The Push for Opening More Land for Oil Drilling is a Farce (Part 1)

Recently we have seen a very large push by the Republican party to open up more US land to oil drilling and exploration. Everyone is familiar with ANWR (Arctic National Wildlife Refuge) and John McCain and George W Bush's push for coastal drilling.

I have to call this for what it is, first it is an appeasement (McCain) and one more gift (Bush) to the oil companies. This is also a political maneuver to try to make the 'wacky environmental loonie Democrats' look like they are stalling the acquisition of new oil resources within the USA, causing higher prices at the pump and keeping it that way.

Sadly, due to the lack of knowledge on this issue on the public sphere the Republicans feel like they can pull this off. That is why I decided to write this thread, to dispel this idea that we need more land to be handed over to the oil companies for drilling.

The main reason I call this a shame is because THE MAJORITY OF LAND LEASED TO OIL COMPANIES FOR OIL PRODUCTION in the USA ARE UNUSED.

More than 44 million acres of public lands are leased for oil and gas development, according to a new Wilderness Society analysis of Interior Department data. The analysis points to an explosion of drilling on federal lands, with 7,124 drilling permits (APDs) issued in 2007, a new record for the Bush Administration. Nationwide, the leasing is outstripping the oil and gas industry’s capacity to drill, as industry is drilling on only a quarter of the leases they hold. Link to Source

This is a very interesting fact. Note that the oil industry is already not able to keep up with the 44 million acres of land they are eligible for drilling in, how in giving them more land going to solve the problem? The answer, it isn't. What it will do is give them more oil holdings to keep in their pockets until prices rise even higher and they can gouge the American people that much more.

Obviously McCain is trying to appease his largest donors the Big Oil Companies.

Bush, well he is doing what he has been for the last 7.5 years, pandering to his 'base'.

While the Republicans are trying to damage the image of Democrats and simultaneously give away the USA's wealth to Big Oil, the Democrats are trying to force Big Oil to use the lands they have been given permits for drilling and thus relieve teh pump-crunch here in the states.

Democrats complain that oil and gas producers keep calling for access to new federal lands but have failed to begin work on existing acreage the Democrats say could yield an estimated 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of gas per day.

The plan’s slogan, "use it or lose it," would force producers to pay $5 a year for every acre the companies hold but are not working on to produce oil and gas, said the Houston Chronicle. Link to Sourcwe

[edit on 18-6-2008 by Animal]

I agree with this completely. Except we need to take back the leases that they're sitting on and give them to independent groups to drill. I mean community based companies or even co-operatives that will ensure everybody shares the benefit of drilling the oil and getting it to the market. These huge oil corporations are like bloated ticks, feeding off the natural resources that belong to us.

Very good points indeed. As progressive as John McCain may seem, he is still a republican neo-fascist, promoting a platform to make the rich richer and the poor poorer. And what better way to do so than inflate the prices of a crucial energy commodity?

You make an interesting point, however there are huge untapped reserves that have been deliberately kept off the market in order to increase the price of oil IMHO. My guess is that they are now thinking that it's time to crash the price of oil before alternative energy sources gain a foothold.

One example of what I'm talking about is the Gull Island find up in the arctic circle in Alaska

www.americanfreepress.net...

We also have vast quantities of shale oil that could be drilled now as you point out.

As I mentioned in a similar thread:

The biggest lie of them all is that we have refineries to process this supposed oil.

"As I mentioned in a similar thread:

The biggest lie of them all is that we have refineries to process this supposed oil. "

IF this is true, why are we importing 15% gasoline?

reply to post by loam


That is another excellent point mate. What I have herd and am looking for information on is that we can't even get the oil out of the group at this point let alone, as you point out, refine it.

I think what may be going on is a refusal to talk about the fact that the USA is lacking the INFRASTRUCTURE to produce energy ourselves. This is a direct repercussion from being overly dependent on other countries for production.

This lacking infrastructure means one thing...we need to invest in infrastruture locally.

But what kind of energy infrastructure?

Fossil Fuel Based or Alternative Based?

This is the crux of this biscuit IMHO.

I've heard the infrastructure argument. While I have no doubt that our refinery capacity is constrained to some extent, nothing has really changed per se between when gas was $1.50 a gallon to it's heading towards $5 and beyond (in the U.S.). That is we could make enough gas then and we can make enough gas now.

There is also an argument to be made that the amount of oil production is currently able to meet demand. Thus, as I see it, the oil spike is an entirely artificial construct made by market manipulators. Moreover as Lindsey Williams has pointed out, these manipulators could care less about the average American. They are only concerned with wealth, power and their agenda.

[edit on 18-6-2008 by SevenThunders]

The leases the OP references are land leases for exploration. There are proven reserves in ANWR. On these leases, exploration holes may be dry 9 times out of ten. In ANWR they will be producers 10 times out of ten.

The OP shows a lack of understanding regarding the issue of energy exploration vs. energy production.

