That "6 year" estimate is total baloney, based on past practices of endless "environmental" studies, open bidding, contested federal leasing practices which end up in court, with endless appeals, etc.
Congress could cut through all that red tape with the stroke of a pen, and we would be drilling exploratory wells within months, with production likely within 18 months.
My best buddy is an oil well investor. (small time). He basically bids on oil and natural gas wells in the continental US and offshore, with the hope that they will produce more than expected, or that the acres attached to the lease will ultimately yield more production.
His buying price range is between $50,000 and $250,000 --
It is a game wholly dependent on getting the best geologist who knows the particular ground characteristics.
Depending on how the well is fractinated ??, and depending on the new horizonal drilling techniques, a well can end up producting waaay more than estimated... or it can begin to produce less within a few months or years, he says.
There has to be a vote in Sept. to continue the drilling moratorium currently in effect. Bush should call a presser the day before and announce and sign an Executive Order in anticipation of Congress “doing the right thing” and voting to ALLOW drilling to proceed. The EO should contain all and anything necessary to expedite getting land leased, drlled, producing, refined and to the pump to help the “suffering American public”. Then Pelosi and Reid can scream like stuck pigs and twist in the wind after they vote to renew the moratorium. Bush can then call another presser and say I really tried to help get the price down, but...