Living Car Free - Uh oh! Possible 'Significant' U.S. Gulf Oil Find

- don't know if this could be considered comforting or catastrophic:

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,212169,00.html

Not such a big deal. It's between 1/6th and 1/2 of the us strategic reserve. It's less than 1/20th to 1/50th of Saudies reserves, so probably less than a percent of world reserves. It could supply the U.S. for 1/2 year.

What will it take to change a mindset? :/

Not such a big deal. It's between 1/6th and 1/2 of the us strategic reserve. It's less than 1/20th to 1/50th of Saudies reserves, so probably less than a percent of world reserves. It could supply the U.S. for 1/2 year.

Yep and will take 4-5 years just to get to it....all the more reason to seek alternate transportation!

Aaron:)

This is good news at a time when the U.S. desperately needs some good news about oil.

I'm also glad that gasoline prices are down. I think many families were feeling the pinch. I've been to some malls lately and I thought there were fewer shoppers than there usually are.

As others have pointed out, it won't take but about six months for the world to burn through this 15 billion barrels of oil. The petroleum problem has a demand dimension as well as a supply dimension. Both sides of the problem need solutions.

This is good news at a time when the U.S. desperately needs some good news about oil.

I'm also glad that gasoline prices are down. I think many families were feeling the pinch. I've been to some malls lately and I thought there were fewer shoppers than there usually are.


And this is bad news because...? Seriously, i'm all for higher gas prices, higher natural gas prices, malls losing business. As has been said about 10,000 times before, it's gotta get wrose before it gets better. I just wish people would look at their lives and how they operate...I know that some of them are living their current lifestyle because they simply have no choice, or their are no other means to adjust...hopefully people will see the error of their ways

Well there is oil that is inexpensive to retrieve such as that which lies under the sands of Saudi Arabia and Iran. Then there is this oil - 7000 thousand feet to the ocean floor then miles of hard rock. We won't be buying this stuff for $2.00/gallon!

Going after that ultradeep Gulf of Mexico oil might create lots of well paying technical and support jobs in the U.S. We're still good at developing new technology.

Sure, Middle East oil looks cheaper, but if you account for the military overhead I bet its real cost is around $10 a gallon.

Going after that ultradeep Gulf of Mexico oil might create lots of well paying technical and support jobs in the U.S. We're still good at developing new technology.

Sure, Middle East oil looks cheaper, but if you account for the military overhead I bet its real cost is around $10 a gallon.


This is good news at a time when the U.S. desperately needs some good news about oil.

I'm also glad that gasoline prices are down. I think many families were feeling the pinch. I've been to some malls lately and I thought there were fewer shoppers than there usually are.

As others have pointed out, it won't take but about six months for the world to burn through this 15 billion barrels of oil. The petroleum problem has a demand dimension as well as a supply dimension. Both sides of the problem need solutions.

Excellent points. It certainly won't help matters much if we tip into recession and we are close to it now. Fuel prices are up over 50% in the past 3 years, people are beginning to get the messsage on long-term fuels scarcity, and global warming is in the news constantly. I applaud all that but believe the system can only adjust so fast. Most people tend to shut down their rational thought processes and go into survival mode when the news gets too bad, so I think Platy is on the right track here. Slow but steady change in the right direction, but not so fast that we can't adapt.

Well there is oil that is inexpensive to retrieve such as that which lies under the sands of Saudi Arabia and Iran. Then there is this oil - 7000 thousand feet to the ocean floor then miles of hard rock. We won't be buying this stuff for $2.00/gallon!

We can't really count on Iran because it looks like the president is getting ready to bomb them so we'll have to take them out of the equation.

I don't think anyone can predict how this new discovery will effect the world market on oil because another natural disaster or a war with Iran could change the price of fuel dramatically.

We can't really count on Iran because it looks like the president is getting ready to bomb them so we'll have to take them out of the equation.

I don't think anyone can predict how this new discovery will effect the world market on oil because another natural disaster or a war with Iran could change the price of fuel dramatically.

