I need a quick oil answer. I just heard my wing-nut Congressman speaking. I’m going back to see him at 3:00. But I’m leaving in a few minutes for a lunch appointment (no internet access until the event). If you see this (or anyone else who knows answer and can link quick info), my question is this.
He said that the best estimates are that there is enough oil in ANWR so that we would not need to import oil from Iran, Venezuela or Syria for the next 20-30 years. This strikes me as patent bullshit. But I didn’t have the info at my fingertips to dispel it at that time. Help if you can, or I can just put it down as a letter to the editor later.
Or maybe I’m wrong. Maybe ANWR drilling is the answer to all our prayers. Our crops are saved. Wooo-hooo. You should have heard this nutter. Describing ANWR as the dark, awful region where the citizens fully support our going up there and drilling. I was in shock to listen to the guy. He painted quite a picture. Fuck that wildlife refuge. Total fucking sack.
Check last paragraph of this old DK-entry, might help.
Thanks.
What Ask says. Also, this has been true for the last twenty years. It’s not so much how much oil is there as whether it’s economically recoverable. There’s a lot of oil in the sand and shale of Alberta, too, but getting it out is another story.
And then there’s the question of what kind of oil it is. Heating oil is different from gasoline oil is different from other kinds. It’s not a one size fits all situation.
There is NO WAY the drilling in ANWR won’t cause severe and possibly irreparable damage to the environment there–animals, plants, people. Yes, people live there. American citizens, some of them.
If your local wingnut disputes this, suggest he study some of the post-drilling studies done on North Slope area.
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WASHINGTON DC March 12, 2003 — Secretary Norton said. “The Coastal Plain of ANWR’s 1002 area is the nation’s single greatest onshore oil reserve. The USGS estimates that it contains a mean expected value of 10.4 billion barrels of technically recoverable oil.
“ANWR could produce nearly 1.4 million barrels of oil, while Texas produces just more than one million barrels a day, California just less than one million barrels a day and Louisiana produces slightly more than 200,000 barrels a day.”
World Oil Production
TABLE 1. Current World Oil Status (2000)
(in billion barrels)
Current Proved R/P Probable Cum.
Country Prod. Reserve Ratio Additions Prod.
Saudi Arabia* 2,92 160 55 142 74
Russia 1,64 49 30 119 94
United States 2,30 23 10 69 168
Iran* 1,30 69 53 39 44
Iraq* 0,19 91 479 35 23
Venezuela* 0,90 64 72 17 48
Kuwait* 0,74 86 116 14 28
UAE* 0,81 61 75 41 16
Mexico 0,98 27 28 47 22
China 1,08 24 22 43 20
Libya* 0,50 23 46 14 20
0%Source: Modified from U.S. Geological Survey and Oil and Gas Journal estimates.
*OPEC Members
R/P = Reserves/Production Ratio
Probable Additions = Inferred Reserves (Potential Field Growth) + Undiscovered Resources
Note: Iraq's production is constrained by U.N. sanctions, thus the very high R/P ratio.
For the United States R/P Ratio means with a reserve of 23 bn barrels, production of 2.3 bn barrels per year, the proven oil reserve is depleted in 10 years. The ANWR reserve is 10.4 bn barrels at a production rate of 1.4 mln barrels a day, will be in production for 20 years.
“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Well. Maybe I was wrong. I thought the ANWR reserve was not all that large. Now the data have me confused. Thanks for effots Oui.
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Energy Bill Chart
Present US Oil consumption is 21 million barrels a day, therefore the U.S. is wholly dependent on ever increasing oil import from 14 mln today to 20 mln barrels a day (80%) in 2020. The ANWR supply for US production is 20%, but for total daily oil consumption this represents 6% in 2010. U.S. is dependent on ME oil imports.
DAVOS (The Scotsman) Jan. 27 — The Dutchman Van Der Veer added that Shell remained committed to increasing output of oil from so-called “unconventional” deposits despite some project cost overruns and a string of unplanned outages.
Shell has started a study for an oil shales project in Colorado, he said. It will test technology for heating oil underground there. Oil shales is a type of rock that can be turned into an oily substance at a high temperature – and can be found in Scotland.
Estimated U.S. oil shale reserves total an astonishing 1.5 trillion barrels of oil – or more than five times the stated reserves of Saudi Arabia. This energy bounty is simply too large to ignore any longer, assuming that the reserves are economically viable. And yet, oil shale lies far from the radar screen of most investors.
Shell is also looking at oil deposits in ever-deeper water, and analysing deposits of tight gas, or gas left in reservoirs after conventional drilling.
NOTE: With produstion of the oil from shales, the ecology and environment needs extra investment to compensate for CO2 production, etc.
“But I will not let myself be reduced to silence.”
▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
The response above that I linked to may not be totally accurate.
But I did my own calculation.
According to the CIA Factbook, the US oil consumption is 20.03 million barrels per day.
That would imply annual consumption of 7.3 billion bbl/day (2003). As per Oui’s quote, there is a total of 10.4 billion bbl recoverable in the ANWR. In other words, it would provide less than 17 months worth of oil at the 2003 consumption level in the US.
And that would be 7.3 billion bbl/year…
I was at the same town hall forum event that BostonJoe is referring to in this thread. While I think the topic of ANWR oil is important, It’s not currently a high priority issue on my list. I’m more concerned with saving the lives of my friends serving in the military in a trumped up war.
I asked the Congresscritter a question about the McCain amendment, since he was one of only two from Michigan who voted against it. You can read all the gory details here. I’ll leave it to BostonJoe’s discretion whether to post his comments on the conversation I had with him on the day after the event. It’s not for the faint of heart.