Oil companies caught NOT drilling in areas that have already been leased to them

[ck4829]

Republicans and Bush/McCain are using "offshore drilling" for political points.

Big Oil has land leased to it, and is NOT drilling. Why?

"President George W. Bush today called on Congress to expand domestic oil production to lower record high oil and gas prices by lifting a ban on oil exploration in the Outer Continental Shelf that has been in place since 1981.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said last night in advance of the president' energy speech, "The President's proposal sounds like another page from the Administration's Energy Policy that was literally written by the oil industry: give away more public resources to the very same oil companies that are sitting on 68 million acres of federal lands they've already leased."

If oil companies tapped the 68 million federal acres of leased land it would generate an estimated 4.8 million barrels of oil a day - six times what the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge would produce at its peak, Pelosi said.

"The fact is 80 percent of the oil available on the Outer Continental Shelf is in regions that are already open to leasing, but the oil companies haven't decided it's worth their time to drill there," the speaker said."

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/jun2008/2008-06-18-01.asp

68 million acres not being explored further confirmed by:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/19/opinion/19thu1.html

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/pelosi-statement-advance-presidents-anticipated-energy-address-tomorrow/

http://voanews.com/english/2008-06-18-voa40.cfm

The oil companies are ripping us off, and the Republicans (And the Democrats aren't part of this) are enabling this massive scam upon the American People, as well as get political points off of this.

[Greyskye]

1. Great talking point

Simply indefensible. Bastards! :grr:

:kick: & R

[kestrel91316]

2. Here's the REAL elephant in the living room about ANWR:

As the permafrost melts, it will become virtually impossible to get equipment up there and drive it around ANY time of year. Already the months when the road up there can be traveled on (when it's frozen and not deep mud) are fewer and fewer.

[ck4829]

3. Speaking of elephants (Or the devil)

I heard the real reason why Republicans want to open up ANWR is that it would be a "symbolic defeat for liberalism," guess this just confirms it, eh?

[jpljr77]

6. It's more like a government vs. market win

But yeah, it's largely symbolic and ideological, not a practical energy policy move.

There is growing desperation among Grover Norquist types to prove their cause is worth fighting, because they've really been slapped around a lot lately. This would be a "see, we got that one" point.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

4. Recommended

[gasperc]

5. Bush and Cheney's secret energy plan is a total failure

of course they blame us for thier collosal fuck up

[wiggs]

12. No. I has been a huge success for the board rooms. HUGE success and record

profits for any company anywhere in the world.

[Rainbowreflect]

7. K&R

:kick:

[progressoid]

8. No No No. A RW talking head told me this morning that the Oil Companies have determined that

there isn't any oil there. She said it, so it must be true.

So there. Nya nya nya.

[hootinholler]

9. Has anyone seen maps?

How much oil is under these leased ares?

I've been googling with no luck.

-Hoot

[SergeyDovlatov]

10. What if they prospected and discovered that there is little

easily recoverable oil and it would cost more to build a rig and pump it out than expected proceed from it?

I don't believe that they are that dumb to pay for leases and don't drill if they expect to make good money from it.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

11. This is about the future for the oil compnaies....

They want to expand their leases now so that they have a 100% lock on the future oil market. It's called cornering the market.

[hootinholler]

14. Well, I don't think they have...

From the House Committee on Natural Resources Special Energy Report:

68 million acres of federal lands both onshore and underlying federal waters offshore in the Outer Continental Shelf are currently being held by oil and gas companies with no production occurring on these leases.

• That 68 million acres of leased but stockpiled federal oil and gas lands could produce an additional 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of natural gas each day.
  
  
• That would nearly double total U.S. oil production and increase natural gas production by 75%.
  
  
• It would cut U.S. oil imports by one-third.
  
  
• And it would be more than six times the estimated peak production from ANWR.

-Hoot

[DCKit]

16. If there were no easy - or otherwise - oil, why continue to hold the leases?

They're trying to corner the market while the getting is good. January is fast approaching.

Be more skeptical folks. At this point, I'm beginning to doubt anyone at the WH is even using their real name. They just can't stop lying.

[wiggs]

13. Great investment. Their resource has increased in value 400% over the last

five years. Much better to have oil in the ground than have money in the bank or market earning 5% per year (at best). Once pumped and sold, the oil resource ceases to increase in value and you just have cash that depreciates.

[mackdaddy]

17. Drill the wells and Cap them Off as "Dry Holes"

This is totally at the level of rumor, but it would be interesting to see if anyone else had seen this firsthand.

Over 10 years ago, a relative of one of my dad's friends was visiting here in Ohio. This guy had worked on an off-shore oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico for one of the big Oil companies with a bunch of X's in the name.

He claimed that they would drill wells, and when they "came in" that instead of putting them into production, they would just cap them off and report them as "Dry Holes". This would supposedly be a big write-off on taxes, and help with various reports for gaming of the federal leases.

Secret Oil in the ground is literally as good as secret gold in the vault. And you can always come back later with "new technology" and start pumping the oil whenever the price is right.


I always thought it was plausible at the time, and I see a lot of old oil wells even here in Ohio that have sat rusting suddenly the pumps are bobbing up and down for the first time in decades.

[indepat]

15. Couldn't happen to a sweller bunch of fucked-over folks who seem to chant: Do it to me one more

time. :D