Steep decline in oil production brings risk of war and unrest

What I find interesting is that nobody is talking about the multiple billions of barrels of oil reserves in the United States that cannot be recovered because of environmental reasons or just because people don't want to see oil rigs off their shore or in their back yard. If people were really concerned about the US dependency on oil they would be looking at ALL the options available: Efficiency, Alternative Fuels, Conservation - AND - allowing the use of all of more of the reserves in our own country.

A good example of this idiocy is the Arctic National Wildlife Reserve in Alaska. This reserve is the size of Virginia! Yet the environmentalists claim there is not any small area in that vast reserve that can be used to drill oil. Don't misunderstand me, I am all for saving the environment and am not trying give the oil companies a free pass either - but come on people - are the caribou migration paths in Alaska worth more than our soldiers lives?


[edit on 22-10-2007 by itguysrule]

reply to post by itguysrule

The current inventory is displayed on the SPR's website. As of August 24, 2007, the current inventory was 690 million barrels. At current market prices ($80 a barrel) the SPR holds approximately $55 billion worth of petroleum.

Source: en.wikipedia.org...

Keep in mind that this is a "strategic" oil reserve.

Do you believe that the SPR will be released to the public if there is a major war related disruption of oil imports?

Originally posted by dbates
When everyone wakes up and realizes that there is no comparable energy source, that alternative fuels will cost even more and produce less energy. Only then will they accept the fact that life is changing. Until then people will keep preaching the "Pie in the sky" alternative fuels and ignoring the facts around them.

Well all new technology's tend to be expensive and go thou a developmental stages. Just look at the first home computers they were more expensive then they are today and they had less functionality . While we have viable alternative means of producing electricity the same cant be said for fuelling the cars we drive. Also the amount of energy required to produce so called bio fuels can make them no better environmentally then oil is.

Who here actually believes that the war in Iraq was to prevent terrorism? In a way it was. It was a war to prevent terrorism against America's oil supply. Imagine someone shutting down the Straights of Hormez, cutting of 25% of the world's oil. Now that would be a WMD.

All I'm going to say on that matter is that the US military was capable of deploying to the ME without occupying Iraq first.

reply to post by UM_Gazz


I was not talking about the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. I was talking about known oil fields in the Gulf of Mexico and off the Coast of California that can't be drilled because the local politicians don't want the view from the beach spoiled by unsightly offshore oil rigs. I was talking about the billions of barrels of oil in known oil fields in Alaska that can't be drilled because politicians are more worried about special interests than National Security.

reply to post by UM_Gazz


For some reason I never truly understood the meaning of strategic oil reserve I rather tag it as oil for the elite manipulation.

In an economical crisis involving energy wars will spread to our own backyard and within our own population, the strategic oil reserves will become nothing more than a bargaining tool.

Depending in which hands is to fall in, looking at it, it doesn't seem like a lot of reserve to me, but at the same time I wonder if the supplies are larger than we have been told.



[edit on 22-10-2007 by marg6043]

reply to post by itguysrule


Most of the oil in Alaska and the gulf of Mexico has been tapped into. Production in these areas is on the decline. There may be some untapped sources in these regions, I have not seen any substantial proof of that yet.

There is a massive potential untapped oil source inside the USA, in fact there was a discussion on this here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

The problem is, most of it is "shale oil" which requires new and very expensive extraction methods. It takes approximately one ton of shale oil to produce one barrel of crude oil.

I'm not sure the global decline in oil production and possibility of 'oil wars' can be prevented by any of the above, but I could be wrong, and there is always HOPE!




[edit on 22-10-2007 by UM_Gazz]

How can we be in an oil crisis when there are still so many car races around the planet? This is such a gratuitous use of a seemingly depleting resource and seems to be a case of Nero fiddling while Rome burns.

Marg, please don't try and tell me and others what is in my mind... I would appreciate that...

First you have a lot of passion and that is admirable, but the majority of Americans will lose your candor and passion when they can no longer afford to commute to work.

It is not "advocating" anything to speak the truth. What you are speaking, is your emotional response to the situation in Iraq, and we all know so very well where you stand. Tying it into the OP is fantasy at best, foolhardy at least..

Yet if you are asking me who comes first, my families welfare, or people in the middle east, I would hope you know the answer to that.

Like most Americans, I will vote whatever way is best for me and mine and if that means fighting in Iraq, so be it. I will not stand on my "roses" and be all "high and mighty" while my family starves. You can trust that most Americans feel the same..

The simple fact is that Americans will not stand to have their standard of living fall out from under them. It does not matter what "YOU" feel, the majority will feel differently.

The politicians that want to be reelected are going to continue to "feed" us our basic needs to continue with our standard of living, or risk being moved out by an angry America.

That is a fact

Semper

reply to post by semperfortis


So you will become a predator in case of a crisis and death is not out of the question as long as is to the survival of your own.

Guess what the same way of thinking is in my personal out look, in the minds of others, and occurs on any other nation in the world that has resources that belong to them.

I guess we will fight each other for survival, and do not get me wrong, if you could not share then you become my enemy simple as that.

That is what civil unrest means, sad that you apply this to the people in the middle east, funny but this will apply to you and me here in our own nation.

