It has long been known that shales contain oil and gas but it is only within the last decade that the development of two technologies has made the extraction of gas from shale an economic proposition:
•The first of these is the ability to drill horizontally from an initial deep vertical bore.
•The second is the development of a process called ‘hydraulic fracturing’ .
Hydraulic fracturing is the use of a fluid made up of around 90% water carrying a load of sands, chemicals and sometimes diesel oil and forcing it into shales under high pressure, causing them to fracture and release the gas they contain.
This is the process from whose name the brute industrial tag of ‘fracking’ has been hacked.
To extract shale gas, you drill one or two miles down into the shale band, and then turn the drill head to bore horizontally for up to the same distance. This obviously increases the exposure of available shale to the well. A series of explosive charges in a perforated pipe are then detonated in the stretch designated for fracking, starting the fissuring of the rock for the hydrofracturing that then follows – directed into the new cracks, forcing them more widely apart and extending them.
Shale is hard and pretty impermeable so breaking it up in this way is the only means of releasing the gas it contains.
The gas then flows along the bore and escapes upwards to the well head.
The chemicals that are part of the water borne material injected into the rock include benzene – a known carcinogen that destroys bacteria that might otherwise clog up the fissures created in the rock.
Areas of gas carrying shales are known in the industry as ‘shale plays’ – as opposed to ‘shale explorations’. The difference between the two is that the risk of ‘shale plays’ not containing extractable gas is lower.
CONTINUED: http://forargyll.com/2011/09/fracking-facts-pros-cons-and-issues/
Showing posts with label drill oil. Show all posts
Showing posts with label drill oil. Show all posts
Monday, September 26, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
On Gas Prices, Obama Should Lead or Get Out of the Way
If we'd increased drilling 10 years ago things wouldn't be so bad today
By Jim Adams
Posted: May 13, 2011
Jim Adams is president and CEO of Offshore Marine Service Association, which represents the owners and operators of U.S. flag offshore service vessels and the shipyards and other businesses that support that industry.
Nearly a decade ago, the retail price for regular gasoline rose 26 cents per gallon in eight weeks to an all-time high of $1.75 per gallon. The government's Energy Information Administration (EIA) was tasked with an "Inquiry into August 2003 Gasoline Price Spike." We were waging the War on Terror, labor unions were striking, hurricanes threatened oil rigs while terrorists threatened refineries, demand for energy was creeping to a new high, and international markets drew down their inventories.
Sound familiar?
READ ON: http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2011/05/13/on-gas-prices-obama-should-lead-or-get-out-of-the-way
By Jim Adams
Posted: May 13, 2011
Jim Adams is president and CEO of Offshore Marine Service Association, which represents the owners and operators of U.S. flag offshore service vessels and the shipyards and other businesses that support that industry.
Nearly a decade ago, the retail price for regular gasoline rose 26 cents per gallon in eight weeks to an all-time high of $1.75 per gallon. The government's Energy Information Administration (EIA) was tasked with an "Inquiry into August 2003 Gasoline Price Spike." We were waging the War on Terror, labor unions were striking, hurricanes threatened oil rigs while terrorists threatened refineries, demand for energy was creeping to a new high, and international markets drew down their inventories.
Sound familiar?
READ ON: http://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2011/05/13/on-gas-prices-obama-should-lead-or-get-out-of-the-way
Thursday, May 5, 2011
Morning Bell: Obama’s Anti-Energy Policies Are Bankrupting America
Randall Stilley has witnessed firsthand the Obama administration’s job-killing agenda. As the president and chief executive of Seahawk Drilling, he had to lay off 632 employees before filing for bankruptcy — a direct result of President Barack Obama’s anti-energy policies.
Stilley’s company owned and operated 20 shallow-water rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The lack of energy production — a consequence of Obama’s drilling moratorium and subsequent “permitorium” — led to Seahawk’s demise. Now he’s speaking out, sharing Seahawk’s story in a new video from Heritage and the Institute for Energy Research.