Let's not forget that China has an exclusive oil deal with Iran now. If G.W. is really nuts enough
to invade Iran he may find a billion Chinese waiting to protect 'their' oil. :eek: :eek:

I seen this in the paper at the gym this morning "Major Oil Discovery In the Gulf" I was quick to cross out the major part. The people who seen my cross out agreed with me. It kind of shocked me at first. Then most of them saying how lame it was to say MAJOR and we need to find alternative energy supply's. I replied you can always ride your bike. Then I get the OMG look on their face? WTF:crash::crash:

Let's not forget that China has an exclusive oil deal with Iran now. If G.W. is really nuts enough
to invade Iran he may find a billion Chinese waiting to protect 'their' oil. :eek: :eek:
Is this correct? It would be another reason to invade Iran- to deny the Chinese their oil before their military becomes too globally strong. It would be good for Iranian and Chinese bicycling. An Iranian friend tells me the religious police wouldn't let her or any woman ride a bike in public. That might change with severe gas shortages. The Chinese too might return to bicycling if we bomb Iran's oil facilities and create a shortage for them. Maybe we should support a war on Iran as a war to promote biking and energy conservation. So what if Bush's oil patch cronies get even richer if the result is the greater good of extensive car free living.

Is this correct? It would be another reason to invade Iran- to deny the Chinese their oil before their military becomes too globally strong. It would be good for Iranian and Chinese bicycling. An Iranian friend tells me the religious police wouldn't let her or any woman ride a bike in public. That might change with severe gas shortages. The Chinese too might return to bicycling if we bomb Iran's oil facilities and create a shortage for them. Maybe we should support a war on Iran as a war to promote biking and energy conservation. So what if Bush's oil patch cronies get even richer if the result is the greater good of extensive car free living.

Iran and China already have fuel shortages, where have you been? not uncommon for many chinese to wait as much as 2 days for fuel, and Iran imports the majority of its gasoline,kerosene, and diesel plus has frequent shortages and lines.

As far as the Chinese military getting stronger globally, I doubt it will happen, they have zero intentions so far in building big capital ships and being able to export war thousands of miles, thats something the US does prettymuch by itself in the world.

As far as the Chinese military getting stronger globally, I doubt it will happen, they have zero intentions so far in building big capital ships and being able to export war thousands of miles, thats something the US does prettymuch by itself in the world.

China doesn't "need" a big navy or air force. All they have to do is re-invade Korea and fire off a few
nuke missiles to defend their interest. The could also invade Tiawan to tie up massive amount of the
U.S. military forces. The draft would happen overnight to feed the men/women to defend these allies
as we promised. The Chinese could also cripple our economy because the U.S. has no real
manufacturing capablity anymore. It all went to China!!! (thank you wal-mart)

G.W.Bush / Cheney / Rumsfield are playing very dangerous no win game that will kill millions if
it gets down to a shooting war. "They" can pound their chest all they want.....it's our kids that die
to defend their lies. :mad:

china doesnt have to fire a shot or invade anything or anyone, just dump about 20% of their dollar holdings all at once and its game over for the US, the US has been so incredibly stupid its ridiculous, the US is a paper tiger

back to the original topic, the tertiary zone of the GOM is still about 7-8 years best case scenario away from being productive, its a tiny reserve as fields go, incredibly expensive to develop, and already Chevron has set numerous world records with the oil well named "jack" just doing this-----truly heroic measures to get oil, that speaks volumes about the current situation, we should NOT be saying "cool we have some more time", we should be saying "oh sheot, this is deadly serious and we better get to work at conservation and lifestyle changes"

the US is a paper tiger


- which would be a serious underestimation by our enemies.... haven't they learned yet?

- i'm all for energy conservation and alternative sources of energy (i use much solar and 'green' tech at the homestead - in addition to cycling), but when it comes to protecting our nation - enemies beware!

[QUOTE=pedex]china doesnt have to fire a shot or invade anything or anyone, just dump about 20% of their dollar holdings all at once and its game over for the US, the US has been so incredibly stupid its ridiculous, the US is a paper tiger [QUOTE]

THIS is why the U.S. is no longer on the gold standard. All we gotta do is crank up the printing
press. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

The world runs today on "Fiat" paper money that really is worthless. :( :(

printing press is already cranked up, has been for a long long time, banking cartel has been forced to do so, there are limits to their control obviously, still, a sudden drop in the value of the dollar would crash things big time

and yes our money is indeed worthless, its at what like about 9-15 cents per dollar or so since that infamous day in 1913?

