August 12, 2011
— Open Blogger The standing joke among Jews is, "If we're the Chosen People, why didn't God promise us some land with OIL under it?" As it turns out, He did.
Recent discoveries -- over the past several years -- put the amount of natural gas reserves in Israeli territorial waters at as much as 26 trillion cubic feet. That's roughly triple what Israel will consume over the next 20 years, meaning much of it can be exported. But compared to Egypt's 77 tcf of gas reserves, Israel's natural gas discoveries are not quite Earth-shaking.
Currently, Israel imports coal for domestic electricity, supplemented since 2004 by natural gas from the offshore Mari-B field twenty-five miles from the southern port of Ashdod. More gas comes from Egypt, arriving near Ashdod via an undersea pipeline. Indeed, despite the excitement over the Leviathan field, Israel signed a new twenty-year gas purchase agreement with Egypt earlier in December to supply several industrial entities, including the Dead Sea Works and the Haifa refinery.If the riches of the Leviathan field are confirmed, production could begin by 2016. In that scenario, Israel could eventually become a net energy exporter despite still needing to import oil to refine into gasoline and other products. Apart from notional energy independence, using natural gas from its own fields would save Israel $4 billion in imports annually while boosting gross national product. Plentiful indigenous hydrocarbon supplies could also prompt the development of new industries. For the time being, though, Israel must resolve a variety of problems before it can begin reaping the full benefits of the new discovery.
However, Israel sits atop another energy resource: oil shale. Up until the end of 2010, it was believed that Israel had about 4 billion barrels of oil in extractable oil shale. Given that the Saudis produce just under 10 million bbl/day, those 4 billion bbl are equivalent to about 400 days of Saudi Arabia's production.
But new discoveries of oil shale in Israel and new techniques of extraction put the latest estimates of available oil from Israeli shale at 250 billion bbl - just shy of Saudi Arabia's proven reserves of 260 billion bbl.
What is less well-known, but even more dramatic, is the work being done on this countryÂ’s oil shale. The British-based World Energy Council reported in November 2010 that Israel had oil shale from which it is possible to extract the equivalent of 4 billion barrels of oil. Yet these numbers are currently undergoing a major revision internationally.A new assessment was released late last year by Dr. Yuval Bartov, chief geologist for Israel Energy Initiatives, at the yearly symposium of the prestigious Colorado School of Mines. He presented data that our oil shale reserves are actually the equivalent of 250 billion barrels (that compares with 260 billion barrels in the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia).
Independent oil industry analysts have been carefully looking at the shale, and have not refuted these findings. As a consequence of these new estimates, we may emerge as the third largest deposit of oil shale, after the US and China.
Moreover, Israel is developing extraction techniques that take the oil out of the shale while the shale remains underground, at per-barrel costs of $20 or less.
What would it mean to the world if Israel were able to produce oil at rates similar to Saudi Arabia?
1) Lower oil prices overall. More supply would allow oil prices to fall to levels more consistent with historical patterns. Cheaper oil would help the world's industrialized economies to grow.
2) A loosening of OPEC's stranglehold on world oil markets. Any significant non-OPEC production reduces OPEC's leverage and provides a safety valve against production restrictions by one or more OPEC nations.
3) A flip in American foreign aid payments. Israel would no longer need aid from the USA and would be able to buy American military hardware for cash.
4) A revision in geopolitical and global military postures. Unlike oil from the Persian Gulf that has to transit the Suez Canal or circumnavigate Africa, Israeli oil can be delivered to tankers in the Mediterranean. Consider the way Europe reacted to the potential disruption of oil production in Libya, an unstable and hostile producer in the Mediterranean; the value of a politically stable and friendly oil source in the Mediterranean would cause the West to put more pressure on the Arab world to declare peace with Israel and cease threatening a valuable energy exporter. It would also change the calculus with respect to the threat Iran and its nuclear program pose to Israel.
5) A potential recession in global terrorism. If the West uses Israel's rise as an oil exporter as an impetus to stand up to Iran, the Iranian regime may find it too costly to continue exporting terrorism via Syria to Hezbollah, Hamas and other groups around the world. Without Iranian sponsorship, jihadist movements in many places would become too weak to stand up to more moderate movements. And to the extent that Israel's competition with Saudi Arabia in the oil markets and its new geopolitical importance made life harder on Saudi and other Gulf oil sheikhs and emirs, they would have less disposable income to spend on al-Qaeda and the Muslim Brotherhood.