If a lease for exploration is accompanied by a permit to drill, and the exploration driller detects recoverable oil or gas reserves, a new lease and a new permit is required for production. These leases and permits will be fought over in government, turned into election issues, and will result in nothing.

The article cited is rambling and obtuse. It states that oil companies dont want to drill on certain lands because of "obstacles" such as wildlife presevation and protecting the air we breath and the water we drink. At the same time, the article states that with technologies like directional drilling, many of these acres are accesible without the "obstacles". Well the same argument holds for ANWR where WE KNOW THERE IS OIL!

Oil companies need to keep finding new oil just like timber companies need new forests. Timber companies can plant new forests...oil companies cannot refill oil fields, they need to keep drilling to find new ones. They cannpot keep drilling without leases and permits. Their retention of these leases and permits is analagous to replanting trees.

Wouldn't you rather have the big ole nasty oil companies drilling and pumping in the wilderness of Alaska where they know there is oil ,than in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado?


Im aware this post is also rampling and obtuse...it's a free form flow of conciousness resulting from irritation and gin.

reply to post by darkbluesky


Could you provide proof that tapping AWR will produce a well 10/10? I would love to see it.

More importantly what you ARE NOT paying attention to is the premise that oil companies DO NOT need more leases if they can not manage the ones they have been given. Why do they need to CLAIM more land to explore in the future if they have not done so on 75% of what they have now?

i see your point but i think it is slightly off topic. still i am open to being PROVEN wrong.

Originally posted by AnimalThis lacking infrastructure means one thing...we need to invest in infrastruture locally.

But what kind of energy infrastructure?

Fossil Fuel Based or Alternative Based?

This is the crux of this biscuit IMHO.

What kind of "alternative based" infrastructure do you have in mind? Keep in mind it needs to provide the same amount of energy we are currently using.

I'm all for alternatives. Show me the one, or the combination of many that will replace all the oil and gas we use.

You can go ahead and say wind, solar, bio, hydro...yada yada. but the math doesn't work. The only way to get off oil, that is currently available, is nuclear.

reply to post by Animal


Thanks for bringing the subject.

This is nothing that another political move by the GOP to show their now candidate to president as the hero and to leave the leaving president with something that may look like a Saviour.

What a whole bunch of crooks

If Bush gets away with this attempt to make the majority Democrat congress open land for more oil drilling, the only ones that will benefit with extra tax payer money to finance the oil drilling endeavor will be the same oil barons that are reaping record profits with the oil prices

One more gift from Bush to his partners in crime in the oil industry all to be pay by American tax payer.

reply to post by darkbluesky


Please man, your statement is so patently false. Yes Wind, Solar, Biomass energy can play a HUGE roll in weaning the USA, or any other country, off fossil fuels. To argue that point is ridiculous.

I personally find nuclear unjustifiable based on the waste it produces. Though it is not a topic I have researched so I can not debate it.

But dismissing the 'alternative energy' sources is shameful. Especially when you consider the implications of making energy production available to the citizen , breaking down the dependence on the mass of infrastructure.

We have forgotten the old wildcatters this group of speculators will flow again in the black oil rush to set another market new way of speculations.

The land speculation. just another way to make a buck in America. at least they will use their own wealth because the markets has been so good to speculators of oil prices.

reply to post by marg6043

Bing bing bing bing!

I have been trying to figure out why this is going on with the oil leases being unused. I know my father sold the oil (mineral) rights to our land years ago for a hefty royalty agreement and plenty of restrictions on where any drilling could occur. I assume that plenty of others sold as well.

I also found out recently that the oil companies already have unused mineral rights in places where they have oil. So why are they trying to get more of what they already seem to have an abundance of? They will tell us that they need access to the cheaper oil, to oil that is better quality, etc. But I believe you hit the nail on the head marg... they want it all.

The oil companies know that the wildcatters will soon be back with oil prices increasing. This threatens their oligopoly on oil. So they need to finalize the deals so there is no more land in which to drill not under their control.

marg, you are definitely a scholar as your title says.

TheRedneck

reply to post by TheRedneck


Well thanks but actually I am just somebody that follow the markets and listen to the markets gurus when they are talking about the good, bad and ugly of what is going on in this nation.

And as for the wildcatters, they has been all over the news since Bush asked congress to lift the ban on the oil drilling.

If you have noticed the separation of wealth in this nation is growing by the minute to benefit only those that are wealthy enough to cash out on the markets opportunities and invest their own wealth of anything that will bring dividends.

Even if is a piece of land with not use at all.

Oil companies already hold millions of acres of land they have been doing this for decades until somebody will be in the white house to serve them well, like now.

reply to post by marg6043
I do the same, and while I have a grasp on what's happening in most of the oil circles, this one seemingly unexplainable issue had evaded me.

I know the oil companies are using the environmental movement as a scapegoat to continue the status quo.

I know that we do not have a oil shortage, nor do we have a fuel shortage.

I know someone somewhere is profiting off the high fuel prices, but it is not the OPEC nations, nor is it the oil companies (at least not in the arena of actual oil production).