The oil companies have not exactly had a stellar record when it comes to protecting open bodies of water, and now we want to let them control a massive section of the Gulf of Mexico.

This is what we will be hearing soon:
"Get your fresh fish here, filled with Omega-3, Omega-6, and Exxon nutrients!!!"

Ah. Source is from the happy News channel. The find is nothing compared to switching US electric production from oil to solar/wind/renewables. And increasing fleet mileage by even 20%.And the oil spills will soon go undetected since the beaches of Fla and LA are soon to move inland. Soil there is too mucky for the toursists to enjoy.

- which would be a serious underestimation by our enemies.... haven't they learned yet?

- i'm all for energy conservation and alternative sources of energy (i use much solar and 'green' tech at the homestead - in addition to cycling), but when it comes to protecting our nation - enemies beware!
Now if we could only learn the distinction between "protecting our liberty" and "protecting our right to park less than 50 feet from Starbucks." Our paper money is backed by the faith and credit of the US government, which is backed largely by the military providing continued access to limitless fossil fuels. Iran is trying to open a second oil market trading in euros instead of dollars, and favoring European and Asian consumers over Americans. This is probably the real reason Bush wants to attack them.

The world runs today on "Fiat" paper money that really is worthless. :( :(
Please PM me and I can provide an address for you to mail all your worthless paper dollars and Euros. You can keep your bags of gold dust. Thank you.

According to the article, the lower-end estimate of the entire discovery is less than 1/2 a year of the current US consumption. It's a finite resource. Any discoveries will only delay the inevitable.

Last week they told us significant oil find in the gulf? This week they tell us to use less! WTF.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2006-09-13-oil-use-less_x.htm?csp=26

VIENNA (Reuters) — Some of the biggest oil companies are urging consumers to use less energy to bring down prices and slow rising global demand.
The move comes as concern grows about global warming and as the oil industry contends with limited access to new reserves and criticism from politicians for not investing enough.

"It's interesting they are saying that because very often they have not said anything on (the subject of curbing demand)," says Claude Mandil, head of the International Energy Agency.

"I fully agree with them," he told Reuters on the sidelines of an OPEC seminar on Wednesday.

Chevron, the second largest U.S. oil company, ran a two-page advertisement in Britain's Financial Times Sept. 6 encouraging consumers to use less fuel.

"A 5% reduction in global energy use would be enough to power Australia, Mexico and the entire UK," the ad said. "So what are we waiting for?"

Chevron, which says it has improved its energy efficiency 24% since 1992, is not alone among international oil firms in encouraging consumers to burn less fuel.

France's Total has advised the French government and the European Union to cool oil demand to avoid a supply crunch as production peaks and starts to decline.

Global oil production will peak around 2020, earlier than some estimates, if output growth remains at current levels, according to Total Chief Executive Thierry Desmarest.

More efficient use of energy is the cheapest and quickest way to cut greenhouse gas emissions, Mandil said.

"If we want to have a long term sustainable future, including a cap on CO2 emissions, we will need everything at our disposal," he said.

"The most important tool and the one most immediately available at least cost is energy efficiency."

All the exploration / research is writeoffable if I am not mistaken. So it looks like the oil companies are working hard to get more fuel, when really it is all a bill of goods, paid for in part by individual tax payers, 9less tax paid for by the corps). The amount of oil in this find is insignificant.

Good side is that it would mean that there was some oil we could get without killing or occuping another hostile country, and without increasing our national debt.

But look at the facts:

"Chevron on Tuesday estimated the 300-square-mile region where its test well sits could hold between 3 billion and 15 billion barrels of oil and natural gas liquids. The U.S. consumes roughly 5.7 billion barrels of crude-oil in a year."

and

"During the test, the Jack 2 well sustained a flow rate of more than 6,000 barrels of oil per day, but analysts and executives believe the payoff could be much larger than that."