Not surprisingly, Hezbollah wants to throw a monkey wrench into Israel's plans by prodding Lebanon to claim part of Israel's territorial waters for its own. But Israel has plenty of gas for its own use in undisputed waters and has the technology to defend its claims against Hezbollah attacks by missiles or suicide boats. And Hezbollah can't make any claim over Israeli oil shale.
Let's hope this brave new world opens up soon. We will all benefit.
(crossposted from Up From The Slime)
Posted by: Open Blogger at
03:54 PM
| Comments (145)
Post contains 968 words, total size 6 kb.
Posted by: The Hare with Amber Eyes AudioBook at August 12, 2011 04:00 PM (8Dm6R)
Posted by: That's Mr. Jehovah To You! at August 12, 2011 04:02 PM (QgAFR)
Posted by: Ma Bell at August 12, 2011 04:02 PM (H/MnC)
Posted by: Oldsailors poet at August 12, 2011 04:03 PM (ZDUD4)
Posted by: Unhinged Glenn Beck Hater from MMfA at August 12, 2011 04:04 PM (uoAzW)
Posted by: huerfano at August 12, 2011 04:05 PM (kD+se)
Posted by: UN Resolution to Declare Palestine a State with '67 Borders at August 12, 2011 04:06 PM (D+phB)
Posted by: andycanuck at August 12, 2011 04:06 PM (oUG6f)
Posted by: Daniel Plainview at August 12, 2011 04:07 PM (3SvjA)
>>somebody wake up Mel Gibson
Posted by: SantaRosaStan at August 12, 2011 04:09 PM (UqKQV)
Posted by: andycanuck at August 12, 2011 04:10 PM (oUG6f)
Posted by: dagny at August 12, 2011 04:11 PM (8ZyDn)
Posted by: The Israeli EPA at August 12, 2011 04:11 PM (kUaEF)
Posted by: Clubber Lang at August 12, 2011 04:12 PM (QcFbt)
Posted by: :Coexist: at August 12, 2011 04:12 PM (uoAzW)
Posted by: dagny at August 12, 2011 04:12 PM (8ZyDn)
Posted by: Pali Spokeperson and suicide belt fabricator at August 12, 2011 04:13 PM (yrGif)
I'm more interested in whether the rest of the world would be more willing to tell Iran to piss off if Israel turned out to have roughly twice the oil, in an easier place to take delivery.
Posted by: stuiec at August 12, 2011 04:13 PM (Di3Im)
Posted by: CoolCzech at August 12, 2011 04:13 PM (kUaEF)
Posted by: CoolCzech at August 12, 2011 04:14 PM (kUaEF)
Posted by: Clubber Lang at August 12, 2011 08:12 PM (QcFbt)
Yeah, they do (Jordan especially). And if they ever stop trying to kill Israelis long enough to exploit those deposits, they could end up living far better lives than they do now.
Posted by: stuiec at August 12, 2011 04:15 PM (Di3Im)
Remember HOLOCAUST 2000 with KIRK DOUGLAS?
It was about a guy trying to build a nuclear power plant in Israel but instead disturbs some ancient spirits and shit.
One of the worst movies ever made. Perfect candidate for a MST3K riff.
Posted by: soothsayerwing plover at August 12, 2011 04:16 PM (25wCj)
Wow, compressed dinosaurs in the Mideast.
Who knew?
BTW, who found the first dino DNA in oil anyway?
Posted by: BackwardsBoy at August 12, 2011 04:17 PM (d0Tfm)
Posted by: dagny at August 12, 2011 08:12 PM (8ZyDn)
you do. Your brain runs on Sugar. No sugar=starving brain.
my guy was taking tests and on the Atkins diet and was having a hell of a time till he started drinking a soda before class, before study and before tests.
Posted by: Gushka at August 12, 2011 04:18 PM (QNeKQ)
Posted by: CoolCzech at August 12, 2011 04:18 PM (kUaEF)
BTW, who found the first dino DNA in oil anyway?
Posted by: BackwardsBoy at August 12, 2011 08:17 PM (d0Tfm)
me
Posted by: Fred Flintstone at August 12, 2011 04:18 PM (UqKQV)
None of this will matter if the crazies in Teheran get nukes.
Posted by: Gregory of Yardalre at August 12, 2011 04:19 PM (azHfB)
Posted by: Rex Harrison's Hat at August 12, 2011 04:21 PM (uoAzW)
Posted by: robtr at August 12, 2011 04:21 PM (MtwBb)
Posted by: Voltaires Crack at August 12, 2011 04:22 PM (RLKHp)
Posted by: eric cartman at August 12, 2011 04:22 PM (oUG6f)
None of this will matter if the crazies in Teheran get nukes.
