Drill here, Drill Now, Pay Less.

Posts: 453

If idiot Bill Clinton didn't veto drilling in ANWAR then we would have oil coming out of there by now.

Posts: 1869

A dissenting view:

I do not think that pumping our oil reserves would have an effect on pricing since it is set by futures speculators. The only way you will see prices drop is by introducing government price controls on the entire process of retrieving, processing and distributing petroleum products. I'd rather have higher prices than more government controls.

The situation is only going to worsen as developing countries consume more during their industrialization. We need to keep our reserves until foreign sources are depleted. We may not see this in our lifetime, but the next generation will have to deal with our choices today. Saving our finite resources today will make our country stronger in the future.

Just so you know: I have no kids that I have to worry about. I could disregard the future and live better today without regard to humanity's fate. I just hope there there are others that are looking at what we will leave behind (or what we won't) when we pass.

Posts: 489

It is pretty sad we have to depend on Foreign sources for anything. Crying or Very sad

Posts: 1261

another disenting view:

First, I have no problems opening up other drilling oportunities in the US. I consider myself a conservationist not an environmentalist.... The problem is that the oil companies already own several million acres of land that was "given" to them by congress to drill on and they refuse...wanting to keep it in reserve. Before we open up "more" public land for them to drill on, let them start drilling on the US oil fields that they already have. These are known fields with known risks. Evil or Very Mad

Second, even if we open up these fields, it will be years if not decades before we are actually drilling and refining that oil. It will not get us out of our current jam. All of the known sources of unused oil fields are miniscule compared to our current sources, and some of our current ones are already beginning to run dry.

Third, oil is a limited resource...It WILL RUN OUT...sooner or later. It is in our best intrest to begin conservation and incorporating alternative energy sources today. This will only give us more time before it does run out.

With countries like China and India beginning to demand oil on a level equal to the US and with Demand expected to continue to increase exponetially, "I think" we are in a deeper crisis than most people are willing to recognise. Look up "peak oil theory" and read their dire warnings. I do not think it is as bad as they claim "a modern stone age" Shocked

but this theory was postulated in the 30's, it predicted the 1970 US peak oil shortage (before we started production in Saudia Arabia) and guess what...Our own Dick Cheny warned us about the world peak oil shortage in a speach he gave in 2000...NOT OBAMA. Shocked

I think we have seen the last of cheap gas, and expect it to continue to climb. This is one time I hope I am wrong, but all the research I have come up with points to this. Crying or Very sad

I feel your pain
Wink

Chris

Posts: 218

Pghruby and laymansm I agree with you guys. Cheap gas price days are gone. I think one thing is very important as we talk about new drilling and exploration. Previous statements all include the word "we" when suggesting exploration and drilling. Who is "we", it certainly isn't the American citizen it is the oil companies. The same companies who have reserves they are not developing, the same companies who haven't built a refinery since the 1970's, the same companies who are making record breaking profits every quarter from us the American citizen.
Why would they want lower prices and more gas production? They don't. They have us by the short and curlies and if they won't increase production then the only way to lower prices is to decrease demand. This is happening right now as more and more Americans are buying smaller more effecient vehicles. Like it or not unless the government takes over oil refinement and sets prices like China and Venenzuela do we are in the hands of the oil companies where we will continue to used and abused.

Posts: 45

Here is my two cents;

I actually work in one aspect of the oil industry and there are a few issues with the system that I have.

1. We do not have enough refineries to handle the load that is being asked of them. I live in Southeast Texas. Home of the soon to be largest refinery in the world. If any of the local refineries go down for what ever reason you see a jump in gas almost over night. Which brings me to my number 2 issue.

2. Why is is that the gas that is in the tank at the stations jumps in cost overnight when something happens. What happened to a situation occurring and you knew in two weeks the price was going to jump????????????

3. Why? Why? Why? Do we have to pay for gas at a price for what they expect the gas will be like in the future? That is like telling someone that goes to purchase a car that the final price is no longer what is on the window but what they think it will sell for a year to date when they sign the papers.