READ MORE AND SEE THE VIDEO:http://blog.heritage.org/2011/05/05/morning-bell-obamas-anti-energy-policies-are-bankrupting-america-2/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
Stilley’s company owned and operated 20 shallow-water rigs in the Gulf of Mexico. The lack of energy production — a consequence of Obama’s drilling moratorium and subsequent “permitorium” — led to Seahawk’s demise. Now he’s speaking out, sharing Seahawk’s story in a new video from Heritage and the Institute for Energy Research.
READ MORE AND SEE THE VIDEO:http://blog.heritage.org/2011/05/05/morning-bell-obamas-anti-energy-policies-are-bankrupting-america-2/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
Monday, May 2, 2011
SUN JOURNAL LETTER TO THE EDITOR: Fuel prices, by CCTA Chairman Raynor James
4/29/2011
Fuel prices are steadily climbing. Our government is encouraging Brazil to drill and providing help for that effort while failing to issue permits to drill for our own oil.
Food prices aren’t far behind oil prices. It costs more to truck supplies to your grocery store. Right now, we can buy from local farmers and trade produce with our gardening friends, but just wait until the so-called “Food Safety Act” is fully implemented. Remember to thank Sen. Richard Burr when you get upset about this one. I like much of what Sen. Burr does, but his vote for the “Food Safety Act” infuriated me.
Unemployment is rampant. Our government taxes and regulates our entrepreneurs (who could solve this problem if left unfettered) to the point of making it almost impossible to create a profitable venture. Government is growing. Free enterprise is shrinking.
Americans’ innate rights are being treated as a gift from the government. That same government is steadily eroding our rights and removing choices from us. What part of “...the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” is so difficult to understand? Why should I be forced to use light bulbs that are difficult to read by, make everyone look jaundiced, and can kill the baby and the puppy if a bulb is broken and the clean up isn’t handled properly?
Our government is treating our friends as enemies, and our enemies as friends. Why are we in Libya? How many of the rebels we’re supporting are jehadists who would like to kill us?
We seem to be going along with the United Nations in favoring Palestine over Israel. Why? Why is much of our media silent about the increase in attacks against Israel?
Health care costs are rising. Access to good health care is shrinking. Because of its design, Obamacare will cost more and more while providing less and less. Unions and Obama cronies can get exemptions. For the rest of us, implementation is going forward apace even though a judge has declared it unconstitutional. Goodness, I wonder why my rights are being ignored by a government that flouts the U.S. Constitution in the face of a court’s ruling; silly me.
We can fix this mess if we will. Our state legislators in North Carolina are taking steps in many good directions. I’m very grateful to them for it. Our biggest problems are on the federal level.
We need to drill in all the places America has oil reserves. We need to build refineries. We need to build nuclear power plants. Carefully, but build them. Americans will buy “green” and “alternative” sources of power of our own free will if and when they are perfected to the point of being convenient, reliable, plentiful, and priced to sell. Until that happens, let us choose what works for us using market solutions and common sense. The price of gas does NOT need to “necessarily skyrocket.”
We need to rescind the “Food Safety Act.”
We need to free ourselves from Obamacare.
We need to reduce the federal budget by 42 percent. Almost 42 cents of every dollar the federal government spends is borrowed. That’s got to stop or we’re headed for disaster. Can’t you just imagine a family trying to continue to live like that? Does the work “bankruptcy” come to mind?
We need to refuse to raise the debt ceiling.
We need to dramatically curtail the EPA and the FCC. They’re hurting our businesses and threatening our freedom. In the case of the EPA, much of the threat comes from acting as if unproven theories are facts.
We need to back out of entitlements.
We need to resign from the United Nations. Our sovereignty is too important to allow the U.N. to erode it. We need our autonomy. We do not need a world government. The more removed from the people a government is, the worse it tends to be.
The only war we’re appropriately fighting is the war against Muslim jihadist fundamentalists who insist that we must die or be converted to Muslims. Not acknowledging this will not stop the war. If we don’t stop them, the jihadists will keep attacking us and infiltrating our culture until we’re dead or wearing burkas. We must stop them.
