Where's The Oil?

[FrBrGr]

With gasoline now over $4.00/gallon here in the US, OPEC would have us believe that there is a shortage of oil, and that's the reason why it's so expensive.

 

Well, there's a lot of folks in this country who can't understand how we came to have an oil shortage, at least here in this country. Well, there's really a very simple answer. Nobody bothered to check the oil - ! We just didn't know we were getting low! The reason for that is purely geographical . . .

 

Our oil is located in Alaska, California, Coastal Florida, Coastal Louisiana, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas.

 

and . . .

 

Our dipsticks are located in Washington , DC

 

Any Questions . . . ?

 

No?

 

I didn't think so!

[White Fox]

Yep...

 

Say, I believe AK is located up in Alaska somewhere. He will be able to tell them to turn on the supply tap a little faster if we ask him nicely I am sure since he lives there.

 

W

[FrBrGr]

Hey, WF! Welcome home!

[Guest]

There are alternatives for our addiction to petrol.

 

Maybe the price of faux fur will go out of sight? One can only hope.

 

 

 

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[dumbass45601]

Take out PETA and you could drill anywhere! Nah seriously they can cross drill now underneath habitats and such. Its a whole term paper worth of information about oil and such. The thing is in ten years we will be pulling up to a fueling station and have a selection of three petrols, diesel, hydrogen, electricity, ethanol. We are going to have a choice in what engine we can put in our cars. Truthfully you are going to see a lot more of this technology in your road car that is being put through the paces in motorsports. At the 24 hours of Le Mans this weekend Peugeot and Audi are racing diesel cars with V12 turbocharged engines that are high performance and very very low carbon output that can go over 200mph! People think its a waste of gas and such but really racing saves the environment! All of the cars that race in the IndyCar series are on 100 percent ethanol, the cars at Le Mans that are not racing on diesel are on E85 gas. F1 cars next year are going to have hybrid technology. So if you want to go green, go racing. Not NASCAR though cause they still use carburetters instead of fuel injection which is a waste of energy to start with.

[mailonfurs]

the oil will completely run out in about 40 years. But the reason of the high rising price is just rich peoples and large corporations interests that do want to make more and more money and nothing else...

[FrBrGr]

Actually, the profit margin for oil companies in the US is minimal, and hasn't increased much over the past 25 years. In the US today, a successful business is defined in terms of about a 30 to 35% margin. The oil companies are at about 8% right now. The dollar amounts are huge, but in comparison to expenditures, the percentage is relatively small. It has been estimated that the shale reserve in Colorado alone could sustain the United States for the next 40 years, and could be resourced with very little impact on the environment. That's without a drop of oil coming from the much larger reserves in Anwar or off-coast US. Our problem right now, as it is with other countries, is that the law of supply and demand is alive and well and kicking our collective butt. The US imports 68% of its oil, and unless we become less dependent on imported oil, the price of oil is only going to go higher and higher, especially since China and India are much bigger players today and demand more oil than anytime in their history. Complicating matters is a somewhat unholy alliance between China and Venezuela, which even further distorts the economic picture.

 

IMHO, It is simplistic to say that all we have to do is to develop alternative fuels. It is estimated that today in the United States alone, there are over 143 million automobiles. That doesn't count trucks, buses, construction machinery, airplanes, trains or boats. Even if car manufacturers stopped producing internal combustion engines tomorrow (forget ethanol - that hasn't helped the energy problem much at all, it isn't good for the environment, plus it is creating inestimable hardships on underdeveloped countries and their people) how are the 143 million existing vehicles going to be fueled? Saying we should be less dependent on fossil fuels is one thing, but reality is another, and until we can "reach the other side" with acceptable alternatives, which will take years and years, we had better develop and use our own resources. If we don't, gasoline in this country could reach $10-$15 per gallon within the next five years. As it is, it may reach that plateau anyway. We may have waited too late to become independent. The economic ramifications could be catastrophic for this nation.

[Guest]

The alternative options are not so simplistic as you might suggest. Most are already on the shelf and can be broadly implemented across the board in very short order. Many are already happening on a smaller scale with the technologies well established. Some already in large scale installations.

