Drill Bits: How Much Oil Would Drilling in the OCS Yield?

So who says that once the oil is pumped that it will be sold to America and not China or someone else??? What insurance do we have? Aren’t they going to sell the oil to the open market?

“So who says that once the oil is pumped that it will be sold to America and not China or someone else??? What insurance do we have? Aren’t they going to sell the oil to the open market?”
Of course, but more supply overall coupled with lower usage through conservation here in the U.S. will likely depress the global price.
In fact, that’s what’s happening right now.

Hmmmm …..The first thing in 2007 report by the Nation Petroleum Council is:
World energy resources are plentiful.
Who to believe!

This is why nuclear is an irresistable choice for electrical generation. We know exactly what the yields can be.
But I’d be a little careful of the Drill Until Your Teeth Fill approach. When you consider all the uses for petroleum, this isn’t just about the price of gas, energy independence. This is about a world economy that also grows food with fertilizers with petroleum components.
I’m not sure we need the Manhattan Project but we do need a comprehensive plan with trade-offs including those for coping with the fact that China and India will follow our lead and consume as much as they can afford even as we are trying to afford to consume less. One thing is sure: whichever nation does get their consumption down by dint of developing the technology gets to sell that technology. Since we’d like to get some of our money back from China and India, it’s not such a bad deal as long as we get the patents and enforce them.

“Preliminary data shows US consumption is down a hefty 860,000 barrels per day in the first seven months of the year ”
Thank you Obama for the tip on inflating tires.
With oil dropping in price now, it’s almost as if supply and demand are somehow, mysteriously, related.
For winter….liberals advise: sweaters and huddling around campfires.

PT 1….
John McCain has received two million dollars from the oil industry, and now he want to give them a four Billion dollars tax break, when they are raking- in record profits on the shoulders of America. So, John McCain said, “Our dangerous dependence on foreign oil has been thirty years in the making, and was caused by the failure of politicians in Washington to think long-term about the future of the country.” What John McCain neglected to mention was that during those thirty years, he was in Washington for twenty-six of them. And in all that time, he did little to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Not to mention, that out of the last twenty eight years, twenty of those years, our nation energy policies were manipulated by an oil man in the Whitehouse representing his party interest (George Sr.12 years. George Jr.8 years) that have all but destroyed our Country.
Here is some straight talk. When John McCain was running in the Republican primary he never mention or addressed anything about this nation energy problems. After the primary, he saw that Barack Obama energy position along with his other ideas was getting footage so he flip-flopped, and quickly turned into Mitt Romney. The Straight Talk express at its best.

Jake, you’re right in that anything anyone says about OCS drilling is simply an educated guess at best, and that no one will know for certain until actual drilling starts. In the meantime, it’s always fun to listen to the so-called experts argue with each other!

Even the McCain campaign knows the truth about offshore drilling. In June, McCain campaign adviser Douglas Holtz-Eakin acknowledged to the LA Times that “new offshore drilling would have no immediate effect on supplies or prices.”
Unfortunately, it will not have an long-term effect on oil supplies or prices either. According to a 2007 report by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) in the Department of Energy, drilling in off the coast in the Pacific, Atlantic, and eastern Gulf “would not have a significant impact on domestic crude oil and natural gas production or prices before 2030.” What’s more, total domestic production would be increased by only 3 percent by 2030. Estimates of oil production from offshore drilling vary from the EIA’s 200,000 barrels a day to more than 1 million barrels a day, according to National Petroleum Council. Given that National Petroleum Council represents the oil industry, its estimate is probably overly optimistic. The U.S. now consumes 20 million barrels of oil a day. This means offshore drilling, once full production is reached, will supply about 1 percent of the current U.S. consumption if you use the EIA number, and about 5 percent of the current consumption if you use the National Petroleum Council number. So, we will still need to import the bulk of oil from other countries, even if the offshore drilling ban is lifted nationwide.

I would like to point out a few facts in this discussion:
US proven oil reserves:
20,972,000,000 barrels (in 2006)
US annual oil consumption (2007):
7,548,338,000
To eliminate ALL foreign dependence on oil, we have enough oil to last almost 3 years at our present rate of consumption.
And Obama is ridiculed for preaching conservation…what a bone headed thing to encourage.
“It’s Like These Guys Take Pride In Being Ignorant” – Obama

Maybe McCain should talk to the French. France has 59 nuclear power plants that provide over 80% of its energy needs.

you just do not get it –you can drill all you want as bigoil and opec will work hand in hand and just controll price—china and india will certainly take up the slack and then some—-your scofing at renewable fuels is just gross ignorance—–do a little research on BRAZIL—you surely will learn something–oh i forgot they are not as smart as we are.

rodney: “you just do not get it –you can drill all you want as bigoil and opec will work hand in hand and just controll price”
So let me get this straight … U.S. oil companies, which have to buy crude oil from OPEC at high prices, are working in cahoots with OPEC to control prices and keep them high so they’ll have to pay more?
This is fascinating … our oil consumption has been dropping because of high prices, which means fewer barrels sold to us by OPEC and fewer gallons of gas sold by U.S. oil companies … which has brought the price down. Was that their plan?
Man, OPEC and our oil companies need an economist.
You don’t think it has anything to do with the fact our domestic production rate has been halved since the 1980′s?
Hmmmmmmm …

darwin
where is the oil we pump out of alaska going–i wish you would tell everyone.