Posted by: Gregory of Yardalre at August 12, 2011 08:19 PM (azHfB)
Well, Israeli gas will have the added safety benefit of glowing in the dark, so there's that...
Posted by: StPatrick_TN is a suspected TEAhadist at August 12, 2011 04:23 PM (D+phB)
Posted by: Rex Harrison's Hat at August 12, 2011 04:25 PM (uoAzW)
Not surprisingly, Hezbollah wants to throw a monkey wrench into
Israel's plans by prodding Lebanon to claim part of Israel's territorial
waters for its own. But Israel has plenty of gas for its own use in
undisputed waters and has the technology to defend its claims against
Hezbollah attacks by missiles or suicide boats. And Hezbollah can't make
any claim over Israeli oil shale.
Hezbollah, as directed by their masters in Damascus and Tehran, would love to disrupt those plans. Let's hope that when the next Lebanon war breaks out, the Israelis are willing to destroy all of Hezbollah this time. Send them all to meet Allah personally.
Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at August 12, 2011 04:25 PM (aYTJa)
I'm guessing these finds extend into neighboring areas. Posted by: Rex Harrison's Hat at August 12, 2011 08:21 PM (uoAzW
And the Israelis did it while being fired at with rockets, dealing with suicide bombers, and being threatened on a daily basis by their "neighbors" and the UN.
Posted by: Hrothgar at August 12, 2011 04:27 PM (yrGif)
Posted by: Rex Harrison's Hat at August 12, 2011 04:30 PM (uoAzW)
Mr. Flintsone, all you and Wilma did was be the first couple to sleep in a double bed on TV.
Although you may have used some kind of oil at some time...
Posted by: BackwardsBoy at August 12, 2011 04:31 PM (d0Tfm)
As a kid I remember watching stuff telling me that we going to run out of oil soon and needed to find alternatives or we were out of luck.
I turned 42 last week.
Posted by: 29Victor at August 12, 2011 04:31 PM (ES9R7)
A land where the bolts of it's gates are made of iron and bronze.
Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at August 12, 2011 04:34 PM (aYTJa)
Posted by: Rex Harrison's Hat at August 12, 2011 04:36 PM (uoAzW)
As a kid I remember watching stuff telling me that we going to run out of oil soon and needed to find alternatives or we were out of luck.
I turned 42 last week.
Posted by: 29Victor at August 12, 2011 08:31 PM (ES9R7)
I remember the same thing and I am way older than you. I have the sneaky suspicion that this slimy black substance is made on an continuing basis.
Posted by: Ma Bell at August 12, 2011 04:38 PM (H/MnC)
Posted by: Rex Harrison's Hat at August 12, 2011 04:38 PM (uoAzW)
Posted by: Rex Harrison's Hat at August 12, 2011 04:41 PM (uoAzW)
As a kid I remember watching stuff telling me that we going to run out of oil soon and needed to find alternatives or we were out of luck.
I turned 42 last week.
The spreading of bullshit knows no rest.
We're finding oil in new places all the time. Some enterprising soul could successfully argue that oil is a natural byproduct of Earth, or something.
It is not, as previously inferred, compressed dinosaurs. Theories remain theories until proven.
Posted by: BackwardsBoy at August 12, 2011 04:41 PM (d0Tfm)
Posted by: Rex Harrison's Hat at August 12, 2011 08:25 PM (uoAzW)
The guys are touring and making DVDs as Cinematic Titanic.
Posted by: stuiec at August 12, 2011 04:43 PM (Di3Im)
Posted by: Krazy Kat at August 12, 2011 04:44 PM (A23u6)
I remember the same thing and I am way older than you. I have the sneaky suspicion that this slimy black substance is made on an continuing basis.
Posted by: Ma Bell at August 12, 2011 08:38 PM (H/MnC)
I remember being told that opening ANWR for oil extraction wouldn't produce any oil for at least 10 years (but that was 20 years ago).
I am amazed that Brazil thinks they can bring offshore oil on line faster than that. Ah yes, that old Brazilian can-do spirit is still there!
Posted by: Hrothgar at August 12, 2011 04:45 PM (yrGif)
Posted by: Rex Harrison's Hat at August 12, 2011 04:46 PM (uoAzW)
I remember the same thing and I am way older than you. I have the sneaky suspicion that this slimy black substance is made on an continuing basis.
