How fast will we be able to produce the oil? I'm not asking how soon, but it doesn't matter how much we have underground as much as it matters how many barrels we can produce per year. It is true that I haven't thoroughly researched this, but none of this turned up in the small amount of research that I have done. Interesting. I've been to Niagara Falls and enjoyed the little of Canada I saw. Still wasn't aware of some of the facts you presented. :hihi: Maybe I need to get out more when I get out.
Not my problem. You keep saying this, WTF does it mean? Are you under any illusions where I stand? When have I been ambivalent? I've stated clearly and at length what I think.
A blogger is one thing, but Factcheck.org put the figure considerable lower than the $1.1 million received by McCain.
Definitions of Proven Reserves on the Web: Reserves that have been sampled extensively by closely-spaced diamond drill holes and developed by underground workings in sufficient detail to ... www.oxiana.com.au/Glossary.asp Oil and gas which has not been produced but has been located and is recoverable. eei-inc.com/pages/investors/glossary.html defined as oil and gas "Reasonably Certain" to be producible using current technology at current prices, with current commercial terms and government consent, also known in the industry as 1P. Some Industry specialists refer to this as P90, ie, having a 90% certainty of being produced. www.tutorgig.com/ed/Oil_resources Estimated quantities of oil and gas which geological and engineering data demonstrate with reasonable certainty to be recoverable in future years from known reservoirs under existing economic and operating conditions. boonedome.com/glossary.htm Resources that are known to exist, whose size can be estimated, but have not yet been exploited. wps.pearsoned.co.uk/wps/media/objects/2768/2834452/glossary/glossary.html Oil and gas that have not been produced but has been located and has been determined recoverable. [top of page] Pugh Clause - A clause added to an Oil Lease to limit holding non-producing lands or depths beyond primary term of lease. www.1031ea.com/glossary_og.html Natural gas that is still in the ground but that has been located and determined to be recoverable. www.victoryenergycorp.com/glossary.html
It's just that there is not enough to become self-sufficient. We use far more oil than we can possibly drill for on our own land. If we could cut consumption by two-thirds (unlikely in the near future), then we might possible be able to meet our needs, but only for a few decades before depletion rears it's ugly head. Peak Oil is very real, which raises the question "should we be saving our oil for the future?" Even at $150/barrel oil is still cheap compared to what its going to be in 50 years. Perhaps we should be buying oil from abroad now while it is still affordable, deplete the middle east reserves, and keep our small remaining reserves in the ground against the time when oil is simply too expensive to acquire from abroad and wars are going to be fought over it.
www.factcheck.org which is why the pickens plan makes sense. increase domestic exploration/drilling to help stem the tide while alternative sources are ramped up. even the dems seem to be moderating their stance on this issure. as the election tightens up pelosi et al will be changing their stance, just as lou dobbs predicted back in july.
Love the definitions but that doesn't change the fact that ANWR, OCS, and oil shale in the rockies are not included in the reserve numbers of 21 billion barrels for the U.S. Posting a definition does not change that, it merely diverts the argument. That is up for debate. It is popular amongst people that do not want to drill to say it will take ten years to come online. For the OCS, that is a gross exaggeration. There is a great deal of exploration going on in the gulf and moving operations to Florida will take little or no time at all. Plenty of estimates say as little as 4 years. ANWR also would be a matter of a few years as exploration is ongoing in Alaska too. The rockies may take longer but represent the largest deposits of oil anyway. I don't suggest that we can produce all we will ever need. I do suggest that we can produce a great deal more and relieve the pressure foreign oil puts on us while we develop alternative energy. Getting off oil is the goal and it is reachable but we have to get there first and the fact is, today our infrastructure runs on oil. We have to bridge the gap between oil and alternatives and this is the least painless way to do it.
Where does it say that the known reserves you mention are not in the totals you cite? Why wouldn't they be? Got a source?
Since ANWR alone is estimated to be 90 billion barrels(check my earlier posts for a link), I would say that it is not included. I have also not listed estimates for OCS or oil shale. Estimates from as long ago as 2003 show the OCS could have as much as 59 billion barrels of oil and over 280 billion in natural gas. http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/otheranalysis/ongr.html Oil shale: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_shale I don't usually like to quote wikipedia but there are plenty of other sources to show oil shale reserves are outrageously high in the US. And current technology exists to economically extract it and with little environmental impact.