4. Taxing the oil companies will only cost us more--think if they get taxed more they will just increase the cost to make up for the tax--- $%#@ rolls down hill and we are in the valley

Anyways that is my two cents for what it is worth.

Pictures: 0 · Guest Pictures: 0

You make a great point j9m9t. We need more refineries people. Supply is NOT and I will repeat NOT an issue (at the current moment). Like j9m9t said, We need more refineries so that we can produce more fuel faster. Let me think of an analogy... you (oil) are standing in line for an entrance to an amusement park and only one gate (refinery) is open. The time it takes you standing in line to get in will be longer, if there is only one gate opened as compared to 2 or more. The amount of people is not different entering the park just the time it takes to get in. Wink

Posts: 51

You cant build new refineries when the enviromental extremeist block it. If you do a simple google search for new refienries that were propoesed youll see everyone of them was rejected for environmental concerns.

Were going to be in a pickle if we do not reign in the extremists. I live on a 8 thousand acre ranch. On this ranch we have 10 oil wells. Now if I didnt believe in conservation and protecting the envrionment Id make a poor rancher but Im not extremist about it. The oil companies do a great job of keeping things clean, watching for leaks and spills and fixing things quickly.

As far as not drilling on the acreafe they have available youve got to understand these oil companies have a good idea where oil is. Of all the oil wells drilled on our property only 3 have been dry holes in the 25+ years I have memeories of drilling (Im 33). They arent going to spend millions drilling a bunch of dry holes just to say I told you so. The places we currently have off limits are knows deposits of easy to recover light crude. Places that are huge deposits that would make a dent in prices as soon as the papers were signed to drill. Alot of the price run up is psychological, fear of running out. Everytime you have a supply bump or unexpected surplus you see the price drop dramatically. Just the psycological effect of opening these places up fro drilling would be huge.

Also just something else I find amusing. We sit in the largest Wind Farm area in the word right now near Sweetwater Texas. On our farm we have 25 1.5 MW windmills. You would not believe the envriomental fight with extremists who insisted these would ruin the environment based upon noise, the way they LOOK and the fact they had to build roads and powerlines to support them.

If you buy into their beliefs well be back using wagons and horses. Conservation is important. Protecting the environment is important. Doing it within reason is imperitive. A few extreme views are crippling this country and thats what needs to stop in my opinion. Im all for alternative power (Got big rear end windmills all over my property to prove it) but Im not for this insane idea that we should deny offshore drilling and drilling in Alaska because a few nuts are worries about the Hairy Cocked Horned Bill Butter Beatle in Northern Alaska.

Posts: 500

I don't personally see where demand drops will lower prices....I think the oil companies would rather sell 10 gal. of gas for $40 than 20 gal. for the same price....The less we use, the more we will be charged just so their end numbers will be the same...I would much rather be in a position where I could work half as much and make the same amount,and they are no exception.........
Hoodlum

Posts: 2537

Bush rescended the off-shore drilling moratoreaum and the per barral price for oil went down.

Commodity speculators are driving the cost of oil up. The way to fix it isn't to put government restrictions on the speculation. The way to fix it is to put an energy plan together that makes sense.

The "float" that the commodity brokers use can be adjusted. That is one thing that the government can do that makes sense. Make they guy that is trying to sell oil at $150/bbl pay the $140/bbl he paid first instead. The way it works is, the guy gets to pay $140 for the bbl first, then before he has to send any money in for that purchase he can sell the oil first and then pay for the oil he bought. Make him do it the way I have to do it. Purchase the stuff and pay net in 30 days after I receive it. Some of these guys can go months before they have to pay anything.

This works for oil, gold, coal, steel, sugar, cattle, wheat, corn, beans, etc..

Build more Nuclear plants for power. Some countries electrical generation is done with 75% nuclear plants. We have something like 40% of our generation from Nuclear Power. Crank that up to 80% and we've got more oil.

Pickens plan is very interesting. At least he has a plan. He's the only one who I've heard of that does and I work in the Power Industry.

There's ways to do it... We just need the government and all of the special interest groups to get out of the way.