We have espn, you and I.
Posted by: BackwardsBoy at August 12, 2011 04:47 PM (d0Tfm)
Because they are allies. We give them 2 billion and with that they buy American weaponry - that's not a bad deal for either of us.
I'm not a big fan of foreign aid myself, but that (foreign aid to Israel) is not what's bankrupting our government.
Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at August 12, 2011 04:47 PM (aYTJa)
Posted by: Rex Harrison's Hat at August 12, 2011 04:48 PM (uoAzW)
So we give Israel foriegn aid for what reason again?
So we give China money for what reason? Or the Palestinians, or some other 3rd world dictator? Really?
Posted by: Ma Bell at August 12, 2011 04:48 PM (H/MnC)
They are big proponents of abiogenic or abiotic oil.
Makes real chemical sense.
Posted by: De' Debil Hisself at August 12, 2011 04:49 PM (lpWVn)
I wish he was here, because I'd give him a fucking huge beer, and he'd give me a hilarious Jew-oil one-liner I could steal.
Got nothin'.
JEWS DID C8H18
Posted by: oblig. at August 12, 2011 04:49 PM (xvZW9)
Posted by: IllTemperedCur
The Peak oilers really chap my hide. Taking a petro-chem concept that was used to describe projections of particular sites and then using it to derive world-wide production curves is just hair-pulling stupid.
***
That said; why does it seem that the only places that don't have oil shale are the countries where no one has looked? Canada has oil sands and shale, the US has shale up the tookus. Why shouldn't every continent contain a certain percentage of shale as well?
Posted by: weft cut-loop at August 12, 2011 04:50 PM (DEcmU)
They are big proponents of abiogenic or abiotic oil.
Makes real chemical sense.
Wasn't there a book published about this abiogenic theory?
Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at August 12, 2011 04:52 PM (aYTJa)
Shecky Green did, upthread: oil-vey.
Posted by: Retread at August 12, 2011 04:53 PM (G+7cD)
Posted by: weft cut-loop at August 12, 2011 08:50 PM (DEcmU)
christ, even Germany has some oil. What is oil anyway. I am no chemist, but doesn't it involve carbon (everything is carbon) bacteria and high pressure. maybe that's to easy I don't know. Some one smarter put me in some knowledge
Posted by: Ma Bell at August 12, 2011 04:54 PM (H/MnC)
Posted by: phoenixgirl at August 12, 2011 04:55 PM (eOXTH)
Well it's sticky and black and comes in a barrel and you get lipstick and mascara from it. But I'm no expert!
Posted by: mpfs, TPT Jew at August 12, 2011 04:56 PM (3TjSM)
Posted by: phoenixgirl at August 12, 2011 04:56 PM (eOXTH)
Not everyone's sort of thing, but his statements have come back to me many times since I read them in 2006.
Link to the 2006 Jerusalem Post article archive
http://tinyurl.com/3kkr8kb
Posted by: J o o at August 12, 2011 04:57 PM (v8Pb8)
I am a bit worried about the Palis/Syrians/Iranians upping the time table for their attack plans towards Israel because of this finding, but yes, this is very good news!
Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at August 12, 2011 04:57 PM (aYTJa)
Posted by: phoenixgirl at August 12, 2011 04:58 PM (eOXTH)
Posted by: phoenixgirl at August 12, 2011 08:56 PM (eOXTH)
Now you've done it....ssshhhhh!
Posted by: Tami at August 12, 2011 04:58 PM (X6akg)
Eh, we are used to it. You wander for 40 years you get tough and lost and thirsty and mad because Moses wouldn't look at the darn map!
Posted by: mpfs, TPT Jew at August 12, 2011 04:59 PM (3TjSM)
Posted by: phoenixgirl at August 12, 2011 05:00 PM (eOXTH)
but really, there's no such thing as peak oil...no matter how patiently i try to explain this very simple concept to my very simple-minded liberal friends, they just cannot comprehend...they seem to think that they will go to fill up on gas and the pump will be dry. really. i try to tell them that not only have proven reserves gone up due to advances in drilling tech (could they drill ten or more thousand feet in ten thousand feet of water twenty years ago? not a flippin' chance!) but we're using what we have much more efficiently. sigh. and we haven't even begun to tap what's available.
Posted by: model_1066 at August 12, 2011 05:00 PM (2j/Mv)
Posted by: model_1066 at August 12, 2011 05:02 PM (2j/Mv)
crap......there always is a bad side.......
