Oil Independence in the Near Future?

[SwampdonkeyPLD]

The potential payoff is huge -- up to 100 billion barrels of oil. That’s twice the size of Alaska’s reserves and potentially enough to meet all U.S. oil needs for two decades.

From an oil field in North Dakota.

http://www.kiplinger.com/businessresour ... 80317.html

[Athas]

Don't take oil for .

[Blarg]

You can't extract all the oil in a certain place, some areas can only extract 25-35% of the oil available. There are also a lot of areas with huge quantities of oil available but it still remains cheaper to buy from elsewhere so it probably depends how easily that oil can be extracted and what quality it is in. I didn't read the article so some of that may be addressed.

[Dezzimal]

Iraqi labor ftw

I was listening to some random NPR program one night and they were talking about the different costs of labor and shipping around the world, and how it was actually cheaper to send fish caught up by norway all the way over to china to get filleted then ship it to the store/consumer than to just do it in norway.

[Myst]

in unrelated news, U.S. troops immediately extracted from the middle east.

[Correction]

Once everyone (Exxon, Government agencies down to the municipal level, labor unions, environmental taxation) gets their slice, this will impact the average cost of a gallon of gasoline by: <insert cynically low amount here, in cents>

An official government survey of the Bakken region's oil treasure trove is due out next month. The report is expected to play it very conservatively, because it will confine estimates to the amount of oil that likely can be produced profitably based on last year’s oil prices. It will also not take into account any further technological advances that might make it even easier to extract more oil.

This also stands out to me. 5 years to actually get production going is a long time. Who knows who we'll be at war with then?

[CMMeast]

Once everyone (Exxon, Government agencies down to the municipal level, labor unions, environmental taxation) gets their slice, this will impact the average cost of a gallon of gasoline by: <insert cynically low amount here, in cents>

Instead of selling our soul to OPEC, at least we'll be patriotic and giving to American corporations!

(but expect gas prices to stay the same because of terrorists!)

[Kyreth]

My girlfriend's family lives in that part of North Dakota (heck, her mom works for the oil companies as a field manager), so I can certainly say they've been interested in and developing those fields for the past few years. The rise in oil prices only makes it that much more profitable to get in there and develop the Dakota fields.

It'll help, but it's not "new" reserves. They've been known for years and years (as the article says) but only recently has it been worth it price-wise to dig it out.

[Khamsin]

Even if we could rely on our own oil reserves for two decades, that's not oil independence. That's oil dependence... just our own oil, and only for two decades.

Oil independence requires us to use alternative means to power our machinery (not hybrid, hybrids still require oil and therefore are oil dependent).

The best we can do for now is popularize an affordable, normal-looking 300 mpg hybrid SUV and we're set.

Only problem is, anytime anyone comes up with a hybrid with amazing gas mileage, it looks like a spaceship... like that three-wheeled car that is only being sold in California because they figured they're the only ones open-minded enough to actually buy it.

Why can't they just gut an old honda civic and stick a hybrid engine in it?

[Plow]

Why should we believe that this would lower gas prices at all anyway?

If record profits by basically every oil company in the world means prices go *up*, why would... well, anything other than people in the government that actually do something about it (which won't happen) improve the situation?

[guartz]

Do you guys think that if the rest of the world starts running low on oil, we'll suddenly have a huge target sign on your foreheads?

Interesting to think about, isn't it?

E.U is out of gas, uh oh. :rocl:

[Jeryhn]

Even if we could rely on our own oil reserves for two decades, that's not oil independence. That's oil dependence... just our own oil, and only for two decades.

What this guy said.

As a country (Read: As a world) we should be trying to break away from non-renewable sources of energy entirely.

[Intense]

Even if we could rely on our own oil reserves for two decades, that's not oil independence. That's oil dependence... just our own oil, and only for two decades.

What this guy said.

As a country (Read: As a world) we should be trying to break away from non-renewable sources of energy entirely.

While I wholeheartedly agree (I dont even drive a car to work anymore, I joined a 6 person carpool), doesnt this buy us some time to develop lightening our oil addiction while solving a bunch of immediate problems?

[Plow]

Even if we could rely on our own oil reserves for two decades, that's not oil independence. That's oil dependence... just our own oil, and only for two decades.

What this guy said.

As a country (Read: As a world) we should be trying to break away from non-renewable sources of energy entirely.

While I wholeheartedly agree (I dont even drive a car to work anymore, I joined a 6 person carpool), doesnt this buy us some time to develop lightening our oil addiction while solving a bunch of immediate problems?

In all honesty? It could, but it won't.

What it will more than likely result in (from the cynical I-hate-big-oil perspective) is nothing more than an excuse to wait even longer before fully investing in and promoting other energy sources as we should have been for the last 20+ years.

[evilbau]

I don't think this will result in Oil Independence, from what I know about oil shale extraction, it is expensive, and the only reason they will go for it now is that the rising cost of oil makes it profitable. So it won't lower gas prices, the only reason it is economically feasible is that the prices are what they are.

Long term (when technology improves) it could be a major source of energy, but the same could be said of other oil wells. There will always be deposits that are left untouched because the energy required to extract it is greater than what we would get out if it. So its not unreasonable to assume if technology makes oil shale extraction more profitable, similar technological advances for other wells will let us get more oil from there as well. The fact that they are going over these harder to extract/process sources of oil is quite analogous to increased production of oil found in the oil sands of Canada and Mexico, its simply profitable to get it now.

Bottom line I see this as extending our deadline to running out of oil, nothing more.

[Septimus]

Even if we could rely on our own oil reserves for two decades, that's not oil independence. That's oil dependence... just our own oil, and only for two decades.

What this guy said.

As a country (Read: As a world) we should be trying to break away from non-renewable sources of energy entirely.

I've said it before, I'll say it again: "When you're addicted to crack, the solution isn't to change dealers".

People can call me liberal all they want, but I see it as primarily a national security issue. The sooner we can stop using oil, the sooner we can stop sending money to countries that hate us. Even if we can get off of the foreign junk for premo all-national shit, we will eventually run out and go back to be OPEC's strawberry.

[archibaldcrane]

I don't think this will result in Oil Independence, from what I know about oil shale extraction

On first look I assumed this was oil shale, which pops up every 5 years or so as "the next new oil source" and then everyone realizes "oh, it's still too expensive" and forgets about it.

But it seems like this is just deep/hard to get to crude oil. Which makes it more possible.

[Deejay]

As long as the prices for oil are cheaper than the prices for other renewable resources, no one is going to stop using it. If we end up drilling in North Dakota, the government should try to establish a way start relying on another energy source long before our Oil begins to run out.

[Plow]

As long as the prices for oil are cheaper than the prices for other renewable resources

>.>

It's not... even... close...

[sephir]

This is a band aid solution. Its not going to solve the problem of oil, its only going to temporarily relieve it. There are good renewable fuels out there that are used in cars, but for one reason or another they are disbanded. My step-father worked for some auto industries a few years back and was a major backer of this polycarbon fibre to be used in the manufacturing process on the cars. basically, it would replace steel. It was just as strong but 1/4 the weight. This could have dropped upwards of 400-600 lbs off your typical car, but the catch was that it was more expensive (like $2 more per square foot) than steel, so it was scrapped.