What makes me more sad is that I am willing to adapt, but I see that for some raping other nations for greedy preservation without compromise seems like a good idea when it comes to your own survival.

reply to post by UM_Gazz

no more oil-----prices have to increase.
apparently thats what the worldbank and imf want us to believe so they can make higher incomes out of us slaves they want to pay for increased prices of the oil they assume they own---------check www.liveleak.com and see what lindsey williiams says about their lies---------the usa in alaska so far has the worlds highest reserves of oil that are forbidden for use by the before mentioned powers and enforced by the bush chenny team in north america at least.i am amazed that people who are going to die of old age anyway-worship a mysterious god of money that could not care less if the worshipers drop dead -----someone else can always be found to replace the dying tyrant that was ahead of them .some humans think they are gods but they cannot keep themselves alive forever like the True G-D can

Originally posted by semperfortis
Sadly UM_Gazz, I fear we will soon see how ardent the "non" supporters of war really are....

My guess is they will fold like cheap cards when they are paying 5 or 10 dollars a gallon for gas... Their nonsense talk will evaporate and they will again be blaming everyone except themselves... I am sure President Bush will get a lot of the blame, he is to blame for everything anyway, at least if you listen to many.. LMAO

Well genius, you want to tell me what the above post has to do with this thread? Or is this another attempt by you to bash anyone that doesn't agree with you??

Originally posted by semperfortis
So we do what many are crying, leave the Middle East to it's own accord, and the radicals take over, which they will, and let's see how long before the crying starts...

Semper

I have a feeling that people like you will be doing the "whining". I have already given up my vehicle for a bicycle and my wife and I eat primarily food that is grown locally. what have you done to contribute other than insult others, eh seper?

Is there some reason you have personally attacked me?

I can not remember ever even responding to a post of yours, so why are you insulting me and calling me names??

I would check the T&C if I was you..

Semper

Crude is heading for the US100 target by year end. Foreign funds (especially Sovereign Funds) are ditching US dollar assets. Long term bond yields are rising in tandem.

Literally, blood will flow in the streets in major cities of USA and UK in the not too distant future, when the full impact of the collapse hits every aspect of the economy and Joe six packs finally realises that Bush, Cheney, the neo-cons and the bastards controlling the City of London have taken them for a ride and robbed them of their pensions and future. Link

I realize that this frightening rant by Matthias Chang comes across as a bit provocative...extreme...and definitly worst case. Personally I hold the human spirit in high esteem, but the political agendas that shape destiny don't always apply to the greater good. You'll find the authors bio at the bottom of the piece.

More on topic, Mexico's dependence on oil revenues, and the rapid decline of Mexican production/exports (especially from the Canterrel Field), may pose the most immediate threat to American status quo. The anticipated increase in illegal immigration from workers fleeing a depressed Mexican economy could be significant.

I sense a relationship between declining oil production in Mexico, the rich oil reserves of Canada, and the proposed NAU.

The oil price manipulation is a test of the scarcity paradigm. This is an key part of the Hegelian Dialectic. This is the "problem", now they wait for the "reaction"fear, loathing, personal inventories....and finally the "solution" - World bank regulating the oil market?

Oil companies make an 8% margin before you factor in the tax subsidies which push profits closer to 15%. Then you can also factor in the debt purchasing of the countries in which they are exploiting their resources, that's good for another 10-15% turn around.

Not to mention the money to be made by manipulating the energy futures market which is exponential...give it a few months and a new oil field will pop up,...of course there is always the largest known field just waiting in Iran

Yikes

Economic hard times definitely make the populace more war friendly. Unfortunately that just feeds our debt which in turn feeds the Banks that make up the cartel behind the 'Federal Reserve'. Which is not governmental but private, but with the borrowers (government) protection, and is not a 'Reserve' of any kind.

This country was founded when Englands Central Bank tried to rob it. In 1913 they got their hooks into our government. Our currency is so inflated that we absolutely depend on oil trading in dollars. Iran has made the fatal error of demanding payment in euros, yen, yuan, anything but dollars.

The Banks will decide yours, and the fate of your children.

Originally posted by UM_Gazz

Once again people believe the magic cure to the growing oil crisis will be alternative energy sources. However there is no viable alternative, or combination of alternative energy sources that can come close to replacing a very small percentage of the current global demand for oil.

The power oil has over global economies is quite profound, past wars throughout history have been fought over much less power.

Imagine the power one nation could have if that nation had control over the majority of the world's oil supply.

Hogwash. Let's look at Iceland for a minute. Granted geographically they are well situated to meet their needs this nation has succeeded admirably in reducing their reliance on fossil fuels.

In the year 2006, 26.5 % of electricity generation in Iceland came from geothermal energy, 73.4 % from hydro power, and 0.1 % from fossil fuels.

The energy is so inexpensive that in the wintertime, some pavements in Reykjavík and Akureyri are heated.

src en.wikipedia.org...

Obviously not everyone lives on volcanoes but suppose for a brief minute some of the money that gets dumped into the military industrial complex were diverted to alternative fuel research. I think we'd see a tad more in terms of producing some positives. No one will argue that oil is the driving force but lobbyists for the oil industry and auto manufacturers will certainly be reluctant to look for other sources.

brill