 

Also vehicles are not the only problem with petrol. Buildings take about 40% of the petrol for their various functions,

 

Our dependence on oil is pervasive and broad where there are real and readily available alternatives. What's simplistic is to say that all we need is more oil. There is this pesky side effect of its environmental ramifications to think of as well.

 

Shale oil extraction technology is less than perfect and very expensive to implement, not to mention the time line to bring it into production. This is true with any oil source so it's not quite so simple as identifying any source as THE answer.

 

Converting our vehicles and built environment to alternatives can be a s quick as getting greater sources of oil in play.

 

One major resource we have is the very waste we produce daily. There is valuable energy in those mountains of garbage, plastics and tires! Bio waste in the feed lots and dairies! It's more readily available, quicker and accessible than the shale oil fields. Maybe not as romantic but that would also make our world a lot nicer place to live in that ripping up the country side for Hummers to glut on.

 

Oil needs to be allocated for the uses that it is uniquely suited for. Tires, Asphalt for roads, lubricants and plastics for their best applications, All these uses are ones where the oil can be recovered and reused, not burnt as a fuel.

 

If humans do not address our lives and environment with rational thought and an organized plan then we're doomed to go the way of the Dinosaur.

we don't need a meteor. We are providing the means of our own destruction.

 

OFF

[samurman]

I strongly urge all of you to check out what is called as the "peak oil" theory. First put forward by the geologist M. King Hubbert back in 1956, while he was working for Shell, it is also known as the "Hubbert's peak." Hubbert correctly predicted that oil production in the lower 48 states of the US would peak in early 1970's. This he did when the oil industry was booming, but his prediction was proven to be very accurate. He also predicted a peak in world oil production, and there are now many credible geologists, petroleum industry insiders, and energy analysts that we might well be experiencing the worldwide peak in oil production. I should remind you that this does not mean that the world will run out of oil tomorrow. It simply means that the current level of production, at about 85 million barrels per day, every day, is unsustainable. Alaska, shale oil, tar sands, biofuels... They can only compensate for the huge declines in production that are occuring in North Sea, Gulf of Mexico, Saudi Arabia, and elsewhere. For a crisis to unfold, it is enough for the world oil production to decline slightly. Then, the problem will be this: who will get that little oil and who will be left out?

 

I highly recommend the following online resources and websites:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peak_oil

http://www.theoildrum.com/

http://www.wolfatthedoor.org.uk/

http://www.peakoil.net/

 

And the following books:

Kunstler James H (2005). The Long Emergency: Surviving the End of the Oil Age, Climate Change, and Other Converging Catastrophes. Atlantic Monthly Press. ISBN 0-87113-888-3. (A very well written book)

 

Deffeyes Kenneth S (2002). Hubbert's Peak: The Impending World Oil Shortage. Princeton University Press. ISBN 0-691-09086-6. (Written by a well known geologist, from Princeton University)

 

Simmons Matthew R (2005). Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Saudi Oil Shock and the World Economy. ISBN 0-471-73876-X. (Written by a financier with experience in energy sector, who is considered as an expert on Saudi oil situation and who was an advisor to President Clinton)

 

Goodstein David (2005). Out of Gas: The End of the Age Of Oil. WW Norton. ISBN 0-393-05857-3. (He is a respected physicist from Caltech, and I loved his freshman physics lecture series "The Mechanical Universe" back in my undergrad years.)

[auzmink]

Of course we at the Den need to predict a rise in the price of Fur, cos folks will want to wear it more often in Winter and faux fur will be too expensive to produce.....so to ALL of our Denziens who think they need more, GET IT NOW.....Fur will be back bigger.....

 

Auzmink.

[mailonfurs]

Of course we at the Den need to predict a rise in the price of Fur, cos folks will want to wear it more often in Winter and faux fur will be too expensive to produce.....so to ALL of our Denziens who think they need more, GET IT NOW.....Fur will be back bigger.....

 

Auzmink.

 

It has already started with prices for skins around 100$ each at the fur auctions

the oil itself somehow is involved to the uprising prices on everything including fur (before even faux furs turn expensive)

[Guest]

Future shock for being such naughty stewards.

 

 

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