I know speculation is responsible for a great deal of the present high prices.

I know the tax breaks given to oil companies are being used to subsidize fuel prices in other nations.

I know the Mexican border situation is directly linked to the oil we get from Mexico.

I could go on and on, but the important thing is, I now know the oil companies are not drilling because that would lower fuuel prices in the US. Instead, they are trying to completely close their stranglehold on the consumers by controlling all the oil producing land available.

You are modest, my dear, but you put the missing puzzle piece I needed on the table.

TheRedneck

Bush tried drilling into AMWAR six years ago, before the fuel "crisis" really started. Bought it up before the house twice that year, shortly after 9/11. Everyone's attention was somewhere else. Ever since then the republicans at least once or twice a year try to slip that bill past. Rumors from a top official while in Iraq circulated on the internet around that time said gas to go $4.00 a gallon.People also ignored and laughed. Only time fuel really went down was when he roamed the county taunting his war machine and actually convinced the American public to vote him in again. Now he hides with Cheney, riding it out. Don't worry, the propaganda machine is running and the Saudi's are going to "up" production. Up until now all we heard were excused every other day from OPEC why prices were on the rise. We are addicted to oil. Coming from an oil man. Come on people, if possible would you vote him in the third time? Nothing suprises me anymore.

The NON ENERGY Crisis

The USA has more crude oil and natural gas than the Middle East.

View this web site for the Rest Of The Story

www.ilm-efx.5u.com...

The Truth About Crude Oil

First Crude Oil is NOT from Dino the Dinosaur or his brothers. Logically speaking if the earth was covered with a dense primeval forest and there was a Dinosaur living in every five square mile area on the face of the earth, and all this was compressed into a sub surface space for tens of thousands of years, and produced a pool of Crude Oil, it WOULD ONLY FEED the needs of this world for the PAST twenty years, so WHAT FUELED the Industrial Age for the first EIGHTY YEARS???????????????????????????

Think about what is stated above! Science states that oil is the by product of the earths ENGINE as it rotates creating GRAVITY and super heating rock formations, that through this process release oil and this oil flows into cavities within the earth.

Now with this said, what is the reason for the excessive spike in Crude and Natural Gas prices? GREED.
In the 60’s gas sold for 35 cents a gallon, cars got 5 to 7 MPG so a 100 mile trip would take some 16 gallons at a cost of 5 dollars. Today cars get 30 miles to a gallon and that same trip would only take 3 gallons of gas at a cost of 12 dollars. Take into account the LOSS OF VALUE of the FRN and you will see that BIG OIL is KEEPING ITS bottom line HIGH as the efficiency of the engines increase.

There was a contrived oil crisis in the 70’s and there is one today. Why? It is the GREED of BIG OIL! It takes less than 20 dollars to get oil out of the ground and refined into its product and delivered. It takes from 6 months to a year for a well from the day the drill head starts the hole until it produce oil. The Russians can do it in three mounts. Today’s wells exceed 6000 barrels a day, and one off shore platform can have over 20 SLANT WELL HEADS producing oil 24 hours a day.

The United States of America is sitting on the worlds largest coal reserves; it also has more crude oil than the Middle East. Recent finds in Montana exceed what is found in Saudi Arabia, and Pennsylvania has over 3 trillion cubic feet of Natural Gas yet to be pumped into the system. Alaska has extensive reserves yet CONGRESS has for years REFUSED to allow the release of this oil, because of RED TAPE and that they are under the control of ENVIRONMENTALIST groups. These groups want all Americans to ride bikes and live as the settlers did in the 1800. Congress continues to LIE regarding the time it takes to drill a well and get the oil into the system. They state that it would be ten years before wells drilled today could produce oil. This is a BOLD FACE LIE. Congress has prohibited drilling for the past two decades, if what they say is true and if they allowed drilling decades ago we would NOT HAVE FOUR DOLLAR A GALLON GAS PRICES, and HOME HEATING OIL WOULD NOT BE OVER FOUR DOLLARS A GALLON, THAT WILL CAUSE A HEATING CRISIS THIS WINTER, and SOME AMERICAN MAY FREEZE TO DEATH FOR LACK OF HEAT. CONGRESS IS TO BLAME IF THIS OCCURS.

Today’s advances in drilling insure a protected environment. The WILD CAT wells of the early 1900 are a thing of the past.

Environmentalist claim that the exhaust of power plants create TONS of CO2, HOWEVER, CO2 is a GAS and is measured in cubic feet NOT TONS. The advance scrubbing of the exhausts prevent most hydrocarbons from being suspended in the atmosphere. Most ALL the reasons given by environmentalist are not science, but an agenda to deprive Americans of their standard of living.


For MORE INFORMATION of the Truth About Big Oil visit

www.ilm-efx.5u.com...

You Will Be Amazed, and make sure you click on the link GLOBAL WARMING and read what the ENVIRONMENTALIST do not want you to know about NON GLOBAL WARMING BY MAN.