Is There a Frighteningly Simple Explanation For This?

From the Washington Times:

The Obama administration is poised to ban offshore oil drilling on the outer continental shelf until 2012 or beyond. Meanwhile, Russia is making a bold strategic leap to begin drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico. While the United States attempts to shift gears to alternative fuels to battle the purported evils of carbon emissions, Russia will erect oil derricks off the Cuban coast...

Now Russia is using oil exploration to establish a new presence in the Western Hemisphere. It recently concluded four contracts securing oil-exploration rights in Cuba’s economic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. A Russian-Cuban joint partnership will exploit oil found in the deep waters of the Gulf.

Cuba has rights to the area in which drilling will be conducted under an agreement the Carter administration recognized. From Russia’s perspective, this is another way to gain leverage inside what traditionally has been America’s sphere of influence. It may not be as dramatic as the Soviet Union attempting to use Cuba as a missile platform, but in the energy wars, the message is the same. Russia is projecting power into the Western Hemisphere while the United States retreats. The world will not tolerate a superpower that acts like a sidekick much longer.

Just which side is Barack Obama On?

Hydraulic Fracturing: New Drilling Method Opens Vast Oil Fields In US

Mostly hydraulic fracturing was originally used for natural gas, but has now proved to work for oil as well. Of course the Enviro-whackos, the bird whacker supporters and others don't like anything that produces more cheap oil. The practice is spreading worldwide.

A new drilling technique is opening up vast fields of previously out-of-reach oil in the western United States, helping reverse a two-decade decline in domestic production of crude.

Companies are investing billions of dollars to get at oil deposits scattered across North Dakota, Colorado, Texas and California. By 2015, oil executives and analysts say, the new fields could yield as much as 2 million barrels of oil a day — more than the entire Gulf of Mexico produces now.

This new drilling is expected to raise U.S. production by at least 20 percent over the next five years. And within 10 years, it could help reduce oil imports by more than half, advancing a goal that has long eluded policymakers.

So will the EPA ban it? Stay tuned, I bet they try.

Drilling Right Under The Numb Nuts Feet

Don’t tell Barbara Boxer and Nancy Pelosi, but LA sits on the USA’s third largest oil field… and they’re drilling, baby, drilling:



I wonder what the "Le Brea Tar Pits" are all about?

Climate Fraud, No Fraud, No Oil

Hey look at Obama, no Cap and Trade, no oil for America ...
No new drilling in Gulf for seven years --- Vindictive little twerp.

No OBAMA in two years!!! He can go back to his 57 states of Kenya.

First payback your friends ... From the WSJ:

Obama Underwrites Offshore Drilling

You read that headline correctly. Unfortunately, the Obama Administration is financing oil exploration off Brazil.

The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil's state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil's Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil's planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan.

The U.S. Export-Import Bank tells us it has issued a "preliminary commitment" letter to Petrobras in the amount of $2 billion and has discussed with Brazil the possibility of increasing that amount. Ex-Im Bank says it has not decided whether the money will come in the form of a direct loan or loan guarantees. Either way, this corporate foreign aid may strike some readers as odd, given that the U.S. Treasury seems desperate for cash and Petrobras is one of the largest corporations in the Americas.

But look on the bright side. If President Obama has embraced offshore drilling in Brazil, why not in the old U.S.A.? The land of the sorta free and the home of the heavily indebted has enormous offshore oil deposits, and last year ahead of the November elections, with gasoline at $4 a gallon, Congress let a ban on offshore drilling expire.

Takeaway questions: Is all those years in Rev Wright's Church what made Obama hate America so much, or was it his wife.

Oil Price Trend Down

The price of oil continued declining today as investors bet on a long recession. Despite OPEC’s plans to scale back production, oil dropped below $34 per barrel in light of a glut on the market and no increase in demand foreseen in the immediate future. That will help the USA ease its economic woes, but bodes ill for the global economy (via Instapundit).

Oil prices fell below $34 a barrel Tuesday on the continued gloomy outlook for global energy demand and as traders sold the expiring benchmark contract due to a lack of space at a key U.S. storage facility.

By midday in Europe, light, sweet crude for February delivery was down $3.14 to $33.37 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

The oil producers are caught in their own trap. They ran up so much debt when oil was spiking, that now it takes massive production(overproduction?) to satisfy the payments. Sorry guys, you didn't buy into the T Boone Pickens joke we will never see oil below $100 a barrel again, did you? Shame.

Socialism Doesn't Fail

It just runs out of other people's money to give away.

