The addict's choice
http://www.globalpublicmedia.com/articles/388
Congressman Bartlett said, "America has only 2 percent of the world's known oil reserves," noted Congressman Bartlett. "We produce 8 percent and consume 25 percent of the oil produced worldwide and import 2/3 of the oil we use. We imported 1/3 at the time of the Arab Oil embargo. Oil production in the U.S. peaked in 1970 and has declined every year since then. Alaska and Gulf of Mexico oil slowed, but haven't and can't changed that trend. Energy experts agree that America can never produce enough oil domestically to meet our current or future demand."
Overall astounding numbers by my reckoning. One fact he misses is how much oil we've already produced. Well, once source shows the U.S. (48) has produced (extracted) something over 170 Bbbl of oil since discovery, with something like 20BBbl left.
So apparently besides some deepwater oil and Alaska we've cleaned out 90% of the oil we're ever going to extract.
Back to Bartlett's numbers we're producing oil 4 times faster than the world's average, which means our last drops will be consumed four times sooner than average.
Meanwhile we have to import 2/3 of our consumption, and this number must grow year after year since domestic production must decrease, and no one predicts domestic oil consumption will decrease.
I'm on the side of OPEC in the sense that production ought to be controlled to create the highest possible long term profits. Afterall once its gone, it's gone and no more economy for many producers unless they invest their profits well.
So our best long term interest is to SLOW our production and import MORE, but this puts us at risk if imports dry up, so the safer choice is to produce locally full-out, and hope something better comes along when we can't do this any more.
The choices are not good, and we ought to be worried. In our more sober moments we ought to conserve. We ought to tax consumption and make alternatives more competitive. But when we have the keys to the liquor cabinette, we can't trust ourselves to say no when we ought.
At least individually we might see our problem and change our decisions in small ways, but we're still stuck waiting, hoping for something better to come along.
Congressman Bartlett said, "America has only 2 percent of the world's known oil reserves," noted Congressman Bartlett. "We produce 8 percent and consume 25 percent of the oil produced worldwide and import 2/3 of the oil we use. We imported 1/3 at the time of the Arab Oil embargo. Oil production in the U.S. peaked in 1970 and has declined every year since then. Alaska and Gulf of Mexico oil slowed, but haven't and can't changed that trend. Energy experts agree that America can never produce enough oil domestically to meet our current or future demand."
Overall astounding numbers by my reckoning. One fact he misses is how much oil we've already produced. Well, once source shows the U.S. (48) has produced (extracted) something over 170 Bbbl of oil since discovery, with something like 20BBbl left.
So apparently besides some deepwater oil and Alaska we've cleaned out 90% of the oil we're ever going to extract.
Back to Bartlett's numbers we're producing oil 4 times faster than the world's average, which means our last drops will be consumed four times sooner than average.
Meanwhile we have to import 2/3 of our consumption, and this number must grow year after year since domestic production must decrease, and no one predicts domestic oil consumption will decrease.
I'm on the side of OPEC in the sense that production ought to be controlled to create the highest possible long term profits. Afterall once its gone, it's gone and no more economy for many producers unless they invest their profits well.
So our best long term interest is to SLOW our production and import MORE, but this puts us at risk if imports dry up, so the safer choice is to produce locally full-out, and hope something better comes along when we can't do this any more.
The choices are not good, and we ought to be worried. In our more sober moments we ought to conserve. We ought to tax consumption and make alternatives more competitive. But when we have the keys to the liquor cabinette, we can't trust ourselves to say no when we ought.
At least individually we might see our problem and change our decisions in small ways, but we're still stuck waiting, hoping for something better to come along.
posted by Ares Olympus at 11:55 AM
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