US & World Energy

[BobbyMac]

A losing record and a lackluster recruiting plan has given my mind time to wander.

Though I try to stay out of non-football topics as much as possible here, I do enjoy reading through them as regardless of the side, there are some well thought out and written opinions.

To be brief, I have a international policy background with an emphasis on natural resources. The past few weeks have brought a few things that would have made my head explode back in the late 80's.

Elon Musk's mass market solar panel roofs (on top of him already changing the world's car industry) and yesterday's "announced find" of the TRILLION dollar Wolfcamp shale oil formation in the Permian Basin. It's estimated to be 3x the size of ND's Bakkan find and second to only the Saudi's Gwahar Field. Sooner or later, people are going to think our planet is full of oil. italics?

I'm interested in everyone's thoughts on those and any other topics related to the energy industry from the economic, political, strategic and/or environmental sides. I know a few of the Texas guys are in the industry so that should be interesting to see if it's created a buzz down in Midland/Odessa, Houston or Dallas.

 

[BobbyMac]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">20 billion barrels of oil, 1.6 billion of natural gas liquid, $900 BILLION WORTH of oil discovered at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Wolfcamp?src=hash">#Wolfcamp</a> shake in Midland Basin today</p>— Evan Greenwood (@egreenwood11) <a href="https://twitter.com/egreenwood11/status/799047768388014080">November 17, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr"><a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wolfcamp?src=hash">#wolfcamp</a> shale has 3x more <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/oil?src=hash">#oil</a> than <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bakken?src=hash">#Bakken</a>: <a href="https://twitter.com/USGS">@USGS</a> <a href="https://t.co/uTaEiZeYqw">https://t.co/uTaEiZeYqw</a> <a href="https://t.co/rVoxg4N5On">pic.twitter.com/rVoxg4N5On</a></p>— U.S. Economy online (@useconomy_ru) <a href="https://twitter.com/useconomy_ru/status/799171380810055681">November 17, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Largest Oil find in U.S. History at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WolfCamp?src=hash">#WolfCamp</a> Shale in Midland Texas!!Total Value $1TRILLION DOLLARS!! JOBSJOBSJOBS <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Energy?src=hash">#Energy</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/WednesdayWisdom?src=hash">#WednesdayWisdom</a> <a href="https://t.co/yUniGRiluC">pic.twitter.com/yUniGRiluC</a></p>— STOCK MONSTER ELECT (@Darren32895836) <a href="https://twitter.com/Darren32895836/status/798995508513513472">November 16, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[zelezo vlk]

How safe is the technology to extract it? I remember when I was researching oil shale in high school that the technology was super expensive. Can investment find cheaper and less environmentally damaging ways to claim the resources?

 

[BobbyMac]

How safe is the technology to extract it? I remember when I was researching oil shale in high school that the technology was super expensive. Can investment find cheaper and less environmentally damaging ways to claim the resources?

Depends who you listen to. I'm sure you will hear polar opposite responses soon enough.

Oil shale is obviously more expensive to produce compared to say Saudi oil where you can take it out of the ground with a straw. That's why the world uses it, it's cheap and it saves your reserves for later. The play for America has worked out perfectly from a strategic point of view. We used Pennsylvania's, Ohio's and Texas' oil fields to kick start America's rise during the Industrial Revolution and then started using cheaper foreign oil, holding our more expensive to produce reserves for future strategic purposes.

My mentor in college would tell us something along the lines of: I can't predict what the world will look like in 100 years but if oil is truly limited all I can guarantee you is that the US and Russia will be the last two countries with it. Therefore they win.

 

[zelezo vlk]

Depends who you listen to. I'm sure you will hear polar opposite responses soon enough.

Oil shale is obviously more expensive to produce compared to say Saudi oil where you can take it out of the ground with a straw. That's why the world uses it, it's cheap and it saves your reserves for later. The play for America has worked out perfectly from a strategic point of view. We used Pennsylvania's, Ohio's and Texas' oil fields to kick start America's rise during the Industrial Revolution and then started using cheaper foreign oil, holding our more expensive to produce reserves for future strategic purposes.

My mentor in college would tell us something along the lines of: I can't predict what the world will look like in 100 years but if oil is truly limited all I can guarantee you is that the US and Russia will be the last two countries with it. Therefore they win.

Sounds about right. I'm all for America using her natural resources, even if not clean. It's just good economically, strategically, and logically. However, we have an obligation not to destroy our earth in the search for resources. If the technology can allow for relatively safe extraction and refinement of the oil and gas, then I'm all for it. I'm not at all willing to give energy companies license to do whatever to obtain the fuels. I also think that it'd be smart to levy some sort of tax from the new revenue to invest in cleaner and sustainable technology. Unchecked exploitation and unsustainable clean energy are both bad solutions. We have to look for our future while we can.

 

[Legacy]

A few questions:

1. Fracking
2. Quality of oil
3. Jobs when gas prices are low and unemployment is low?
4. Building the pipeline to Canada?
5. Appropriate uses for quality of oil
6. Dependent only on N. America oil now. What will it replace?
7. Environmental impact
8. Future of alternative energy in comparison
9. Military uses 100 million barrels of oil a year and is switching more to alternative fuels
10. Oil at its lowest level in 12 years and oil services and materials companies stocks have tanked. Much oil well production has been suspended. More oil drilling and more oil?

Thanks.

 

[RDU Irish]

I thought we hit Peak Oil 50 years ago?

Drill, baby, drill. Makes it real easy to let the ME and Russia go pound sand.

 

[NorthDakota]

3x the oil of the Bakken? Jesus.....

 

[BGIF]

I thought we hit Peak Oil 50 years ago?

Drill, baby, drill. Makes it real easy to let the ME and Russia go pound sand.

The Hubbert Peak Theory dealt only a given geographical area. In his 1950's paper Hubbert was addressing The Lower 48 States.

Hubbert's Curve still applies to other areas.