% or more! And that doesn't include exploiting tar sands and oil shale and liquefying coal into fuel.

[RightWhale]

When the cost of a gallon of gasoline reaches about $5 a gallon, it will be economically feasible to exploit these reserves.

That emotion, while popular, is entirely fallacious. Consensus doesn't have much of a function on earth except in legal matters.