US On Verge of a Renaissance as Energy Boom Begins

[CPA]

Environmentalists will try to kill it.

And Hollywood.

 

[shortylickens]

I hope all the people that complain about BIG OIL never look at the sort of margins Intel, IBM, Google, Apple, etc, enjoy.

Damn greedy corp... ooh, shiny plastic!

To be fair oil is heavily ingrained in the transportation industry. When the price of fuel goes up EVERYTHING suddenly becomes more expensive.

 

[ImpulsE69]

I hope all the people that complain about BIG OIL never look at the sort of margins Intel, IBM, Google, Apple, etc, enjoy.

Damn greedy corp... ooh, shiny plastic!

It's give and take. With THOSE companies, you have options and competition, and you aren't stranded w/o it. I've personally never given a dime to Apple and my quality of life is just fine. Unless you live in an overpriced big city, you pretty much need a vehicle (cost of living trade off there). Shorty's point was actually a better one.

 

[techs]

Dr. Birol said the agency’s prediction of increasing American self-sufficiency was 55 percent a reflection of more oil production and 45 percent a reflection of improving energy efficiency in the United States, primarily from the Obama administration’s new fuel economy standards for cars.


The report is nowhere near the great news people are making it out to be. In fact it has been known for a few years we were going to self sufficient in oil. However, that is not a great boon for Americans. American oil is sold on the world market at market prices. While it is a tiny bit cheaper to sell our oil here in America we still will actually swap some of ours for other countries oil due to the mix of types of oils that we need.

As for the American people many of the wells are privately owned. Many of the publicly leased land is locked in at a great price for the companies that drill, not for the revenue for the American people. This idea was sold to Americans years ago with the idea that if the government let companies lease the land cheap it would increase American oil production and the savings would be passed on to consumers(of course thats b.s. since oil is priced based on the world market)

So, the US won't see huge revenue increases. The benefits will be in some increased jobs in the drilling and production areas. But not a huge amount.

Natural gas is now cheap only because the recent huge increase in it is stuck in America because of lack of export ability. And companies are gearing up to start exporting our gas. So gas will eventually also be sold in the US at world market prices.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Sarah Palin was right. Drill baby drill.

Even a broken clock is right twice a day. She's still the biggest idiot on the planet.

 

[techs]

Sarah Palin was right. Drill baby drill.

Nope. It should have been frack, baby frack.
And despite the increase in oil production almost half the amount of our imports to be reduced was because of Obamas new fuel economy standards.

 

[Slew Foot]

about feaking time we actually bult something in this country to export

 

[Imp]

I'd like to correct the spelling, but google is being a bitch today.

Good to know i'm not the only one who uses Google as my primary spell check and dictionary.

Boo ya? I got me some US dolla...

 

[Markbnj]

The decline rates for these fracked wells is really unsettling. The amount of wells that have to be drilled just to keep production flat is quite a lot. They drill the most productive areas first so that means even more wells required. It also takes a huge amount of capital investment in order to keep the drilling going. Keep in mind that horizontal drilling oil is only really economically viable at greater than $80/barrel - meaning that it is unlikely to have an effect on gas prices.

It is a good source of oil, but try not to get carried away by the media hype.

Exactly. That's because it's not really great news when you have to fracture or bake rock to get the last few drops of oil out of it. We're like a room full of drunks with no liquor discovering three fingers of whiskey in an old mason jar under the sink. Yea, good times!

 

[Jeff7]

And here I was expecting this to be a newspaper article from long ago, back when fossil fuels were first starting to really take off; or something from 40 years in the future, when either next-gen uranium fission reactors, or thorium fission reactors, start coming online; or 70 years in the future, when fusion reactors start popping up.

Right now though? We're already well into a period of growth, thanks to the availability of energy everywhere. A lion kills something, and it then gorges itself while the gettin's good. Our society's doing the same thing, behaving much like a smaller organism - we've found lots of fossil fuels, and we're harvesting and consuming them as quickly as we reasonably can, to support as much growth as possible.

But at some point, the party may be over. We've found the easiest and cheapest resources, so now it gets more difficult to extract others. And I'd like to say that the fact that we're willing to risk poisoning local water supplies with mining byproducts is a sign of desperation, but that's probably just the usual greed and disregard for other people's welfare that has been around for a very very long time. ("We'll just dump these barrels of toxic materials over these train tracks. I don't live here, so I don't have to worry about drinking the water.")