In the case of Venezuela, the plan was simple, use it's vast hoard of petroleum to fund socialism and give away those dollars. Of course, a few would be kept for distribution to the ruling junta, but shush no one will tell. It looked good a few months back, oil was $145 a barrel and life was good for the ruling class. Not so good for the peasants, but who cares about them. Now with oil at $50 a barrel, the lessons are coming hard and fast.

The thug oil populist in charge of Venezuela said as recent as May 2008 that he was expecting oil to go to $200 a barrel, before finally stabilizing. So much for the predictive power of Hugo Chavez and his socialsim. The pie pantry is now empty, the and the bakers of the free "oil" pies are failing to perform as ordered.

How much of the scare run up in oil prices were designed by the cartel to try and forestall an American attack on Iran's nuclear weapons production, we will never know. But the back breaking effect of high oil prices on the world's economies is now well understood. We are all in it together.

Hugo Chavez has reduced Venezuela's support to foreign allies and is poised to make deeper cuts at home and abroad as plunging oil revenues hit his self-styled socialist revolution.

The government has warned of austerity measures after years of breakneck spending on social programmes, nationalisations, arms and diplomacy, an exhilarating splurge when there seemed no end to petro-dollars.

South America's energy giant relies on oil for half of its exports and 95% of government revenue, leaving Chavez's ideological and political ambitions vulnerable to a crunch. A much worse problem, since socialism has destroyed the economy of Venezuela, the future is not bright for the people.

Natural Gas to Gasoline

A Texas company says that it has developed a cheaper and cleaner way to convert natural gas into gasoline and other liquid fuels, making it economical to tap natural-gas reserves that in the past have been too small or remote to develop.

The company behind the technology, Dallas-based Synfuels International, says that the process uses fewer steps and is far more efficient than more established techniques based on the Fischer-Tropsch process. This process converts natural gas into syngas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide; a catalyst then causes the carbon and hydrogen to reconnect in new compounds, such as alcohols and fuels. Nazi Germany used the Fischer-Tropsch process to convert coal and coal-bed methane into diesel during World War II.

A Synfuels gas-to-liquids (GTL) refinery goes through several steps to convert natural gas into gasoline but claims to do so with better overall efficiency. First, natural gas is broken down, or "cracked," under high temperatures into acetylene, a simpler hydrocarbon. A separate liquid-phase step involving a proprietary catalyst then converts 98 percent of the acetylene into ethylene, a more complex hydrocarbon. This ethylene can then easily be converted into a number of fuel products, including high-octane gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. And the end product is free of sulfur.

"We're able to produce a barrel of gasoline for much cheaper than Fischer-Tropsch can," says Kenneth Hall, coinventor of the process and former head of Texas A&M University's department of chemical engineering. Hall says that a Fischer-Tropsch plant is lucky to produce a barrel of gasoline for $35 but that a much smaller Synfuels refinery could produce the same barrel for $25. Under current fuel prices, such a plant could pay for itself in as little as four years, the company says.

More at the MIT Technology Review.

The ability of these small refinery units to liquefy natural gas makes an intriguing possibility for transportation, since these liquid fuels, unlike ethanol, can be sent down the same pipeline as oil.

Meanwhile, nany Pelosi is still trying to figure out where natural gas comes from.

Floridians Want Offshore Oil Drilling

As discussion regarding domestic exploration for oil and natural gas off Florida’s coast grips the nation’s attention, new poll results today released by Associated Industries of Florida (AIF) demonstrate a significant increase in the percent of Floridians in favor of drilling off the state’s coast over the percent of those in favor this time last year. The McLaughlin & Associates poll, conducted last week, concluded 73.2 percent of Floridians favor drilling for oil off the coast of Florida – a 10 percentage-point increase over the previous year’s poll results.

Bipartisn support

Further, the results show bipartisan support of the issue with the majority of Florida Democrats (63 percent) and Republicans (84 percent) in favor. Seventy percent of Independents were also in favor of offshore drilling.

“We have been polling this issue for more than two years and the numbers speak for themselves. It doesn’t matter if you call yourself a conservative, a liberal or a moderate, the message Floridians are sending is consistently clear – we favor drilling, and the numbers just keep going up,” said Barney Bishop, president and CEO of AIF. “Washington, this is your wake-up call. Now is the time to break from traditional party lines and help alleviate our country’s dependence on foreign oil by listening to your constituents and their call for increased domestic oil exploration.”