Our friends in Israel are fighting a similar war. They are in an even more vulnerable position than we are. We need to declare quite plainly that “any attack on Israel will be treated as an attack on the United States of America.”
We need to carefully follow the United States Constitution. The powers of the federal government need to be contracted to fit within its design once again.
Raynor James, CCTA Chairman
New Bern, NC
© Copyright 2011 Freedom Communications. All Rights Reserved.
Fuel prices are steadily climbing. Our government is encouraging Brazil to drill and providing help for that effort while failing to issue permits to drill for our own oil.
Food prices aren’t far behind oil prices. It costs more to truck supplies to your grocery store. Right now, we can buy from local farmers and trade produce with our gardening friends, but just wait until the so-called “Food Safety Act” is fully implemented. Remember to thank Sen. Richard Burr when you get upset about this one. I like much of what Sen. Burr does, but his vote for the “Food Safety Act” infuriated me.
Unemployment is rampant. Our government taxes and regulates our entrepreneurs (who could solve this problem if left unfettered) to the point of making it almost impossible to create a profitable venture. Government is growing. Free enterprise is shrinking.
Americans’ innate rights are being treated as a gift from the government. That same government is steadily eroding our rights and removing choices from us. What part of “...the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed” is so difficult to understand? Why should I be forced to use light bulbs that are difficult to read by, make everyone look jaundiced, and can kill the baby and the puppy if a bulb is broken and the clean up isn’t handled properly?
Our government is treating our friends as enemies, and our enemies as friends. Why are we in Libya? How many of the rebels we’re supporting are jehadists who would like to kill us?
We seem to be going along with the United Nations in favoring Palestine over Israel. Why? Why is much of our media silent about the increase in attacks against Israel?
Health care costs are rising. Access to good health care is shrinking. Because of its design, Obamacare will cost more and more while providing less and less. Unions and Obama cronies can get exemptions. For the rest of us, implementation is going forward apace even though a judge has declared it unconstitutional. Goodness, I wonder why my rights are being ignored by a government that flouts the U.S. Constitution in the face of a court’s ruling; silly me.
We can fix this mess if we will. Our state legislators in North Carolina are taking steps in many good directions. I’m very grateful to them for it. Our biggest problems are on the federal level.
We need to drill in all the places America has oil reserves. We need to build refineries. We need to build nuclear power plants. Carefully, but build them. Americans will buy “green” and “alternative” sources of power of our own free will if and when they are perfected to the point of being convenient, reliable, plentiful, and priced to sell. Until that happens, let us choose what works for us using market solutions and common sense. The price of gas does NOT need to “necessarily skyrocket.”
We need to rescind the “Food Safety Act.”
We need to free ourselves from Obamacare.
We need to reduce the federal budget by 42 percent. Almost 42 cents of every dollar the federal government spends is borrowed. That’s got to stop or we’re headed for disaster. Can’t you just imagine a family trying to continue to live like that? Does the work “bankruptcy” come to mind?
We need to refuse to raise the debt ceiling.
We need to dramatically curtail the EPA and the FCC. They’re hurting our businesses and threatening our freedom. In the case of the EPA, much of the threat comes from acting as if unproven theories are facts.
We need to back out of entitlements.
We need to resign from the United Nations. Our sovereignty is too important to allow the U.N. to erode it. We need our autonomy. We do not need a world government. The more removed from the people a government is, the worse it tends to be.
The only war we’re appropriately fighting is the war against Muslim jihadist fundamentalists who insist that we must die or be converted to Muslims. Not acknowledging this will not stop the war. If we don’t stop them, the jihadists will keep attacking us and infiltrating our culture until we’re dead or wearing burkas. We must stop them.
Our friends in Israel are fighting a similar war. They are in an even more vulnerable position than we are. We need to declare quite plainly that “any attack on Israel will be treated as an attack on the United States of America.”
