U.S. Addiction to Foreign Oil Deepens

[UpInArms]

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/breaking/breakingnewsarticle.asp?feed=OBR&Date=20040717&ID=3893537

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. domestic oil production has dropped five percent since this year's peak in February and near-record oil prices are unlikely to inspire drillers to slow the country's deepening dependence on foreign oil, experts say.

``Why on earth would you drill here when we've been drilling here for 120 years and when there's vast untapped regions across the globe?'' said Kyle Cooper, analyst at Citigroup Global Markets in Houston.

U.S. pumps pulled 5.43 million barrels per day of oil in early July compared to 5.70 million bpd in early February, according to the federal Energy Information Administration. The United States uses all of its domestic crude production. It relies on imports of crude and oil products for the remainder of the approximately 20 million bpd of oil it burns daily.

As domestic output dropped this summer, crude imports averaged more than 10 million bpd for a record two months, the EIA said this week.

<snip>

But the impact of outages is intensified by a long-term drop in U.S. oil output, said Mir Yousufuddin, who tracks oil production for the EIA in Dallas. U.S. oil output peaked during the Arab oil embargo of 1973 when production was 9.3 million bpd.

U.S. production in 2003 fell 1.5 percent to about 5.7 million bpd, and the trend is on track to fall.

...more...

[sunny5555]

1. I quit oil 2 years ago.

I can't quit electricity though. If everyone did the same the problem would be solved.

[maddezmom]

2. how do you quit oil?

:shrug:

[sunny5555]

3. I quit driving.

How else would you do it?

[maddezmom]

4. thought you might be growing your own food, etc

:)

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

7. Your computer is made of oil.

[ixion]

8. plastics, cosmetics, and on and on... oil is used in everything

very hard to truly 'quit' oil in this society.

Everything from the clothes you wear, to the soap you wash with, to the carpets on you floor uses oil.

[maddezmom]

9. here's a bunch more

artificial limbs
bags (garbage bags, shopping bags)
balloons
bandaids
candles
clothing (polyester, nylon)
combs
computers, calculators
crayons
credit cards
dishwashing liquids
disposable diapers
eye glasses, sunglasses
fertilizers
fishing rods
flooring (linoleum, tiles, carpets)
garden hose
hand lotion, cream, petroleum jelly
helmets (bicycle, hockey, etc.)
heart valves
helmets (bicycle, hockey, etc.)
insect repellent
insecticides
life jackets
milk jugs
paint brushes
panty hose
parachutes
patio furniture
pens
perfume
rope (nylon)
safety glass
shampoo
shower curtains, shower doors
soft contact lenses
soft drink bottles, plastic bottles
tape (clear, masking, etc.)
tapes - cassettes, vcr tapes
telephones
tennis rackets
tents
toys, dolls, model cars
tires (synthetic rubber)
toothbrushes, toothpaste tubes
trash bags
tv cabinets
umbrellas
unbreakable dishes
waterproof jackets, boots, pants





http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/sask/oilproducts.html

[Geo55]

5. They dance around the truth

``Why on earth would you drill here when we've been drilling here for 120 years and when there's vast untapped regions across the globe?'' said Kyle Cooper, analyst at Citigroup Global Markets in Houston.

Because there is no easily recoverable oil "here"

another indicater of "peak oil"

[cliss]

10. Exactly my thought when I read that.

"vast untapped regions".....hm. WOW!!! It sounds like we are floating on an ocean of oil. Why conserve?

This is exactly the kind of thinking which has gotten us into so much trouble. This was also the attitude which the "Oil Men" in the White House had (BeelzeBush). No Conservation Needed.

I remember reading articles about this, way back in 2000, thinking "Are they out of their minds?" We do not have Infinite Oil, and they should stop perpetuating this myth.

These guys were the ultimate enablers/drug pushers. They just wanted to drive up demand, at least not curtail demand. So -- they just speeded up the bitter fallout of Peak Oil, which I beieve in.

In fact, I stopped driving my car. I'm now taking the bus. While the posters are right in that everything I touch is made from petroleum products, my biggest oil use is still my car, and I choose to wean myself from it.

[mulethree]

11. easily recoverable

Theres this idea that as oil prices increase they can make a profit even from the 'harder to recover' oil, like we have here at home.

Unfortunately, just making a profit isn't good enough. It has to be the biggest possible profit or someone isn't doing their job. It's much cheaper - thus more profitable - to say ... occupy Iraq at the low cost of just $5 per barrel, than to spend $15 per barrel to extract 'stubborn' oil from existing fields. Hold off on the more stubborn stuff until oil prices hit $80 a barrel.

It's beautiful. By invading the middle east we drive up oil prices and profits and simultaneously get our customers (the taxpayers) to shell out the $5 per barrel instead of having that $15 per barrel cutting into our profits.

So remember, if you ever become a dictator ... Genocide is OK, tyranny is OK, political murder is OK, but when you sit on billions of barrels of likely oil reserves - and refuse to let American oil companies explore, drill, pump and profit - then you become become a belligerent rogue leader and your days are numbered. When oil is cheap and those 200 Billion barrels are only worth $1 Trillion in profits - the world can let you manage your own affairs. But as we pass peak oil, and prices head past $100 per barrel, the profits become worth $20 Trillion and Uncle Sam just has to get his hand in there - before someone else does it.

[Geo55]

12. but ultimately....

the thermodynamic principal takes hold.....even if a barrel is $1000 per....if it takes $1000 to get it out....it becomes a zero sum game.
but the huge price increases will screw the global economy well before that.

[Barkley]

6. This is why California's gas prices are rising!

"In the Golden state, output has fallen about from 842,000 bpd in 2000 to an average of 742,000 bpd from October last year to March this year, according to state records."

Regular 87 octane was around $2.40/ gal in Pasadena in March, I'm not sure what the prices are now.

[lumpy]

13. The Brain in the White House

claims we are at war. Time to ration gas? Way past time to conserve and way past time to develope alternative power sources. Keep on guzzling.