More here from the Associated Industries of Florida (AIF) who conducted the polling.

The rig make excellent fish attractors.

Hell Freezes Over

California’s Santa Barbara County, site of a major oil spill that rallied opposition to offshore oil production 40 years ago, voted on Tuesday to support new coastal oil exploration and extraction.

The county Board of Supervisors’ 3-2 vote is largely symbolic, but comes amid a heated debate on lifting a long-time U.S. moratorium on offshore drilling to address a spike in oil prices that pushed gasoline above $4 per gallon this summer.

U.S. President George W. Bush lifted a White House ban on offshore drilling last month and pushed Congress to lift its ban. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger opposes a return to offshore drilling and advocates investment in alternative fuels.

More at Heritage.

Drillers Win Big, In Court

This clearly shows the result of government interference in leases fro oil drilling and development that are released for drilling. You have to wonder, what kind of government denies people the right to access their own mineral resources. Notice that the story appears in the UK Financial Times and not the NYTimes. IO wonder why.

A US federal appeals court ruled yesterday that 11 oil and gas companies should receive more than $1bn awarded to them in 2006 after the government effectively changed the terms of leases to drill off the California coast.

The US Court of Appeals was upholding a 2006 ruling that the government had breached the leases when changes in federal law materially interfered with the companies' efforts to develop the oil and gas reserves off California.

The case points to the difficulties US oil and gas companies have developing oil and gas resources in the US.

Even when acreage is legally open to production, restrictive regulations about how properties can be developed have made it impossible for companies to follow through.

The US government had estimated the area contained more than 1bn barrels of oil equivalent.

Ridiculous, The Gang of 10 Energy Plan

As usual, you can expect the Gramnesty branch of the Democrat party to lie through their teeth, with a smile on their face all the while. Like with the lies of the AMNESTY bill, similar lies are being told about an alleged deal in the Senate. Mavericks doing it to the original maverick. How cool is that?

The IER has done the heavy lifting and has analyzed the plan and finds it wanting. IER Analysis: Key Flaws in the ‘New Era’ Plan:

• The Gang of Ten calls for additional offshore production in areas currently under moratoria, but proposes a process that fails to guarantee/deliver any new supplies whatsoever. New production on federal offshore lands is left to the discretion of several state legislatures.

• Production potential is severely limited. Only four coastal states would be granted the ability to “opt out” of energy bans. Arbitrary 50-mile buffer zones would exclude potential resource deposits, such as the Gulf of Mexico’s Destin Dome, which is some 25 miles offshore.

• The plan ignores the urgent national need to repeal the offshore energy exploration and production bans that have contributed to the very problem their plan purports to solve. It may even give the ban the force of permanent law for the first time ever. This is an especially short-sighted, as the Congressional ban is set to expire in less than two months, on October 1, 2008, which will open the entire 1.76 billion acre outer continental shelf (OCS) to energy production.

• Spending $85 billion on tax credits, subsidies, and various other federal handouts in lieu of increasing domestic oil and gas production is the kind of failed approach to energy policy that helped deliver the crisis we find ourselves in today. Government continues to be the source of the problem; government-centered ‘solutions’ will only compound our problems.

• Dedicating additional, inordinate sums to biofuel programs is especially unwise, as they represent up to 75 percent of the recent spike in food prices, according to the World Bank. They are not as “renewable” as their proponents claim, and may not even provide any environmental benefits whatsoever.

Click here for the complete IER analysis.

It's quite simple to understand, there is no alternative to oil, there are too many things that depend on oil. Like nearly all of modern plastics, lubricants and paving materials. Nothing in the next 50 years is likely to change any of this.

They further state, the $85 billion in giveaways are to be made up with in kind offsets -- Translation, taxes on oil companies or direct taxes on you. Either way, you pay for this nonsense. Government cannot make technology appear, cannot make this work the way they would like them to work, and cannot pass laws to increase energy supplies. Jimmy Carter, the dumbest President ever, already tested this hypothesis and found it true. All Jimmy Carter produced was a disaster for the economy. Which is where we are headed with nonsense like this crap.

Thunder Horse Crude Oil On The Market

After years of delay and design problems, BP has put the fruits of it's labors on the market. BP expects to have crude oil ready for pipeline insertion, beginning September. with prices comparable to Eugene Island's light sour, according to Tuesday reports from U.S. cash crude traders. Production at the Thunder Horse field in the Gulf of Mexico began in June, and by the end of July it was producing more than 40,000 barrels daily.