 

[amish]

about feaking time we actually bult something in this country to export

what, drunken socialites aren't enough for you?

 

[Nintendesert]

Not really, we're actually selling our supplies to the open market and making a nice profit. The US could eventually flood the oil market and make prices plummet. From the reports I'm seeing, we may have 1-2 centuries worth of oil supplies available that were previously inaccessible:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/13/b...s-us-as-top-oil-producer-in-5-years.html?_r=0

However, with so much research into alternative power going on right now to fight climate change, we may actually start decreasing our oil usage within 20 years.

What "we" is this? Do you own stock in these companies that are drilling or is this "we" you're talking about the middle American that's paying out the ass for gas while we get told lies about supply and demand and all our supply is going overseas to maximize profits?

 

[zinfamous]

hydraulic fracturing is one of the dumbest fucking things, ever.

 

[Pr0d1gy]

The US has been wanting to wean itself off of oil imports for decades, but at the time it just seemed to be wishful thinking. Then we stared experimenting with fracking and oil shale deposits---and it turns out they're several times more viable than previously thought. The US may be poised for a new economic boom:

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/power-shift-energy-boom-dawning-america-1C8830306

Kind of nice seeing some good news after enduring the last 12 or so years.

Yeah, let's put all of our energy hopes into something that could have catastrophic consequences on our water reserves, brilliant.

/sarcasm

 

[gevorg]

Renaissance will happen when the primary energy source will be renewable and not based on dead dinosaurs...

 

[Svnla]

They found so much natural gas that the prices went down 75% and the companies are cutting back on operation. High energy users such as chemicals, electric generators are making a lot of money from the saving of cheaper natural gas.

<<<---- is not too far from the Hainesville Shale and Barnett Shale in southern USA.

 

[dmcowen674]

US On Verge of a Renaissance as Energy Boom Begins

The US has been wanting to wean itself off of oil imports for decades, but at the time it just seemed to be wishful thinking. Then we stared experimenting with fracking and oil shale deposits---and it turns out they're several times more viable than previously thought. The US may be poised for a new economic boom:

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/power-shift-energy-boom-dawning-america-1C8830306

Kind of nice seeing some good news after enduring the last 12 or so years.

Of course it does not mean lower prices at the pump, in fact just the opposite.

 

[Saint Nick]

Renaissance will happen when the primary energy source will be renewable and not based on dead dinosaurs...

Yep, gonna have to agree with this one. I can't believe we don't put more effort into renewable energy.

 

[ImpulsE69]

Yep, gonna have to agree with this one. I can't believe we don't put more effort into renewable energy.

That's the easiest answer in the thread. No incentive. If there's not billions to be made, then it isn't happening. Wouldn't want to get in the way of the oil guys.

 

[raildogg]

So it's good news that we get to take more resources from the earth?

I guess the world doesn't have a choice. Everyone in the world wants to be like an American/Westerner and have cars, electronic gadgets, computers. Got to have oil for that. And a lot of other resources. To heck with leaving what remains of the earth intact.

 

[SphinxnihpS]

Spel chek fail. Corrected.

Spell check should be in your head.

 

[meob]

Yep, gonna have to agree with this one. I can't believe we don't put more effort into renewable energy.

like what? there isn't some sort of magical energy source waiting to be discovered that will fulfill mankind's need of energy while being completely clean. people toss around renewable energy a lot these days but it's pretty much expecting something from nothing. the closest thing to a utopian energy source is fusion, or maybe the thorium fission reactors, and both are still quite far away.

 

[sandorski]

Renaissance will happen when the primary energy source will be renewable and not based on dead dinosaurs...

This. What has been described is like a previous post alluded to, one last binge on a limited and ever obsolete resource.

 

[sandorski]

like what? there isn't some sort of magical energy source waiting to be discovered that will fulfill mankind's need of energy while being completely clean. people toss around renewable energy a lot these days but it's pretty much expecting something from nothing. the closest thing to a utopian energy source is fusion, or maybe the thorium fission reactors, and both are still quite far away.

You're right, there isn't 1, there are many. They are also developed enough to be implemented right now.

 

[Fritzo]

Spell check should be in your head.

It's already too crowded in there. I have to forget things so there's room to learn new things.