U.S. to become biggest oil producer - IEA

LONDON (CNNMoney) -- The United States will overtake Saudi Arabia to become the world's biggest oil producer before 2020, and will be energy independent 10 years later, according to a new forecast by the International Energy Agency.

The U.S. is experiencing an oil boom, in large part thanks to high world prices and new technologies, including hydraulic fracking, that have made the extraction of oil and gas from shale rock commercially viable.

money.cnn.com...

Only 20%? I thought it was higher than that (although I do know US has a lot in reserves). We all the vastness of Texas alone, you think their would be enough to supply the country for the unforeseeable future!

Canada has lots of oil out West and North but most all refineries are back East. (oddly enough) . I believe we should have a pipeline East, instead of to the South; I presume Obama will approve the KeyStone early next year.

Enbridge is talking about running a pipeline out East from the Oil Sands. As well as Gateway pipeline to the West and Keystone to the South. As far as refineries go, you know that Edmonton area has a ton but we don't utilize them because that would make sense... and oil company logic doesn't always make sense.

As far as the USA becoming the top world oil producer, I highly doubt it, why rape their own land and use then own resources when they can just buy Canadian resources for cheap and then sell them back to us at double cost. But, if the article turns out to be true, then good. Canada can maybe start to retain some of our own natural resources (or just let China buy them all up)

Aye, the worlds largest producer of Shale, simply because other countries are not desperate nor stupid enough to go with everything thats associated with it. The UK has started it though, despite having the North Sea at there disposal. Times are tough it seems to be.

reply to post by CALGARIAN


S & F

It seems it wont be just the US but the "Americas" as well will eventually fuel the world. I posted this article last year and at the time many felt it was doubtful it would come to pass. Thanks for the update.

The Americas, Not the Middle East, Will Be the World Capital of Energy

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/11b811ae98d0.jpg[/atsimg]
But since the early 2000s, the energy industry has largely solved that problem. With the help of horizontal drilling and other innovations, shale gas production in the United States has skyrocketed from virtually nothing to 15 to 20 percent of the U.S. natural gas supply in less than a decade. By 2040, it could account for more than half of it. This tremendous change in volume has turned the conversation in the U.S. natural gas industry on its head; where Americans once fretted about meeting the country's natural gas needs, they now worry about finding potential buyers for the country's surplus.

Meanwhile, onshore oil production in the United States, condemned to predictions of inexorable decline by analysts for two decades, is about to stage an unexpected comeback. Oil production from shale rock, a technically complex process of squeezing hydrocarbons from sedimentary deposits, is just beginning. But analysts are predicting production of as much as 1.5 million barrels a day in the next few years from resources beneath the Great Plains and Texas alone -- the equivalent of 8 percent of current U.S. oil consumption. The development raises the question of what else the U.S. energy industry might accomplish if prices remain high and technology continues to advance. Rising recovery rates from old wells, for example, could also stem previous declines. On top of all this, analysts expect an additional 1 to 2 million barrels a day from the Gulf of Mexico now that drilling is resuming. Peak oil? Not anytime soon.

reply to post by CALGARIAN

Well sure it will be.

After its done conquering the rest of the oil rich nations and making them honorary "territories".

At the rate we are destroying the atmosphere with internal combustion emissions I would like to think that at some point in that 30 years, the demand for oil will be only 20% of what it is now. Primarily because we will, hopefully, have made tremendous progress in cleaner energy.

is that prediction before or after we ruin all of our drinking water through fracking? and for that matter where will all this oil be refined, in the aging few refineries we have left, or in the new ones not being built or planned?

oh and what about the oil continuously leaking into the gulf of Mexico, are they just going to forget about that or do they plan on fixing that mess before we create 10 more like it?

hell it's all just a game anyway, may as well let them talk of 2020 and their greed driven expectational pipe dreams.

The America's do have a positive outlook with regards to oil reserves.

Technology certainly has helped in improving efficiency in exploration and extraction. Most notably in the Bakken shale in North Dakota/Saskatchewan and the eagle ford shale in Texas. Additionally the recent discovery of the deposit on the coast line of Newfoundland will assist in our energy independence.

I think it is fair to assume that this will be a North American effort (eg. Canada, U.S. and Mexico) and no individual nation on their own.

I hope that our energy resource stays domestic, instead of overseas.

Originally posted by MDDoxs
I think it is fair to assume that this will be a North American effort (eg. Canada, U.S. and Mexico) and no individual nation on their own.

