 Rustee says: The supply of oil is also related to the amount it sells for. It's not getting easier to find new reserves, but at $130 a barrel, a lot of companies are going to be looking really, really hard. They will also be reevaluating fields that couldn't be profitably tapped at $60 a barrel. The federal Energy Information Administration projects that U.S. production will rise 24 percent in the next decade.I actually have to somewhat disagree with that second statement that it's not getting easier to find new reserves. I'd offer that it actually is getting easier...satellite imaging, resonance mapping, new theories for oil location, and a whole host of technologies being applied, not to mention the cumulative experience of generations of drillers, all increase the likelihood of finding new reserves. Of course getting through bureaucracies isn't getting easier. So essentially it's a valid statement anyways The rate of new finds in relation to the money and new technologies that are being employed are testament to the fact that new reserves aren't getting easier. We've simply picked the low hanging fruit. If there were economically viable new reserves to discover, you can bet that shell, BP, Exxon, etc would be on top of it. There are many economical new reserves that have been discovered and are being blocked by congress. Some of it is likely to get drilled anyway, but it will end up in the hands of the Chinese thanks to the fact that we can't drill for it on our side of an invisible line in the ocean. The worst obstacle is all the environ-wacko's and the spineless weasels on K street. What other country isn't exploring for oil, other than the US? Yeah, I guess a simple statement, "finding oil isn't getting any easier," or its inverse for that matter, doesn't account for all the factors, which include (but aren't limited to) environmental regulations, governments here and abroad, industrial infrastructure needed for development of new reserves, geo-political unstability, availability of capital, and on and on... merrie said:U.S. companies are exploring, finding, and developing new finds (at least trying to, as it takes years to get new reserves producing)...just not here. Take the fact that they find it more promising to invest in developing the oil ... ...developing the oil in the Caspian Sea rather than here at home. What little infrastructure they had there was falling in disrepair with much of the country in poverty.In my mind I was thinking of Kazakhstan, but I didn't mention any country. So more correctly phrased would be, "with many of the countries in poverty." You get my point I guess, I just cringe at typos and lapses of continuity of thought.  |
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