I'd bet that Israel has plans. I'm sure they didn't stop at Stuxnet or whatever that bug was called.
Posted by: Retread at August 12, 2011 05:02 PM (G+7cD)
What is oil anyway. I am no chemist, but doesn't it involve carbon
(everything is carbon) bacteria and high pressure. maybe that's to easy I
don't know. Some one smarter put me in some knowledge. Posted by: Ma Bell
No one has actually proven that oil/petrochem is ancient, organic matter compressed underground for x millions of years, AFAIK. So some hypothesize that oil is a natural geological compound from some unknown process, aka the abiotic hypothesis.
There isn't enough research to say that's the true, but the arrogance in the Peak Oil fanatics is monumental. No one knows how oil is actually formed let alone the sum total of the earth's oil content.
Posted by: weft cut-loop at August 12, 2011 05:03 PM (DEcmU)
Posted by: Rex Harrison's Hat at August 12, 2011 05:04 PM (uoAzW)
Those sneaky JOOOs always have plans and they are always good ones.
I'm guessing for the moment the Israelis are targeting essential personnel of Iran's nuclear program for "quiet" assassination/kidnapping.
Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at August 12, 2011 05:05 PM (aYTJa)
Posted by: mpfs, TPT Jew at August 12, 2011 05:05 PM (3TjSM)
Posted by: steevy at August 12, 2011 05:05 PM (PSy/E)
Posted by: model_1066 at August 12, 2011 05:06 PM (2j/Mv)
__________
Has anyone notified Art Bell?
Posted by: Anachronda at August 12, 2011 05:06 PM (6fER6)
Here is a good site for researching this.
Posted by: De' Debil Hisself at August 12, 2011 05:07 PM (lpWVn)
http://tinyurl.com/3kkr8kb
________
Apparently, 2006 was before the invention of the paragraph.
Posted by: Anachronda at August 12, 2011 05:07 PM (6fER6)
Posted by: model_1066 at August 12, 2011 05:08 PM (2j/Mv)
Posted by: steevy at August 12, 2011 05:09 PM (PSy/E)
Has anyone notified Art Bell?
Posted by: AnachrondaI'm not sure who that is, I would look him up on Wikipedia but they are likely to say that he invented dinosaurs and went to kindergarten with George Washington. Later retired from playing Hockey with the infamous 2033 Lakers.
Posted by: Shiggz at August 12, 2011 05:10 PM (v8Pb8)
Posted by: steevy at August 12, 2011 05:10 PM (PSy/E)
They are big proponents of abiogenic or abiotic oil.
Makes real chemical sense.
___________
Saw a news story a few years back where someone had done some processing of seismometers and claimed there was a huge water deposit deep in the crust covering a big chunk of the northern hemisphere. What the show never explained was how they had decided it was water instead of, say, oil.
Posted by: Anachronda at August 12, 2011 05:11 PM (6fER6)
Posted by: Shiggz at August 12, 2011 05:11 PM (v8Pb8)
Posted by: Rex Harrison's Hat at August 12, 2011 05:11 PM (uoAzW)
These "clean energy" idiots have no farking clue how dirty "clean energy" really is, particularly when the components for clean energy equipment are made in China. I assume you're moving to a more saner location?
Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at August 12, 2011 05:11 PM (aYTJa)
Posted by: Shiggz at August 12, 2011 05:11 PM (v8Pb8)
Posted by: Anachronda
I'm not sure who that is,
____________
Fine. Notify George Noory, then. See if I care.
Oh, yeah. And GET OFF MY LAWN!
Posted by: Anachronda at August 12, 2011 05:12 PM (6fER6)
Posted by: steevy at August 12, 2011 05:13 PM (PSy/E)
Posted by: Rex Harrison's Hat at August 12, 2011 05:15 PM (uoAzW)
Posted by: Anachronda at August 12, 2011 09:12 PM (6fER6)
I'm east of the Rockies, can I comment on this line?
Posted by: Rex Harrison's Hat
Did you try the wild card line?
Posted by: mpfs, TPT Jew at August 12, 2011 05:16 PM (3TjSM)
Posted by: De' Debil Hisself at August 12, 2011 05:16 PM (lpWVn)
Posted by: steevy at August 12, 2011 09:13 PM (PSy/E)
I was in south Jersey last week. Didn't see any Obama stickers, but saw a BUNCH of Ron Paul stickers & signs in yards. Freakin Jersey, if they're not on one side of the loony scale, they're on the other.