exon makes billions–and they do this paying super high price for crude this should be interesting=

rodney: “where is the oil we pump out of alaska going–i wish you would tell everyone.”
I wish you would since you brought it up. I’m curious to see what you say.
Anyway, first guess …
A refinery?
OK …
“The crude oil that flows down the 800-mile pipeline is picked up by tankers in the port of Valdez. According to state officials, the bulk of the crude is transported to West Coast refineries, with a small percentage remaining in Alaska and an unknown amount going overseas.
According to the CIA’s World Factbook, the U.S. exported 1.048 million barrels of crude per day in 2004 – which amounts to about 12 percent of domestic production – and imported 13.15 million barrels a day that same year. It’s unclear how much of the exported oil originated in Alaska.

darwin
how much goes to japan.

darwin
what percentage of income was paid in taxes—i am not trying to be wiseguy.

if i told you the bulk goes to japan would you believe that.

darwin
when you have a limited amount to produce and demand keeps growing i can assure that the price would not go down—and the possible 1% that we may be able to increase will be no more than a drop in the oil bucket.

energy marketer
I thinking rodney thinks there’s a conspiracy somewhere.

darwin –simply politics as usual–the palm greasing thing–

Why do you’all hate the Oil Cos. so much! If you want to put them out of business or not pay the cost, don’t drive a car, walk or ride a bike to your destination, freeze in the dark and cold, don’t run your machines, and so on, and on and on! They pay about $8. a gallon in Europe and they don’t complain! Or better still, allow off-shore drilling, develop wind, solar and green energy, etc – that will help to bring down the price of gas! But sorry, folks, it will be a long time before we are weaned off oil, if ever!

Won’t increasing the oil supply, lower prices only to immediately end up encouraging additional consumption until increased demand return prices to the previous levels?

New domestic supply is needed just to keep up with the decline curve of current production. Still need alternative energy research and development. I don’t think the government or the oil companies need to fund that. Oil companies need to focus on what they do best – the risky business of finding and producing oil and gas. Government mandates have given us MTBE (pollutes water) and ethanol(less mpg and damaging to engines) and many gasoline blends (expensive to refine and segregate for distribution given that new tanks are hard to permit and cutover to new blends is hard to manage seasonally.) There is market incentive for new fuel developments and they will come with or without oil company or govt funding. New taxes will not lower prices.

Yes, I know about Willie and bio diesel, which is entirely different from ethanol gasoline blends. Have you noticed that you can’t store gas for your lawn mower, etc. anymore? Or that you can’t start that mower if you leave gas in it over the winter? Because ethanol attracts water and gunks up motors. NOT a good thing.

Bio diesel – the major oil company I contract for has projects with Willie and other bio diesel concerns. The market will grow. Logistics are tough. The distribution system is not all that flexible and bio diesel is a very small piece of a major’s business. Gets attention but can never be the primary focus.

before i go i will say my next new vehicle will be a diesel-probably 2 or 3 cylinder being developed in germany–or here if available from domestic car company—and i will produce my own fuel–i will pay the road taxes–and they can shove the foreign oil where the sun dont shine..at least i will do a little part

Rodney:
How is biodiesel “suppressed”?
There are hundreds of old mercedes running around LA on biodiesel, and anyone with an interest can find out where to buy one and the equipment to make the fuel, as well as a list of restaurants glad to give you their waste grease. It’s a pain in the neck, and you smell like french fries all the time, and only popular among a few oddballs. But it is in no way “suppressed”.

Oil companies, like any other business must have incentive for sinking billions and billions of dollars into new wells and new drilling platforms. Platforms themselves can cost billions alone.
With the possibilty of a democrat as President who wants a “windfall tax” on oil companies, what incentive is there to invest capital in a venture where you’ll have to give the government what you make?
The government has it’s fingers in too many pieces of the pie. With democrats, they’ll take the whole pie … as Maxine Waters let slip that the democrats want to nationalize the oil industry. Oh, won’t That be efficient. Maybe they can hire Hugo for consulting work.

“That’s recession for you.”
No … I think that’s $4.00 a gallon gas.

Whether you use a high estimate or a low estimate, the bottom line is that offshore drilling will not make the United States independent of foreign oil.
The question is why reporters feel that they have to allow either political candidate to make statements which are manifestly false without challenging the candidates on this, and why reporters are unwilling to clearly make the best information available to their readers.
In the 1970s, the claim was made that the proposed Alaska oil pipeline would help end our dependence on foreign oil. Not only did this not happen, but the major partner in the consortium of oil companies was not any American oil company, but British Petroleum.
The highest estimate of oil that might come from offshore drilling does not even equal the amount of oil that the US presently imports from Canada, Mexico and Venezuela.
And isn’t it odd that the phony debate about whether or not drilling should be allowed bypasses the question of raising the mileage standards on US market automobiles, trucks and SUVs.

Every single barrel of oil is foreign oil. If anyone thinks that oil companies are loyal to our nation, they need their head examined. These are multinational companies and they dont give a damn what happens to the US, except insofar as it affects their ability to use our military as their personal police force.

At 9000 gallons a tanker truck and 40 gal per bbl the 860000 daily reduction is about 3800 tanker trucks a day in reduced volume* note though that one bbl of crude produces about 20 gal of gas so this is apples to oranges in one respect
However the scale of just the reduction is almost unimaginable