Big Oil launches counteroffensive
With all the attention being paid to alternative fuels, it is not surprising that Big Oil should launch a PR counteroffensive. The American Petroleum Institute (API), advertising itself as "the People of America's Oil and Natural Gas Industry," is running a new TV ad, Delivering America's Energy Security, which can be viewed at their website at energytomorrow.com. Their contention is that there is still so much oil under America that we can achieve energy independence without getting off oil for a long time. According to API, there are "112 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil beneath U.S. federal lands and coastal waters. That's enough oil to fuel 60 million cars for 60 years." Unfortunately, we already seem to have about 250,000,000 passenger vehicles in the U.S. And perhaps we don't have 60 years to reverse the effects of 100 years of gasoline-powered internal combustion. [Source: American Petroleum Institute]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Tim 2:23PM (4/12/2008)
When the beast is wounded and cornered it has no choice but to lash out and fight to the death. This beast’s weapons are campaign contributions (bribes), half-truths and lies.
Kill the beast quickly and put it out of our misery. DEATH TO OIL!!!
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EVan 2:41PM (4/12/2008)
The videos following the link aren't really misleading at all. The world will be demanding more and more fossil fuels for decades to come. Granted we should all DO OUR PART to make sure that we don't become part of the problem.
Just as the video states, the main reason for increased gas prices is that global demand has finally reached the level of supply. This is why OPEC is no longer able to hold back on supply to artificially inflate prices, they're selling as much as they can pump.
The profit being generated by American oil companies is assiociated with their ability to be the best in a very competitive industry. Here is one business sector where American companies compete very well. To punish them for being successful and significantly contributing to America's bottom line would be akin to Japan punishing Toyota for doing the same. Unlike what many people think the profits of companies in the oil sector fall right in line with other successful companies in other sectors.
As for those people that think American energy independence soley dependent on fossil fuels is impossible consider the fact that the United States is the No. 2 oil producer in the world. (Yes, greater than Iran, Iraq, Norway, Russia, etc... everyone but Saudi Arabia) On top of that we haven't even begun to develop the massive amount of oil shale and tar sands that lay beneath domestic soil.
How much are we talking about? http://www.blm.gov/wo/st/en/prog/energy/oilshale_2.html 1.23 Trillion barrels of oil out of oil shale alone, the most of any country. Add to that the 1.75 Trillion barrels of oil that are contained in Canada's tar sands. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tar_sands At the current rate of consumption it would the Unites States and Canada, collectively, 353 years to run out of fossil fuel due to oil shale and tar sands alone. Not to mention our further reserves of oil and most of all coal.
Long story short. The oil companies aren't evil liars out to hoodwink the population, they are just very successful businesses supplying an overwhelming demand. The solution lies in curbing that DEMAND not punishing the suppliers.
But most people are stupid and either vengeful or jealous of success so we'll probably end up punishing our own companies while we allow oil producers from China, India, and the OPEC nations to increase their market share.
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Mark 2:57PM (4/12/2008)
Surprise, surprise. OPEC and its puppets will do anything to keep us on oil and on the track to financial collapse.
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snakesausage 3:52PM (4/12/2008)
Well said Evan.
It is not "them" is us that is the problem.
I have the same issue when people complain about "The Gobment'" when THE PEOPLE are the government in the US. If you do not like it get off your ass and DO something and quit complaining.
I bought a 40mpg car last year to do my part, I would rather have a plug-in hybrid but this was the best option for efficiency that is easily obtainable.
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stevefazek 3:59PM (4/12/2008)
What disturbs me is that we have a ton of oil off the florida straight, We own 50% of it cuba owns the other half. What we are allowing is letting cuba sell 100% to the chinese
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Tim 5:08PM (4/12/2008)
snakesausage, If you really believe that those elected elitists (the only ones who can afford to campaign) represent “We, The People” in any way, you have are either young and lack experience, or you have been living under a rock.
Those traitors who are feathering their own nests with our sweat and blood tax money only represent the special interests that paid for their campaigns and their powerful "friends".
It’s time that you wake up, grow up and Read the ENTIRE US Constitution which they all swore to honor and defend. Pay close attention to the 10th Amendment which they all totally ignore so they can better pillage our tax money.
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meme 5:48PM (4/12/2008)
112 billion clearly isn't including:
* The Bakken (several hundred billions, perhaps 50% recoverable)
* CO2 injection (a hundred to several hundred billion barrels)
* Coal liquefaction (several trillion barrels)
* Oil shale (several trillion barrels)
* Biomass to gasoline (many processes)
* Reservoir fracturing, steam injection, solvent injection, and all sorts of enhanced recovery techniques.