Posted by: yinzer at August 12, 2011 05:16 PM (aa83J)
Posted by: Rex Harrison's Hat at August 12, 2011 05:17 PM (uoAzW)
Posted by: steevy at August 12, 2011 05:18 PM (PSy/E)
Posted by: willow at August 12, 2011 05:19 PM (h+qn8)
Posted by: steevy at August 12, 2011 05:20 PM (PSy/E)
Posted by: phoenixgirl at August 12, 2011 05:21 PM (eOXTH)
Posted by: Kratos (Ghost of Sparta) at August 12, 2011 05:22 PM (aYTJa)
What an absurd proposition. Any claim by Lebanon on Israeli territorial waters would last..oh..hmmm ..lets see...mmm...about 5 minutes.
Posted by: USNA1985 at August 12, 2011 05:26 PM (U3TDy)
Posted by: Christopher Taylor at August 12, 2011 05:27 PM (r4wIV)
Posted by: model_1066 at August 12, 2011 05:29 PM (2j/Mv)
Posted by: Megan at August 12, 2011 05:36 PM (BNv9H)
Israel: Drainage! Drainage, Muzzie, you boy. Drained dry. I'm so sorry. Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that's a straw, you see? You watching?. And my straw reaches acroooooooss the room, and starts to drink your milkshake... I... drink... your... milkshake!
[sucking sound]
Israel: I drink it up!
Muzzies: Don't bully me, Israel!
[Israel roars and throws Muzzie across the room]
Israel: Did you think your song and dance and your superstition would help you, Muzzie? I am the Third Revelation! I am who the Lord has chosen!
Posted by: Guy Fawkes at August 12, 2011 05:39 PM (4nfy2)
Posted by: IllTemperedCur at August 12, 2011 05:40 PM (9Lm5R)
Posted by: President Chet Roosevelt at August 12, 2011 05:44 PM (mqHKZ)
Posted by: GGE of the Moron TEAhad at August 12, 2011 06:54 PM (sILPb)
Posted by: SFGoth at August 12, 2011 07:05 PM (jbDLS)
And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days:
Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob,
And listen to Israel your father.”
“Joseph is a fruitful bough,
A fruitful bough by a well;
His branches run over the wall.
The archers have bitterly grieved him,
Shot at him and hated him.
But his bow remained in strength,
And the arms of his hands were made strong
By the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob
(From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
By the God of your father who will help you,
And by the Almighty who will bless you
With blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that lies beneathPosted by: Breaker19 at August 12, 2011 07:37 PM (WCm02)
You're assuming the Iranians are sane and acting on sane impulses. You're assuming that they're supporting terrorism as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself.
Posted by: BeckoningChasm at August 12, 2011 07:53 PM (/zYUh)
Posted by: hudson duster at August 13, 2011 03:36 AM (yFIAm)
Not to rain on the parade, but when working up those numbers comparing to Saudi oil, it costs the Saud family 50 cents to 5 bucks to extract a barrel of oil. Oil shale is in the $40/barrel range to get, and the amount of energy (gasoline) in the oil is less.
So those two factors need taken into account.
Posted by: Jimmah at August 13, 2011 04:28 AM (NIjD4)
So, Israel..meh...but it's way better than nothing.
Posted by: SOYLENT GREEN at August 13, 2011 08:00 AM (zUc6c)
The way I understand it is that it doesn't cost $40 per barrel to extract the oil shale. It's when oil is selling at $40/bbl that it makes economic sense to extract it. That's one reason so much work is going on in the Bakken field in eastern MT.
@156
Is that natural gas or oil? All I can find is 490 trillion ft^3 of natural gas.
The Navy (which is in charge of estimating oil reserves for some reason) estimates that the US has oil shale reserves of 2,085,000,000,000 barrels (2.085x10^12) Saudi Arabia has proven reserves of 250,000,000,000 (2.50 x 10^11) that doesn't even count coal to gas conversions or savings that could be achieved by utilizing nuclear power (or solar and wind when it becomes more efficient) . We are in no danger of running out of oil soon.
This is why I keep saying that every time Obama starts talking about green jobs and green energy the GOP should respond with how about just creating energy jobs and achieving energy independence that way. Call for the firing of Ken Salazar and removal of regs like the Gulf drilling ban and the Rocky Mountain exploration ban.
Posted by: chad at August 13, 2011 10:10 AM (WNcvq)
Posted by: corsets at August 14, 2011 06:18 PM (v5qDv)
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Posted by: Comrade Arthur at August 12, 2011 03:59 PM (AEA92)