Reply #52: this sounds good in theory, but it's true only by a very slight amount, for several reasons.

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first, the price of oil is far more sensitive to changes in demand than it is to changes in supply. adding supply only causes a relatively small price drop.

second, the amount of oil we're talking about from additional off-shore drilling is itself small compared to the world supply, so the expected initial price drop would be small anyway.

third, the price of oil is hardly free from manipulation, most obviously by opec. opec would very likely respond to a price drop by cutting back on its own supply in order to keep any price drop small.


so the only real advantage is shifting the business from opec countries to america corporations.


and long-term, of course, this is CONTRARY to our national and economic security. there's only so much oil left, and if we use it NOW it's not there LATER when we will need it EVEN MORE THAN WE DO NOW. if we encourage the saudis to cut back on production, that means the saudis will have all the more later when we run out.