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Lad 5:30PM (4/12/2008)
People: Ask yourself what the lobbying and coordinating firm for the oil company, the API, is trying to accomplish with this huge PR campaign? And, the answer is: business as usual and continued control of the country's energy market by the API's clients, the oil companies. They want to continue with the subsides and continue buying off our politicians with campaign contributions and favors. They want to continue suppressing battery research and battery cars by buying up the patents, they will buy anyone and do whatever is necessary to continue controlling our energy. The recent decision by California's CARB to delay electric zevs when they bought off a member of the board, a Cal Davis professor with grant money, is a good example of the extent they will go. And you know what? You're a sucker if you fall for the PR.
We have a chance to break not only our dependence on foreign oil but also we can break our dependence on fossil fuels in general. There are a number of things you can do right now to start moving off oil: You can stop buying cars powered by only internal combustion engines and force the car companies into alternatives like electric drive. I think we all realize it will take some time to rid ourselves of the internal combustion engine and that it won't happen overnight; buying a hybrid, plug in hybrid or battery car is a good start in the right direction. The API hates this so that alone is a good recommendation to buy one.
I believe the future and security of this country continues to be jeopardized by our dependence on oil, coal and gas. Indeed we have fought wars based on our need for oil. We should have learned by now the single best source of energy for the whole planet is the sun and the best form of transportation propulsion is the electric motor. Instead of continuing to hunt for fossil fuel, let's start funding solar power generation and storage and start encouraging the electric car market.
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BlackbirdHighway 5:52PM (4/12/2008)
Yes, there is lots of recoverable oil in the US. So, why isn't gas under $1 a gallon? Because most of the oil that is cheap and easy to recover has already been found and pumped out. The stuff that remains is progressively harder and more expensive to get. That is what Peak Oil is all about. Many people think it means we are running out of oil. That is absolutely not the case. We are however, running out of cheap and easy oil. We have to drill in more remote areas, further out to sea, deeper in the ground, we have to use heavy-sour instead light-sweet crude, We have to process tar sands and shale. The Bakken Formation alone may hold as much as 500 billion barrels, but the rock has very low permeability, so it may be next to impossible to get it out.
All of this means we should start working on alternatives, and people are doing that: ethanol, biodiesel, battery electrics, and hydrogen, even compressed air. I have my own ideas about which of those make sense, but over time the best technologies will prevail, unless interfered with by the government/oil industry.
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texmln 6:49PM (4/12/2008)
What are you Commies crying about Big Oil for? Do you even realize that the Big Oil you are complaining about are PUBLIC companies? That the huge profits that so disgust you belong to the shareholders - which means you and me? Don't think you own Exxon? You probably do and don't even know it. If you have a 401k, a pension plan, an IRA - any mutual fund - you likely own some piece of Big Oil equity or debt. Hate Exxon? Would you prefer Saudi Aramco, Saudi state oil company? How about Pemex, the Mexican state oil company? Maybe PDVSA, the Venezuelan state oil company would suit you. I assure you that any one of them will give you a whole new reference point for your definition of corruption, graft, and inefficiency in the oil industry, as will nearly every other state-owned operation.
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Lad 7:15PM (4/12/2008)
Whether the oil company is public or private has nothing to do with predatory practices; the tobacco companies were stock companies and they lied and cheated even before Congress...it's all about how the company officials view ethics and their ways to meet their ends.
I would like nothing more than to see the oil companies use their billions to help develop alternatives to oil, coal and gas. However, they are more about greed, control of the market and energy turf battles than helping the American people achieve energy independence and a secure homeland. They are introducing additional problems rather helping to solve the ones we already have identified.
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Chris M 8:44PM (4/12/2008)
Given the figures the oil company had for reserves (enough for 60 million cars for 60 years) and the 250 million cars actually on the road, that means just over 14 years worth.
I'm not complaining that the oil companies made a profit, or even the amount of profit. It's the way they went about making that profit that stinks.
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A.Brien 8:56PM (4/12/2008)
Remember that these peoples are big afraids of a lot of rock and rolls stars but fortanously for them the stars don't know how to count.
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Owen 9:46PM (4/12/2008)
Texmln, BlackBirdHighway, you folks are spot on. These people are business owners, ones that
A) Are in the right business at the right time and B) Have made some saavy decisions.
The most saavy decision was to make their product a commodity such that investors can "bid" on it.
Let's say you start a company making batteries for EVs, you get grants and tax breaks galore for helping save the environment and pushing future technologies which help you to make better batteries and lower costs. You get the great idea to take your company public and allow investors to buy your batteries at the current market value. Suddenly everyone wants electric cars, your business skyrockets and demand is pushed beyond your ability to produce. Then price escalates to match. With Big Oil, the grants and tax breaks galore were taken back long ago, the only remaining tax breaks that are there are the ones that every big business gets. The ones that they get for having employees, pensions and health benefits.
