Oil companies salivating over U.S. reserves

[G_j]

Source: Bloomberg News

Oil companies salivating over U.S. reserves

Joe Carroll
Bloomberg News
May. 29, 2007 12:00 AM

Colorado and Utah have as much oil as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Nigeria, Kuwait, Libya, Angola, Algeria, Indonesia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates combined. Trapped in limestone up to 200 feet thick in the two Rocky Mountain states is enough so-called shale oil to rival OPEC and supply the United States for a century.

Exxon Mobil and Chevron, the two biggest U.S. energy companies, and Royal Dutch Shell Plc are spending $100 million a year testing methods to separate the oil from the stone for as little as $30 a barrel. A growing number of industry executives and analysts say new technology and persistently high prices make the idea feasible.

"The breakthrough is that now the oil companies have a way of getting this oil out of the ground without the massive energy and manpower costs that killed these projects in the 1970s," said Pete Stark, analyst at IHS Inc., an Englewood, Colo., research firm. "All the shale rocks in the world are going to be revisited now to see how much oil they contain." advertisement

The U.S. imports two-thirds of its oil, spending $300 billion a year, or 40 percent of the record trade deficit. Every $10 increase in a barrel of crude costs an American household $700 a year, according to Rand Corp., founded in 1946 to provide research for the U.S. military. Oil prices have risen 63 percent since 2004 and higher fuel costs have slowed growth in the world's largest economy to the lowest in four years.


Read more: http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/business/articles/0529biz-shale0529.html

[Miss Chybil]

1. I guess I can buy that Hummer now.

/sarcasm

[lakeguy]

2. sure, at a cost of $200 per barrel...

that's if we believe big oil and their claims. plus, the water needs and environmental damage will be extreme...but they don't count those costs because we'll be paying those with our taxes and lives.

[liberal N proud]

10. And destruction of the environment

These rocks are under some of the most pristine country in the nation if not the world. Some of these areas border Yellowstone and other national treasures.
But if the bu$h regime has a chance they will destroy these areas just to provide some additional profits to their oil buddies.

[keopeli]

3. OMG! Now they want to gut the Rocky Mts! Wow - these oil barons have huge cajones! n/t

[yurbud]

21. they already do that for gravel--I saw a mountain mowed down in Colorado Springs

I used to go out there every year or two, and one time, in place of the random jagged edge of one mountain, there was a a straight diagonal line. I was pretty far away too, so they had taken a lot.

Maybe some people had just moved there from the plains states, and the mountains made them uncomfortable.

[okoboji]

4. well ... what are we waiting for?

get in there and bull doze Pikes Peak and Estes Park in the name of $30 a barrel!

[Selatius]

5. Yes, let's put off mass transit, solar power, wind power, and other innovations for another 100 yrs.

We can sit and think about it some more while oceans rise.

[Vinca]

13. Solar, wind, etc. don't cost $3.30 a gallon and money trumps all. nt

[cynatnite]

6. They're doing it because they think the price of oil will remain high...

if it's below $40 a barrel, it's not affordable. My grandfather worked for an oil supply company for years. He told me this years ago and also said they'd have to resort to open pit mining.

This will not lower prices.

[Screwfly]

7. Great

the oil companies are going to ruin some of the prettiest land on earth, and sell the oil on the world market to the highest bidder while American get stuck with a new, gigantic toxic waste pit like the nuclear test area in Nevada.

[dipsydoodle]

8. I might be wrong

but doesn't extraction of shale oil use an awful lot of water ? x(

[hatrack]

12. Don't worry! They'll just siphon it out of the Colorado River, and . . .

Oh. Sorry. Never mind!

[dipsydoodle]

14. Thought that might be the case

so the result would be the same as in Canada. I found this : http://energybulletin.net/22348.html

[dysfunctional press]

19. maybe they could ship the shale to greenland for processing...

they're getting more and more water up there every day...

[EST]

9. So, wonderful!

Now, where ya' gonna get the water and other needed chemicals to extract it with and where are we going to get the oxygen to burn it with to turn it into CO₂ and CO?
And what are we going to do with that stuff?

[hatrack]

11. Christ, "Oil" Shale again.

What is this, the third or fourth time around?

My favorite stat - if the oil companies wanted to fully exploit the Green River Formation, it would require duplicating the entire electrical generating capacity of the state of Colorado.

[4dsc]

17. yes, its the "shale oil" scam again

what really gets me is that most American will believe we have this much oil{shale oil is not really oil}.

[Le Taz Hot]

15. Because

stealing the U.S. treasury wasn't quite enough for them.

[Doctor_J]

16. Are they going to blow the tops off the Rockies?

they will make for excellent viewing. "Leave no natural resource unruined"

[DURHAM D]

18. Key comment "If the theories prove out ..."

A quote from an oilman - great. We have two of them running the country. Only time they aren't blowing smoke up our collective a** is when they are sleeping.

[bamacrat]

20. This could be a good thing..

If we do have that much it could really help us get off foriegn oil. But what we need to do is start converting out powerplants, office buildings, and homes to run without oil of any type, perhaps on solar or wind energy. THe latter of which seems the most duh idea there is, especially given the amount of uninhabitted plains land we have. Also huge solar fields could help power millions of homes. If we can do that then we could keep the gas around and still cut emissions.

[BushOut06]

25. No, it is NOT a good thing

For one thing, they would have to get this stuff out of the ground - a process that would ruin the local environments. Secondly, you would have to build new refineries to process it. Where are these refineries going to go? They'll most likely want to refine it near the source, which means destroying MORE pristine mountain environment. Finally, this would only hamper efforts to develop environmentally friendly energy sources. If we figure out a way to get all the oil we need domestically, then why bother developing hydrogen-fuel cars, or other alternative energy sources?

Say NO to drilling in Alaska
Say NO to drilling in the Gulf
Say NO to drilling in the Rockies
Say NO to new drilling in the US, period.

[Lochloosa]

22. Just so everyone understands what Oil Shale Mining is....Pic

And yes, those are trucks....

[ohio2007]

23. They wouldn't have dug that deep if there wasn't a buck or two profit already

Last time the governor of Colorado was quoted about the benefits of shale oil over OPEC oil....
...for some strange reason....
the price of brent dropped. In fact, it dropped to as low as $50 bbl not even five months ago.

Maybe this shale oil story will get so played in the MSM than history will repeat

[Nihil]

26. So I guess that makes it OK then?

Everything is just fine & dandy as long as there's a buck or two
of profit in it?

:eyes:

[BushOut06]

24. We do NOT need more oil reserves - stop this insanity now

We should not allow Big Oil to rape our natural resources simply so they can fatten their corporate profits.