Weaning the U.S. off foreign oil, particularly oil form the Mideast, has long been a goal of some American presidents, from Richard Nixon to the current U.S. president, Barack Obama, who may well be the last one who has to resort to weaning tactics.
There are a number of actions these presidents have taken which have failed to achieve oil independence. For example, they have:
- Ignored economics, preferring to follow the environmental flavor of the day
- Lowered highway speed limits
- Imposed mileage standards
- Turned down thermostats
- Subsidized electric and hydrogen-fuelled vehicles
- Provided subsidies for all types of alternative energy sources, from ethanol to solar and wind energy
The American people did not follow the lead and continued to use their energy source of preference - oil - and most likely will do so for the next several years.
One of the few actions which subsequent U.S. presidents did not take was to aggressively deregulate oil and gas development, both on and offshore. The Republican dream, often expressed in the call "drill, baby, drill” will become the mantra of tomorrow, if predictions of de-regulation of driiling hold true. .
What is the Answer to this Energy Dilemma?
According to columnist Lawrence Solomon, (Financial Post, "Liberate U.S. Oil," Lawrence Solomon, June 30, 2011) " there is ample evidence that the U.S. has the resources to become independent of oil from other countries, especially foreign countires whose politics do not jibe with those of the U.S., or most other western nations."
Six million barrels per day are imported into the U.S. from OPEC countries, out of the total of 9.2 million barrels per day that the U. S. imports. With the right federal and state energy policies, approximately half of those OPEC imports (about three million barrels per day), could be eliminated over the next ten years, using current U.S. oil industry production plans.
Daniel Yergin, chairman of Information Handling Services Cambridge Energy Research Associates (IHS CERA), one the world's most respected energy authorities, ommenting on U.S. reserves in a recent interview with the New York Times, noted that "this is very big and it’s coming on very fast, This is like adding another Venezuela or Kuwait by 2020, except these tight oil fields are in the United States.”
The U.S. Oil Revolution is Underway
There is already an oil revolution underway, and if the environmentalists ever get hold of what's happening, they may just shift their anti-oil actions away from the Keystone pipeline towards these newly discoverd sources of U.S. oil.
Despite regulatory delays from government bodies, new oil recovery technologies are obtaining oil from shale and other so-called “tight rock” formations. There are sevral major activities going on across the U.S. For example, at the giant Eagle Ford field in south Texas, an oil field which was entirely unknown until recently, 100,000 barrels a day are being produced. Another company, Chesapeake Energy, expects to hit 500,000 barrels a day by 2020 from the 3,000 wells it’s planning to drill.
The potential for new sources of oil attracts big investments from foreign companies as well as U.S firms. Chinese, European and Canadian oil multinationals are investing billions of dollars to drill wells by the thousands in the Eagle Ford oilfield.
A recent Rasmussen poll reported that a striking 75 percent of American voters want more oil and gas drilling in the U.S., and the percentage is higher still among Republicans and independents.
Offshore Drilling Ban Opposed
Many Americans favor offshore drilling and oppose Obama’s ban on offshore drilling in parts of the Gulf of Mexico and off the East Coast: In fact, according to recent surveys, 67 percent of American voters favor offshore drilling and deep-water drilling is supported by 59 perecnt. At the same time, fewer Americans are putting the balme for global warming on the human race, as the credibility of environmentalists declines.
The U.S. has the capability to achieve energy security, whenever it gets up the political will. The Eagle Ford shale bed is only one of 20 hot new shale oil fields in the U.S., and it is not even the largest. Another, larger shale oil field, the Bakken oil field in North Dakota, has been known for a long time, but considered uneconomic until recently. Currently, it is producing 400,000 barrels a day and is expected to reach one million barrels a day by 2020.
Still another large shale formation, which spans the states of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, is the Green River formation, which contains some six trillion barrels of oil. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that approximately 1.38 trillion barrels of this oil reserve - about the equivalent of five Saudi Arabias - are potentially recoverable.
New Technologies Can Recover Shale Oil
Some enrgy observers believe that the U.S. does not even need oil from shale and tight rock to eliminate dependence on OPEC. The U.S. government’s Congressional Research Service has reported that America’s federal lands contain an estimated 163 billion barrels of technically recoverable conventional oil, which would replace all Persian Gulf imports while maintaining current rates of U.S production.
Will These Bans Disappear?
Damage from major oil spills has been a major factor in the U.S. administration's reluctance to 'open the oil flood gates,' and allow drilling to resume in some of these oil fields which hold vast reserves of black gold.
The fall-out from the BP Gulf oil spill last year demonstrated to the oil industry and the government the need for significantly improved regulations and much more secure protection against spills, by companies in the business of drilling. transportation, and refining of oil. Fortunately, one year after the blowout the damage appears to be less serious than believed
The U.S.spends $1-billion (US) a day on imported oil, making it the chief contributor to America’s balance of payments deficit. Opening up the drilling on the huge untapped reserves would provide a significant boost to then nation's economy, as well as providing hundreds of billions in royalties and taxes a year to governments as people and companies get back to work.
Perhaps the next U.S. administration, a little more than a year away, will open the oil taps.
Sources:
Financial Post, "Liberate U.S. Oil," Lawrence Solomon, June 30, 2011
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/u_s__has_massive_oil.html
Duane Sharp - I am a retired professional engineer (electronics), with over 40 years of writing experience in technology topics, with a focus on the IT ...
