Seven Facts About Oil
- There is enough recoverable crude oil within the continental US to supply current and projected future demand for 400+ years, and that’s just the oil we know about. It doesn’t account for future discoveries. That’s a fact, jack.
- We do not need to import a SINGLE DROP of foreign crude oil. The domestic oil industry can easily meet, and even surpass domestic demand. We’ve done it before, and we can do it again. That’s a fact, jack.
- The domestic oil industry currently cannot satisfy domestic demand due to oil drilling restrictions imposed by the federal government. That’s a fact, jack.
- The price of EVERYTHING revolves around oil, and the law of supply vs demand dictates the price of oil. When oil is plentiful, commodities are cheap. When oil is scarce, commodities are more expensive. Right now, domestic oil is scarce, and the price of everything is high because of these restrictions imposed by the federal government. That’s a fact, jack.
- We import foreign oil from countries that drill and produce it much cheaper than we’re able to because they do not implement all of the environmental safeguards that we do. Their methods are FAR more destructive to the environment than ours are. That’s a fact, jack.
- Every year, the federal government leases tracts of land to oil companies so they can explore on it for oil. If enough oil is found during exploration, the company can then apply for a drilling permit which allows them to drill a well. If no oil is found during exploration, or if the amount found is not enough to be profitable the lease expires without ever being drilled on. Leases that are active, but not being drilled on does NOT mean that oil companies are being lazy, or are trying to keep the oil for themselves, etc. etc. It means they’ve either explored the lease for oil and found nothing, or found oil but it’s not enough to justify drilling for. That’s a fact, jack.
- It’s not Russia’s fault, or China’s fault, or Ukraine, or India, or Venezuela, or Iran, or Bangledesh, or any other countries’ fault as to why everything is so expensive right now. It’s Joe Biden’s fault, because he is suppressing the domestic oil industry for political gain.
#1 and 2 are not really true, it's absurd to say we have 400 years worth of oil and then not provide anything to back up where this estimate came from. We have blown past R. King Hubbert's curve and certainly there have been times when the doomsayers have said 'We're going to run out of oil by (pick a date)' since the 1920s. Same as the Church of Climate doomsayers. Since all crudes are different, there are reasons to import or export crude for specific economic and refining reasons.
ReplyDeleteWe should be developing modular, small-scale, economical nuclear energy as a high priority and we're not. By powering the electrical demand we could vastly reduce the amount of hydrocarbons we burn for this (coil, oil, gas). That would be smart, which is why only smart, committed politicians advocate action for it.
Hydrocarbons are so ubiquitous to modern society that they have become invisible by their surrounding imprint. Virtually every single product, natural or manufactured, has the energy unleashed by hydrocarbons affiliated with it.
#1 and #2 are really true. Research, then comment.
DeleteAgreed.
Delete1. That 400 year forecast comes from a huge deposit found near Bakken in South Dakota a few months back. Not on CNN.
2. Rush (RIP) had the retired CEO of Shell on a few years back. This guy was enjoying grandkids, fully retired and thus no reason to spin. Said there was plenty of oil on the coasts...also a 400 year forecast like the above...but the companies were being stymied by the 'Green Jihad'.
It might just be that I have some background to support my views, like over 40 years in the business at the sharp end. They are not 'true' until you state the vast myriad of assumptions that are necessary to support the assertion. The oil markets are incredibly complex and a professional would have trouble giving you an estimate for the next 5 years, let alone 400. Starting with: what advances in technology are going to make it possible, and please be specific.
DeleteWhy should we care? None of us will be here in 50 years let alone 400.
DeleteI've read that thorium powered generators can be scaled to size such that one can be installed in your home and run for ten years at reasonable cost. They're not being developed because the NRC is protecting the uranium/plutonium powered generators and the electric distro utilities.
DeleteDon't know if the first part is true, but seems reasonable and the second part is also reasonable given the revelations about .gov interfering with oil production currently.
Nemo
(Old Tech) While not quite as plentiful as Texas, Saskatchewan has vast untapped reserves of oil and natural gas..... it also is home to one of the world's largest reserves of uranium, potash and diamonds - 95% untouched.
ReplyDeleteJust think of what there is in all of North America.
I read several years ago a statement by a petroleum engineer…
ReplyDelete“You think the process that creates oil just stopped with the dinosaurs?”
🤔
I think that you are hinting at what is the most logical assumption...oil is abiotic.
DeleteAye. There's a book on it:
ReplyDelete"Black Gold Stranglehold"
ReplyDeleteSince the assumption of the peak oilers is we'll run out one day, well then let's pump it as we need it and when there is no more we can figure out the not yet discovered thing better than oil. Why keep it in the ground? Pump the crap out of it, until the tap runs dry. Finally then the Earth will finally start cooling off. I bet all the oil companies are really sad right now that they are profits are terrible with record high prices of oil? hahaha
How about this controversy:
ReplyDeleteOil is not a fossil fuel.
There's a difference between technologically recoverable oil and economically recoverable oil.
ReplyDeleteFor instance, extremely deep off-shore wells require large amounts of energy to pump from those great depths. Another example, shale oil requires huge amounts of energy for heating, both for extraction and for transport.
But often advances in technology make previously non-economic reserves, economically viable. Fracking is an example of that.
Don in Oregon
Ex Navy buddy told me the largest oil deposits on earth are under the Gulf of Mexico. said the water currents made it hard to stabilize rigs etc. He's Crypto school had friends on the Liberty.
ReplyDeletePut a different way, nobody knows precisely how much oil we have pumped since Colonel Drake's well was drilled in Pennsylvania, but in the ~160 years of hydrocarbon production, the estimates converge around 1.5 trillion barrels cumulative production, for the whole world. That's around half the volume of Lake Erie, the smallest Great Lake and #11 largest lake in the world. Right now the US consumes around 20 million barrels of crude per day, the whole world, about 80 million barrels per day. Demand normally increases worldwide about 1-2% per year. The thing about natural resource plays is that they don't suddenly dry up, they just progressively get more expensive until they are no longer competitive, even with technology advances. People used to have copper or bronze bug screens on their porches, and copper rain gutters, for instance. We have a rare opportunity to do the right thing with power generation by turning it to clean, safe nuclear. Electrical power gen accounts for about 35% of hydrocarbon consumption in the US. But right now, there's only one nuke under construction in the US, as far as I can tell. Our political leadership sucks.
ReplyDeleteName's not Jack... That said I have no issue with the 400-year supply figure, but isn't it kind of pretentious suggesting anyone can predict how much oil we will be using 200-300 years from now? Does anyone believe that 200-300 years ago anyone could have predicted how much we are using now?
ReplyDeleteA reference to jack pumps.
DeleteYou're right. Actually there's good evidence that world wide oil consumption peaked several years before covid.