This means that if there where 10,000,000,000 (10 billion) barrels there, and they could pump 10,000 barrels a day it would take 2740 years to extract. If they set up 100 platforms and they all pumped 10000 a day it would take more than a generation to pump it out. Get real. And they are not even going to start for 5 -10 years! Oil is going to be prohibitively expensive before the field matures.

I dont mind if the price of oil goes up. But it would mean that there would be more sickness, higher death rates, lower birth rates. People would spend more on gas and less on food and medical care.

Last week they told us significant oil find in the gulf? This week they tell us to use less! WTF.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/energy/2006-09-13-oil-use-less_x.htm?csp=26

VIENNA (Reuters) — Some of the biggest oil companies are urging consumers to use less energy to bring down prices and slow rising global demand.
The move comes as concern grows about global warming and as the oil industry contends with limited access to new reserves and criticism from politicians for not investing enough.

"It's interesting they are saying that because very often they have not said anything on (the subject of curbing demand)," says Claude Mandil, head of the International Energy Agency.


In a way humans are very dumb about somethings. One habit of humans is to consume rapidly
during times of plenty never thinking about time when there will be less to consume. This leads
to faminie in the commodity in question.

So it is with Oil.

Oil companies dare not tell the world that they are running our of places on the planet to "find"
new oil sources because of the panic & hoarding it will cause. This is of little matter really as
hoarding is underway now in all major countries along with the "oil wars" in the middle east.

The prize at the end of the day is the simple ability for the winners population to live a slightly
easier lifestyle just as the Romans did during the height of Rome's power when slavery was
used. Slave's = The easy life. The battle over oil is no different.

All that said....
Being car-lite / carfree is VERY smart because you postpone most of your share of consumable
oil for the future to use which ,for many, will be their own children.

Tightwad thanks,

Now I see! I have been hoarding my full 575 gallon tank of fuel oil for years. I keep the temp at 62F in the dead of winter 20F down to -40 below, with the back up ready a wood/pellet stove for those very cold days. I'm still working on some solar panels and a small wind turbine.(Money) I live on top of a 947' hill. The wind is always ragging on top here. I have the wind turbine, now to get it appoved by the local goverment.

Johnny

Tightwad thanks,

Now I see! I have been hoarding my full 575 gallon tank of fuel oil for years. I keep the temp at 62F in the dead of winter 20F down to -40 below, with the back up ready a wood/pellet stove for those very cold days. I'm still working on some solar panels and a small wind turbine.(Money) I live on top of a 947' hill. The wind is always ragging on top here. I have the wind turbine, now to get it appoved by the local goverment.

Johnny

WTF!!!! I wasn't picking at you, mate !! :eek: :eek:

WTF!!!! I wasn't picking at you, mate !! :eek: :eek:
I wasn't picking at you either.
You’re taking it the wrong way. I was simply saying I'm doing my part to to help out. I have saved (Hoarding) the fuel I have for a few years, because I live in the cold Northeast. I was just saying our car free lifestyles could go a long way or did you miss the part about my wind turbine?

Car Free forever,
Johnny

I wasn't picking at you either.
You’re taking it the wrong way. I was simply saying I'm doing my part to to help out. I have saved (Hoarding) the fuel I have for a few years, because I live in the cold Northeast. I was just saying our car free lifestyles could go a long way or did you miss the part about my wind turbine?

Car Free forever,
Johnny
Sorry, mate. Forgot my meds that day.:o :o :o

I dont mind if the price of oil goes up. But it would mean that there would be more sickness, higher death rates, lower birth rates. People would spend more on gas and less on food and medical care.


Not that i'm arguing the overall sh!tstorm that peak-oil will trigger, but birth-rates have actually dropped since oil got cheap, and will go back up if we have to resort to the purely agrarian rural lifestyle of the past. (oil gave us low mortality rates across the board, which meant more children surviving to adult hood. it also triggered the rural-urban migration which gave us less reason to have lots of children since we didn't need so many farmhands...)

Sorry, mate. Forgot my meds that day.:o :o :o


Peace I understand. We need to do more about the worlds oil consumptions as I need to do more about my own oil consumptions. I have started, I wish many more would do the same as we have done.

In the fight with you,
Johnny