[Dog Gone]

That's $511,000 annual income from one well. Not bad.

It's great, except you have to factor in all the deductions and expenses.

Not only are there all the taxes, royalties, and regulatory compliance costs, but there are operating expenses. A ten barrel a day well isn't flowing to the surface by itself. It has a $100 thousand pumpjack. Maybe more or less depending on the depth where the oil is coming into the wellbore.

It doesn't get to the surface for free.

If you have to schedule a workover rig to go out and work on that well making $500,000 a year more than once a year, you're going to go broke.

[Donald Rumsfeld Fan]

I don’t know what the breakeven point is. But I do know that wells on Signal Hill in Long Beach were pumping 24/7 during the 80’s and 90’s when oil was no where near $140.

[Big Horn]

You are correct about the expense of getting the oil to the surface. Most of the activity in the oil patch around here is methane gas. I doubt if there are many oil rigs available to drill since the gov made the oil business jump thru so many hoops. The oil people have the whole area mapped so they know what is there.
The oil shale will require huge investments and a source of water.
What assurance do the investors have, if they roll the dice and have some success, that noboma will not have the gov. take over the oil business after he is sworn in.