The other issue is that Oil is purchased in US dollars. As the value of the dollar sinks in our crappy economy, the world continues to pay the same amount in their currency, but since 8 years ago a Euro was $.90 and today it's 1.58, if they were buying a barrel of oil before for 61 Euro ($55), then today they are buying it for 61 Euro ($86). Now there have been some supply and speculative buying that affect things as well, but that's the majority of it right there folks. The speculators are not under the influence of big oil, they are under the influence of greed, and to date it has paid off for them. If you want to go after someone, go after them.
Lastly, Tim, do you vote? Then yes, you have the ability to vote for someone who is not the big ticket, take note when you go to the polls, there are other options besides D and R. It's just that people are so pig-headedly bipartisan in this country that they (we the people) continue to vote that way because they act like it's their favorite team and they've always rooted for them, and they always will. Just so happens the 2 most popular teams have the deepest pockets because people believe whatever they are told. Watch Idiocracy then tell me it's not true. Sadly the elected elitists that somehow we keep voting into our house and congress keep on lining their own pockets and pushing their own personal agenda.
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Owen 9:50PM (4/12/2008)
Additionally, I should comment that I agree that the biggest problem is that greed and lazyness has prevented us from using our own sources of oil and instead forced us to go after the "easy" sources. Perhaps at $110 a gallon, those other technologies will become feasable and the technologies will come online, allowing us to become energy independent until the whole hydrogen/electron economy infrastructure is completed.
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TX CHL Instructor 10:25PM (4/12/2008)
"Indeed we have fought wars based on our need for oil." -- Lad
If you are talking about Iraq, you might note that it would have been cheaper just to buy all the oil they could produce for $500/bbl.
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Chris M 10:46PM (4/12/2008)
Went through the Petroleum Industries "energytomorrow" site, it was confident that consumption of oil will continue to increase, at least until 2030 when the Hydrogen Economy that they control will take over. Oil for generations to come, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood robber barons...
Of course, it was a highly biased site, favoring fuels that the oil companies control. One section covered "future fuels", it was ecstatic about hydrogen, they like biofuels they can resell but figure it will only be a small market. They also covered "gas-to-liquid" conversion, and synthetic fuels from coal. Electricity was barely mentioned, mainly in sections concerned with conventional hybrids and cogeneration. Battery electric cars were only mentioned in disparaging terms as "failures", "too expensive", "short range" and "slow charging". Curiously, there was absolutely no mention of "plug-in hybrids", or "LiIon batteries" or "Lithium" or "Tesla Motors" or "A123" or "Altairnano" or "GM Volt" or "MiEV" or "Aptera"... Get the pattern?
Plug-ins scares the oil companies silly, it is the one technology that can seriously erode their market share and cut into their profit margin. The oil companies don't object to a little conservation, they can always jack up the price to compensate, and selling less fuel at higher prices can lead to bigger profits. But with plug-ins, they can't jack up prices without consumption (and profits) rapidly dropping towards zero.
I'm glad the Future is Electric.
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Devin Serpa 1:30AM (4/13/2008)
Hmm saw the commercial, very inspiring for us as Americans to use our own resources, uh one question though, what happens after that 60 years? Oh right who cares! I love big energy!
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EVan 2:04AM (4/13/2008)
@ Chris M #17
I agree plug-ins are definitely the intelligent, economical, and environmental way to go.
It's rare that a solution is both economically smart and environmentally friendly. Let's hope the electrification of the car takes place with as much needed assistance as possible.
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meme 2:31AM (4/13/2008)
"That is what Peak Oil is all about. Many people think it means we are running out of oil. That is absolutely not the case. We are however, running out of cheap and easy oil. We have to drill in more remote areas, further out to sea, deeper in the ground, we have to use heavy-sour instead light-sweet crude, We have to process tar sands and shale. The Bakken Formation alone may hold as much as 500 billion barrels, but the rock has very low permeability, so it may be next to impossible to get it out."
You do realize that all of the above techs are not just effective with current prices, but are actually very profitable with current prices, right? Even the highest estimates for price to recover a barrel of oil from shale is $40. The only reason everyone's not jumping on them is because there's no guarantee that prices will remain this high by the time they come online, so if it's oil that costs $40/barrel to produce compared with oil that costs $10/barrel, the companies that invested in the $40/barrel tech are going to lose a fortune. As for the Bakken, that's what horizontal drilling is for. Google "Elm Coulee" -- an incredibly successful oilfield that uses horizontal drilling in the Bakken.
Note that I only covered US oil, and didn't go into offshore. I'd gladly expand my list if you wanted.
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