[Pontiac]

Personally, I am in favor of drilling deeper, but the idea that oil is just bubbling up all around us fast enough to feed our needs is contradicted by reality.

Don’t be deceived it is bubbling up around us but our government while pandering to environmentalist has put huge areas off limits for drilling.

Oil is bubbling to the surface off our coast as we speak.

[Dusty Road]

“Oil is bubbling to the surface off our coast as we speak.”

I've seen estimates of from 1 million to 5 million barrels of oil seeps from the Gulf of Mexico yearly.

[aruanan]

Personally, I am in favor of drilling deeper, but the idea that oil is just bubbling up all around us fast enough to feed our needs is contradicted by reality.

Not too brilliant a comment, a comment which is contradicted by reality. There's plenty of oil for a market that is larger than ever and in constant dollars it's been about the same for a long, long time. The perturbations of price have largely been from government manipulation or from attempted control by cartels or futures speculation about how governments are going to mess with exploration, production, and refining, or other things governments are doing to put the supply at risk. The amount of petroleum out there is mind-bogglingly large. Petroleum is formed at least 40 to 70 km deep in the mantle and percolates to the surface, collecting in geological formations that trap it. Those formations refill over time.