Garfield on the Oil Crisis
Posted by angela on 05/15/08 in Domestic Ramblings
A lot of folks can’t understand how we came to have an oil shortage here in our country.
Well, there’s a very simple answer:
1.) Nobody bothered to check the oil.
2.) We just didn’t know we were getting low.
3.) The reason for that is purely geographical.
4.) Our OIL is located in : ALASKA, California, Coastal Florida, Coastal Louisiana, Wyoming, Utah, Kansas, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas.
5.) Our dipsticks are located in Washington DC.
Any Questions?
tag this
Tracy | May 16, 2008 | Reply
“Our dipsticks are located in Washington DC.”
HA!!! That’s a hoot!!
angela | May 17, 2008 | Reply
I’m glad you enjoyed that one!
I got a kick out of it and just had to share.
BTW, where is your Facebook and Myspace?
Your brother is on Myspace and got to see all those cool pics from high school.
I am also finding many former classmates and friends of yours as well on Facebook.
Come on Tracy.. GET YOURS TODAY!!
Patrick | May 19, 2008 | Reply
I am a geologist, and there are really good (well, bad in a way) reasons why oil is skyrocketing in price.
This is a very simplified explanation, and I’m doing this off of memory, so it may not be complete.
The price on oil is built mainly in speculation. People estimate how much oil they can recover from a field, and that gives you a reserve. For a long time, most of the large oil companies overestimated their reserves to make their companies more valuable and raise their stock. Now, many oil fields (The Greater Burgan Oil Field, the Ghawar Field) are not producing as much as they were predicted. That drives up the price. This is happening all over.
Also, demand has risen throughout the world. India and China are consuming more oil than ever and will continue to rise. America’s consumption will rise. That drives up the price since for now, since the same amount of oil is being produced.
The price of oil per barrel is given in dollars. The dollar is REALLY weak right now, and that makes the price go up as well. Iran just opened their new oil bourse in the last few months, and it trades oil in Euros and Yen, which causes the price per barrel to go up. Not good.
I suggest everyone should read “Hubbert’s Peak” by Kenneth Deffeyes. It explains the peak oil theory, which has a ton of evidence to support itself. Oil discoveries and production may be peaking right around now, so we may never have as much oil as we do right now. US Oil production peaked in the early 1970’s, and the world may be peaking right now. We will be in trouble in the coming decades. It may already be too late. Bad stuff indeed.
The oil companies are profiting heavily off of the high price per barrel. They want the price to remain high. They also have tons of lobbyists in the government and hold vast amounts of power. It is tough for the everyday man to do something about the price of oil.
I hate to be all doom and gloom, but with oil, it’s tough to think of roses.
ptg | May 23, 2008 | Reply
Peak oil is baloney. Drill the ANWR. Those caribou would be relived to have us put them out of their mosquito ridden suffering.
Patrick | May 23, 2008 | Reply
If peak oil is baloney, then why did America’s oil production peak in the 1970? If it were baloney, why wouldn’t it remain the same or continue to rise? Drilling the ANWR won’t do much. Global oil production is around its peak right now. Look it up. We use more than 20 million barrels of oil a day in America.
Boy, you don’t know much about this, do you? Drilling the ANWR would take years before the oil reached the markets. It would be like putting a band-aid on a severed arm. It would not solve our oil problems. That oil will run out eventually too.
We’ll eventually drive the ANWR. I have no doubt it will happen. Frankly, it’s a good idea, but not right now. It’s a reserve we’ll need later. When oil is running out around the world, we’ll drill it when we need it. It will happen, but not yet.
Comment on something you actually have knowledge about. From what I’ve seen so far, that is pretty limited.
angela | May 23, 2008 | Reply
I don’t understand why our country doesn’t try to do for itself.
We should be drilling for oil on our own soil and using THAT instead of lining the pockets of peeps that would rather see us dead.
We won’t be driving much this summer I don’t think.. I’m sure that will hurt many companies that depend on their customers to have transportation via vehicles.
The public transportation system is going to sky rocket and there will soon be layoffs because it will be too expensive to pay people because of rising costs.
The dollar will continue to weaken and all of your investments will begin to deplete.
The importance of buying strictly MADE IN THE USA products and goods is even more important than ever!!
We need to start drilling in new spots in the USA!!
Patrick | May 23, 2008 | Reply
There really aren’t any new spots. Frankly, there are only a few places to drill in the US. The ANWR is one of them. Pockets of the Gulf of Mexico are others. Those underwater areas are being drilled all the time. However, basically every spot in the United States has been explored for oil. Every anticline in the West and East has been drilled. We know where oil is, and where it isn’t. Even in proven areas, 9 out of 10 holes come up dry or unprofitable. It’s a rough business that sometimes pays off. That’s why big oil companies flourish.
While it doesn’t look good now, there is a good reason why we don’t drill in the ANWR. We’ll need the oil later. Right now the oil crisis is nothing compared to what it may be later. So it’s a good idea to leave some for later when other countries run out or refuse to sell to us.
There are other places that oil exists. The tar sands of Wyoming and Canada (among other places) hold the largest volume of oil. The problem is getting it out. First, the shales and sand the oil is in are underground. To get a large part of them out, it would absolutely DESTROY the ground above them. Most people don’t want that. It’s also very expensive. Right now since oil is $130+ a barrel, it may be profitable. But the oil shales weren’t explored thoroughly in the past because we had cheap oil. It’s really difficult to get the oil of out the rock too, even after we mine it. We can’t use traditional oil wells to get the oil out of the tar sands and shales. The proven process is to heat the rock, causing the tar/oil to flow out. However, that is extremely expensive.
Tar sands will eventually be used, but there has to be a non-destructive and efficient way to get oil out. Right now there isn’t, but scientists are working on it.
The USA’s public transportation system is terrible. Frankly we need a rail system like they have in Europe. I was there a little more than a month ago (in Germany), and you do not need a car to live there. It was WONDERFUL. We should really try to build a better system, but that will take decades. Our country’s urban sprawl also prevents us from doing it efficiently. It’s sad. We really screwed ourselves in the 1950s-1960s with the formation of suburbs.
The United States will be in trouble. It’s a basic fact that we have ignored for too long. We need to do all we can now. Hopefully it will be enough. Buy American products if they are environmentally friendly. Try not to drive. Educate others. It may be too late (I hope not) but we still need to do all we can.