Thunder-horse is both a platform name and an oilfield name, the platform was damaged in the 2005 hurricane season, due to design errors in the platforms ballast system.

More here.

Oil Company Profits

Oil Use Drops, Dramatically

Where do you think all this reduction in oil use is headed? I you guessed higher taxes, you would be correct.

Total U.S. petroleum and other liquids consumption is projected to shrink by almost 500,000 bbl/d in 2008 based on prospects for a weak economy and continuing high crude oil and product prices extending into 2009 (U.S. Petroleum Products Consumption Growth).

Preliminary June and July 2008 weekly survey data indicate that year-over-year declines in total consumption, which began in August 2007, have narrowed since earlier this year. During the first 5 months of 2008, total petroleum consumption fell by an average of almost 900,000 bbl/d from the same period in 2007. During June and July, the year-over-year declines narrowed to just over 400,000 bbl/d. The year-over-year declines in consumption are not expected to be as large over the forecast period, with 2009 average total consumption about 120,000 bbl/d lower than the 2008 average.

U.S. oil demand during the first half of 2008 fell by an average 800,000 barrels per day compared with the same period a year ago, the biggest volume decline in 26 years, according to the EIA.

The Energy Department's analytical staff predicts continued falling oil demand, and for the first time is predicting that U.S. petroleum consumption in 2009 will be lower than 2008, which would be a drop in annual demand for three years in a row.

We now have the effect of high energy prices starting to really bite. Economic activity is falling, demand for energy is falling, the economy is falling. Won't be long before the recession beckons. All avoidable, if we started drilling, but the Democrat Marxists want high energy prices, constricted economy and no growth for America.

Never thought I would see the day when the liberals were out in the sunshine for all to see what they have in store for America. I never have understood why anyone would vote for a Democrat, unless they are not sane -- I'm thinking.

BTW, world demand is also dropping as economies around the world begin to contract. The lesson here, the dollar is rising, as most think America will lead the way out of the looming disaster. Not with Obama in charge.

Demand is down, supply is down, the causality is the U.S. economy. Democrat Marxist's recession ahead.

EIA report is here.

Rush To The Arctic

This all started when Russia, which has claimed about 460,000 square miles of Arctic waters, last summer planted its flag on the ocean floor at the location of the geographic North Pole. Under the International treaties, the claiming of waters in the Arctic past the 300 mile Economic zone if prohibited, but so is the wanton invasion of Georgia. Russia does what Russia wants to do, if people or things get in the way, squashed.

Now we find the U.S. plans to fight back, for four years we have been conducting surveys of the Artic. Aided last year by abnormal sea ice melt, the survey is ongoing this summer.

More Arctic diplomacy ahead

... the State Department said Monday that two more scientific expeditions will head to Alaska this summer to collect data "in support of defining the limits of [the Arctic's] extended continental shelf" for the fourth year in a row.

"The first cruise, Aug. 14 to Sept. 5 from Barrow, Alaska, will employ a sophisticated echo sounder that will collect data to create a three-dimensional map of the Arctic seafloor in an area known as the Chukchi Cap," the department said. "The second cruise, September 6 to October 1, also from Barrow, will be conducted in cooperation with Canada."

It's all about oil.

Top 10 Energy Questions For Speaker Pelosi

U.S. Congressman Kevin Brady

10. Two years ago, you said, “Democrats have a common-sense plan to lower gas prices.” Since you took over as Speaker of the House fuel prices have nearly doubled, which is punishing American families. Will you be releasing that common-sense plan anytime soon?

9. So far, your Democratic House of Representatives has done nothing but propose gimmicks. Your first energy gimmick was to pass a law that allows America to sue OPEC, apparently so we can become more dependent upon Middle East oil. This is puzzling to most Americans. Remind us again what that accomplishes?

8. Your second gimmick was “Use it or Lose it,” based on the notion that millions of acres of land with vast energy reserves are leased by oil companies but not being developed. Unfortunately, no independent geological association in America agreed with that wild claim. And during debate on the House floor, Democrats couldn’t identify even one acre where that was happening. How embarrassing was that?

7. Your next gimmick was to stop filling the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which is the nest egg for America’s energy security if a major foreign country cuts off fuel to the United States. You predicted that fuel prices would go down, but instead they continued to rise. Was that more embarrassing or less embarrassing than the “Use it or Lose it” fiasco?

