Posted on 08/14/2008 5:53:54 PM PDT by DallasBiff
"I think it's important for the American people to understand we're not going to drill our way out of this problem. It's also important to recognize if you start drilling now you won't see a drop of oil for ten years, which means it's not going to have a significant impact on short-term prices." - U.S. Senator Barack Obama, Aug. 8, 2008
If Senator Obama - as well as every other leading Democrat who's uttered some variation of the above - merely wanted to remind the American people that there are no easy answers to the ongoing energy crisis, I'd say bravo to them. Washington can't just snap its collective fingers and bring back $1.50-a-gallon gasoline, yet too many Americans seem to think otherwise.
Unfortunately though this is not the point the Dems are trying to make. They're using the drilling-takes-too-long argument as cudgel against those who want to lift the ban on offshore drilling and end the moratorium on oil shale production in the American West. They say there's no point in allowing more drilling if the oil won't hit the market for five or ten years.
(Excerpt) Read more at money.cnn.com ...
>>>Snowballs must be throwing in hell.
Park the car in the garage - there’s bound to be swine on the wing!
For those of you that don’t follow the Oil Industry, here are the facts. The democrats 10+ year forecast is absolutely false. Offshore usually requires about 4 to 5 years to develop from the time that the lease is won. Onshore, an example might be the Bakken Shale Play in North Dakota. The higher prices enabled drilling in this unconventional play. In 2003, production was very limited. As technology improved, the play became more economical and more wells were drilled. In 2006, the field had increased its production to 2.2 million bbls per year (6000 bbls of oil daily.) In 2007, 7.3 million bbls were produced (20,000 bbls per day.) 2008 is expected to produce at least 25 million bbls per day (68,493 bbls per day.) You see the pattern? Not 10 years, less than 5. And incremental production will accelerate this field to world class—estimated reserves of 8 to 12 billion bbls. And this is just one of the many unconventional plays that are being driven by the higher prices. The Barnett Shale in the Fort Worth Basin was producing less than 1 billion cubic feet per year in 2000. Now it is the largest producing gas field (at the moment) in America. We are not running out of oil, but we are running out of cheap oil. If the democrats get their way with windfall profits taxes, then goodbye domestic oil and hello Saudi Arabia.
A BRIEF HISTORY OF ALASKA OIL EXPLORATION & PIPELINE DEVELOPMENT
The presence of crude oil on Alaska's North Slope was suspected for more than a century. In 1968, Atlantic Richfield Company and Humble Oil (now Exxon) confirmed the presence of a vast oil field at Prudhoe Bay. Within a year, plans were under way for a pipeline.
In 1970 environmental groups and others filed suits to prevent pipeline construction. Three and a half years of legal proceedings followed, during which the proposal to build the pipeline was considered by the federal and state governments, including the US Congress. No construction was permitted during this time.
Presidential approval of pipeline legislation provided the go-ahead to begin construction on November 16, 1973. The 360-mile distance from the Yukon River to Prudhoe Bay required a road to be built for transportation of equipment and materials. It was constructed in 1974. At the same time work was begun on pump stations, the pipeline work pad, and the Valdez Terminal.
The first pipe was laid in the Tonsina River, north of Valdez, on March 27, 1975. By the end of 1976, an additional 428 miles of pipeline were in place; miles which included Thompson Pass, a 2,678-foot high obstacle about 25 miles from Valdez
Pipeline employment reached its peak at 21,600 in August of 1975. By May of 1977, all 800 miles had been installed and tested. Oil entered the pipeline at Pump Station One, at Prudhoe Bay, on June 20, 1977, and reached Valdez on July 28. On August 1, 1977, the tanker "ARCO Juneau" sailed out of Valdez with the first load of North Slope crude oil. The historic billionth barrel reached Valdez on January 16, 1980. And, in November of 1997, 12 billionth barrel of oil reached Valdez.
Hey America, don't buy the leftist/elitist BS!
ANWR is just part of the ANSWER
I sense that the ten year argument is based upon the usual roadblocks that oil companies must endure to get oil out of the ground. If the fields were opened and the red tape was cut and environmentalists were told to pound salt, I'll bet we could have oil out of ANWR by next week (probably only slightly exagerating).
I suspect that building the infrastructure to drill deep in the ocean will take a while, but if congress really gave the green light, I'll bet, even starting from scratch, we could have meaningful production in less than three years.
Why not an independant INVESTIGATION?..
But this type of formation doesn't produce gushers. Most wells are a few hundred barrels a day and production falls significantly in a few years.
“I sense that the ten year argument is based upon the usual roadblocks that oil companies must endure to get oil out of the ground.”
Exactly. The MSM’s argument against drilling keeps changing as the facts leak out on the internet. First it was “Price fixing by “Big Oil”. When people got the message that the rising prices were just a response to increased demand, the left pointed the finger at “mysterious “speculators”, who as it turned out were just big customers (like airlines) buying futures contracts to protect themselves from higher prices down the road. After that it was “why don’t the oil companies drill on the gazillion acres that the already have?” What they “have” is mostly land that is leased from the government for, like 5 years, and this goes back to the government if it doesn’t get developed. Now that prices are dropping we have the phoney “ten year” argument.
“I sense that the ten year argument is based upon the usual roadblocks that oil companies must endure to get oil out of the ground. If the fields were opened and the red tape was cut and environmentalists were told to pound salt, I’ll bet we could have oil out of ANWR by next week (probably only slightly exagerating). “
Here is a question no one has answered. What’s the back order time on bringing rigs online?
BTTT
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.