Posted on 04/02/2008 6:32:12 PM PDT by Michael.SF.
The root causes of our present oil crisis (It ain't an "energy crisis," this country runs on oil and will for the next century or more) are: (1.) lack of refining capacity and lack of (2.)domestic production because of a failure to exploit known reserves.
The present recumbent in the WH is an oil man and knew this 10 years ago. And his father 20 years before that. Just in case, he was reminded of it upon assuming the Presidency. 7 years later we're 7 years further behind the oil 8-ball. No leadership from the GOP and the President. Finally, something that is Bush's Fault. You can talk all you want about the "Dollar vs. The Euro" etc, etc. but it all comes back to not enough US production and refining to keep the worthy oriental gentlemen and former cattle breeders and rug weavers honest.
The oilcos will miraculously boost domestic production when they get the OPEC Extortion Price, combined with tax breaks. Of course, by that time our economy will look like Zimbabwe's. Oil we got. Leadership we don't.
Bush is a good man ...gone bad ... he's going out on a Jimmy Carter note.
there just has to be some endangered animal within that area!
so, sorry folks. our globe-trotting environmentalists will find a reason to stop or impede the development.
/s
You ain't seen nothin' yet. Wanna see real independence? Shale oil deposits in the US are in the trillions of barrels.
While oil shale is found in many places worldwide, by far the largest deposits in the world are found in the United States in the Green River Formation, which covers portions of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming. Estimates of the oil resource in place within the Green River Formation range from 1.2 to 1.8 trillion barrels. Not all resources in place are recoverable; however, even a moderate estimate of 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil from oil shale
The technology currently available is too costly unless oil is over $60/barrel ($60/barrel!!), but investing in this technology is going to go a whole lot further than turning cattle feed into energy.
Based on doing a little research I think a lot of recent articles on the Bakken formation are wildly exaggerating the RECOVERABLE oil from it, or confusing the total amount with the recoverable amount.
It's certainly very big, no doubt.
And some jumping thru hoops for the responsible governments. In this case, I doubt the state and local governments were anything other than cooperative.
I can't imagine why any legislation would be necessary -- outside of a liberal state.
I live in the midst of the Barnett shale natural gas field. One gains an appreciation for the huge amount of infrastructure that is necessary to develop an oil or gas field. Once the field was proven, pipeline construction began in earnest and the oilfield services industry started multiplying like rabbits.
Liberal politicians and their followers have no concept of what's involved in getting a tankful of gasoline into their SUVs.
Whatever it is, I think people have begun wildly exaggerating the amount of US reserves that are "off limits" due to environmentalists, etc. The overwhelming majority of US reserves that are not being accessed are not being accessed because the cost of recovery has been too high to make it profitable. And people don't really have a sense of how small something like ANWAR is compared to many of the supergiant fields around the world (for the record, I'm in favor of drilling ANWAR.) I honestly think people are getting the impression that if we just got rid of environmental regs we wouldn't have to import any oil; that's not even close to reality.
The main northern railroad line from Chicago to Portland runs right through there... Both directions can handle distribution. The Missouri is not to far away either, so barges are not out of the question...
C'mon d00d. this is America. It ain't like we don't know how.
Well it's good for us that eat tortillas!
if only there had been a moment in the last 10 years where the GOP controlled the White House, the Senate and the House, I am sure that the Republicans would have opened ANWR for oil exploration.
More info on S. Dakota Refinery:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/14/business/14oil.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Oh yeah!
You go Thor!
Enough so-called Republicans too, unfortunately.
A well head only takes up about 5 acres while they are drilling it. Once the well is in place and pumping, 500 sq ft will take care of everything.
I’d guess that there is some sort of gov’t regulation standing in the way. All the radio stations in wND were complaining about the lack of pipeline capacity (pipelines were committed to Alberta oil through ND and eMT).
I would disagree. The myth of this thing has always been 200b barrels recoverable... And has been known in the oilpatch for a very long time. Considering the advances in deep well drilling, I am certain 'recoverable' is above that number by now.
There are other such places on the eastern slope- where friends of mine who work the 'patch have hit big oil and capped it off (for whatever reason). Certainly not as big as this one, but enough to know that our foreign dependencies are not true, nor have they ever been true.
It's certainly very big, no doubt.
Agreed. Even if it falls well short of the assay, it is certainly worth exploiting.
Tesero refinery in Mandan is undergoing an expansion as well. I can't help but think the two events are related.
But we grand kids of homsteaders sure do!
Yes, I know. There are refineries in Eastern MT too.
closest refinery is in Mandan, about 100-150 miles away. Pipeline will be no problem.
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