6. Apparently assuming that failed ideas are reassuring to the public, recently you proposed to sell off 10% of our Strategic Petroleum Reserve, which you also predict will lower fuel prices. Unfortunately, that equals just 3.5 days of American oil, which changes nothing, so that gimmick collapsed on the House floor. Do you have any more ideas related to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, like selling it to China or donating it to a Hollywood charity?

5. You keep saying Republicans are beholden to Big Oil, which you despise and accuse of obscene profiteering. But I noticed your Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has accepted a whopping $809,000 from energy special interests this session -- which I’m sure you’ll want to return. I’m just curious, but when can those oil companies expect their checks back?

4. Turning to your unique interpretation of the Constitution, you have stated repeatedly that the House of Representatives will not get a vote on exploring for more energy here in America, such as in our deep ocean waters or U.S. Arctic Reserve, no matter that the American public supports it 2-1. In your mind, do you believe America is a democracy or a dictatorship?

3. Two weeks ago you hastily shut down the House floor, turned off the lights, microphones and cameras so that the American public could not hear Republicans debate the energy crisis and the need for Congress to stay in session to pass an energy bill rather than head out on a five-week vacation. Do you still believe in open government and the freedom of speech, or did all that change when you became Speaker?

2. Last Sunday on the news show This Week you said Republicans would have to “get creative” to receive an up-or-down vote on the House floor to explore for more energy here in America. Our founding fathers were creative, too. They established a legislative body where the pressing issues of the day would be openly debated and the majority will of the elected representatives prevails. Are you afraid that, if a vote were taken, you would lose? (Isn’t America supposed to be a democracy of the people? )

1. Americans don’t get a vacation from high gas prices, but you sent Congress on a leisurely five-week vacation. Republicans have stood on the House floor all recess and pleaded with you to call Congress back into session and schedule an up-or-down vote on exploring for more oil and gas here in America. Aren’t American families and small businesses who are getting hammered by high gas prices more important than your book tour?

(Note to Speaker: I’ll get some of my friends to buy your darn book if you’ll come back to Washington and get back to work.)

Coal to Liquids Technology

First is China, but now it looks like the USA is moving in the coal to liquids area.

First there is this going on in Benwood WV

The nation’s first modern coal-to-liquids plant slated for construction in Benwood may be the savior of the Ohio Valley, but not for some time to come.

... Coal can be converted to a synthetic gas using SES proprietary technology. The syngas would be used to produce about 720,000-metric tons per year of methanol that can be used as a feedstock for the chemical industry. Officials expect the project will be capable of converting methanol to about 100-million gallons per year of 87 octane gasoline.

Then there is the Crow Indian Reservation, who are signing up Friday to put in a coal to liquids conversion plant that should produce about 50,000 barrels of fuel per day.

The Many Stars coal-to-liquids plant would initially produce 50,000 barrels a day of diesel and other fuels. Crow Chairman Carl Venne (VAN) says construction would begin in several years and coal for the project would come from a tribe-owned mine on the reservation.

The Crow Legislature on Thursday ratified a 50-year development agreement - capping months of negotiations between tribal leaders and the Australian-American Energy Co., a subsidiary of Australian Energy Co.

The train is leaving the station. One thing to note, is coal to liquids can produce a delivered barrel of oil for the barrel of oil equivalent price of $30-40 per barrel. Ethanol is in the $4.80 a gallon for fuel.

Coal is the ace in the hole, shale oil is the second hold card.

Another Country Explores Shale Oil Development

The USA has the world's biggest pile of shale oil deposits --- No, no, it's not the USA, where Democrats have things sequestered and waiting for the next wind powered car to emerge, it's Jordan.

"Negotiations with Shell to sign a deal to process oil shale in Jordan are nearing an end," said Maher Hjazin, head of the state-run Natural Resources Authority.

"If our plans succeed, it would be one of the country's largest projects to help the Jordan become energy self-sufficient, with a possibility to export oil in the future."

Jordan, which imports 95 per cent of its energy needs and struggling to meet growing needs, has the world's fourth largest reserves of oil shale, from which petroleum can be extracted by distillation.

Shell Oil, didn't that used to be a USA company?

Obama On Russia's War FOR Oil

Ever diligent press, doing their job, putting out the truth. Just like the way they handled the Edward's affair.

But the public sees what the public sees, these days. John has more at the Powerline blog.

UPDATE: 7:00 PM
Full explanation of "The Oil Angle". It's all about oil --- So tell me once again why we aren't drilling everywhere in the USA?

Notice how Obama responded, the poor fellow is not ready for prime time in a real world. Maybe he is inflating his tires with the air in his swelled up head.