Careful or you may get accused of supporting a "North American Union"

I hope that our energy resource stays domestic, instead of overseas.

I'd like to see Earth kick it's fossil fuel addiction altogether personally.

Natural gas can lower greenhouse gas emissions, so it's a plus.

But the key thing to note is that the move to alternatives isn't driven by price alone. IF it were, there'd be no contest and we'd drill for oil and burn coal until it was all gone. There's an increasing lobby or population of consumers that're paying more for cleaner energy and this is changing the markets. If fossil fuels want to compete with this crowd then they must lower ghg emissions.

It defies logic that people would pay more, but not really, if you research it. People are concerned that greenhouse gas emissions are warming the planet and costing us in the long run. This is what drives the shift towards greener technologies. It's abundantly clear that this is happening.

My point is to say that cheap (dirty) energy is not as economic as it was in the past. Certainly, investing in fossil fuels is a good bet, but what about 40 years from now? The market is changing.

If I was an undergraduate young man or woman and was pursuing this line of work, I'd definitely go into alternatives since I think it's a growing market. Small, but growing! While this may be true for fossil fuels, I think it's true for different reasons. More a throwback to the past, not the future.

Look at people like Al Gore as your spokesperson, but except you don't pay him! Free! A lot of the lobby is self-sustaining, so as a alternative energy businessperson, you can rely on it.

It's interesting to contemplate how the fossil fuel industry will adjust. A think that greener fossil fuel is a great choice if it's cost effective. It's a way to diversify the business.

reply to post by SLAYER69

Careful or you may get accused of supporting a "North American Union"

When it comes to oil and gas, the industry transcends borders or nations. It's a North American effort geographically speaking.

I'd like to see Earth kick it's fossil fuel addiction altogether personally.

Not going to argue with you there to much, though such a prospect would hurt the industry I am in.

Need less to say alternative energy sources will need to be developed and implemented, if they are not so already


The main problem, in which my industry relies on, is the fact that so much of our modern infrastructure is based upon this black substance.

It's one things to promote the idea of clean, alternative energy, to implement it is a whole different story. It will happen eventually, but not for a very long time.

Fracking?

I do not buy the US becoming the biggest oil producer considering the EPA and all the environmentalists.

Hell there are tons of threads on ATS saying how evil fracking is, and that oil and nat gas mostly is exporting.

And if oil is such a boom why for the last 4 years have people been paying so much at the pumps?

Someone is trying to sell some snake oil here, and it also means more record profits to those evil oil cartels.

reply to post by neo96




More oil doesn't mean less at the pumps it means there will be more oil to pay high prices for a longer period of time...

reply to post by neo96

And if oil is such a boom why for the last 4 years have people been paying so much at the pumps?

Price per barrel of crude is determined via international markets, specificallty the futures market and not what is produced domestically.

Developments in technology, both in extraction and exploration have helped pacify some of the environmental critics, but your points are valid ones.

reply to post by MDDoxs


I know how the price at the pump is determined and supply meaning being the biggest producer is nothing to write home about.

just means more exported.

Originally posted by neo96
reply to post by MDDoxs

 

I know how the price at the pump is determined and supply meaning being the biggest producer is nothing to write home about.

just means more exported.

Then why ask?

The more sources we are able to domestically develop the more secure and less influenced by international occurrences we will be. This has a stabilizing effect on the economy is some respects, so thats a plus in my view.

You may be right that the phrase “biggest producer” really does not indicate much, besides the sense of domestic energy security.

reply to post by MDDoxs

The more sources we are able to domestically develop the more secure and less influenced by international occurrences we will be.

That is just sad people believe that instead of securing the supply same thing will be happening to secure the market.

Geez.

reply to post by neo96


Pardon?

I just said price is determined by international future markets, did you not read that post? I thought you said you knew how these prices where determined?

It has a stabilizing effect, it does not secure it outright. You know how the market works right? Consumer confidence and such?

reply to post by MDDoxs


Yeah the global market for crude determines the price of oil supply has jack to do with it.

if anything it means more manipulation of the price of crude.

reply to post by neo96


Neo, your being short sighted and only thinking about the here and now. Do you know how market futures work? If not take a look, its a weird way of doing trade.

You are correct to state that the current oil supply's do not effect current prices, however they do effect the futures market.

I do not mean this to be condescending, but read up on the futures market and its relation to Oil. Quite a complex web.