We need to carefully follow the United States Constitution. The powers of the federal government need to be contracted to fit within its design once again.
Raynor James, CCTA Chairman
New Bern, NC
© Copyright 2011 Freedom Communications. All Rights Reserved.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
How long will we allow them to keep us dependent on foreign oil??????
EPA Rules Force Shell to Abandon Oil Drilling Plans
Shell Oil Company has announced it must scrap efforts to drill for oil this summer in the Arctic Ocean off the northern coast of Alaska. The decision comes following a ruling by the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board to withhold critical air permits. The move has angered some in Congress and triggered a flurry of legislation aimed at stripping the EPA of its oil drilling oversight.
Shell has spent five years and nearly $4 billion dollars on plans to explore for oil in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. The leases alone cost $2.2 billion. Shell Vice President Pete Slaiby says obtaining similar air permits for a drilling operation in the Gulf of Mexico would take about 45 days. He’s especially frustrated over the appeal board’s suggestion that the Arctic drill would somehow be hazardous for the people who live in the area. “We think the issues were really not major,” Slaiby said, “and clearly not impactful for the communities we work in.”
The closest village to where Shell proposed to drill is Kaktovik, Alaska. It is one of the most remote places in the United States. According to the latest census, the population is 245 and nearly all of the residents are Alaska natives. The village, which is 1 square mile, sits right along the shores of the Beaufort Sea, 70 miles away from the proposed off-shore drill site.
The EPA’s appeals board ruled that Shell had not taken into consideration emissions from an ice-breaking vessel when calculating overall greenhouse gas emissions from the project. Environmental groups were thrilled by the ruling.
Shell Oil Company has announced it must scrap efforts to drill for oil this summer in the Arctic Ocean off the northern coast of Alaska. The decision comes following a ruling by the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board to withhold critical air permits. The move has angered some in Congress and triggered a flurry of legislation aimed at stripping the EPA of its oil drilling oversight.
Shell has spent five years and nearly $4 billion dollars on plans to explore for oil in the Beaufort and Chukchi Seas. The leases alone cost $2.2 billion. Shell Vice President Pete Slaiby says obtaining similar air permits for a drilling operation in the Gulf of Mexico would take about 45 days. He’s especially frustrated over the appeal board’s suggestion that the Arctic drill would somehow be hazardous for the people who live in the area. “We think the issues were really not major,” Slaiby said, “and clearly not impactful for the communities we work in.”
The closest village to where Shell proposed to drill is Kaktovik, Alaska. It is one of the most remote places in the United States. According to the latest census, the population is 245 and nearly all of the residents are Alaska natives. The village, which is 1 square mile, sits right along the shores of the Beaufort Sea, 70 miles away from the proposed off-shore drill site.
The EPA’s appeals board ruled that Shell had not taken into consideration emissions from an ice-breaking vessel when calculating overall greenhouse gas emissions from the project. Environmental groups were thrilled by the ruling.
Friday, March 18, 2011
Why Is Obama Going to Brazil?
NC RENEGADE
President Obama is taking a working vacation to Rio de Janeiro with his family. I question the timing of this trip based on current events and his low approval ratings. Here is his reasoning:
I’ll begin my trip by visiting Brazil to work with its new president, Dilma Rousseff, to strengthen the relationship between the hemisphere’s two largest democracies and economies. With around 200 million people, a growing middle class, and a per-capita income rising by almost 7% a year, Brazil imports more goods and services from the United States than from any other nation — mainly high-tech, manufactured goods from aircraft to chemicals to clean energy components.
Dilma Rousseff has an impressive background:
“She was 16 when Brazil fell prey to a military coup in 1964 and like many was soon drawn into the world of underground opposition.
“Introduced to Marxist politics by the man who became her first husband, Claudio Galeno, she helped build up one of the guerrilla organisations trying to overthrow the government – at one point spending three years in prison.
“After democracy was restored she had a daughter, Paula, now a 33-year-old lawyer, with her second husband Carlos Araújo, a revolutionary leader who had met Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. She trained as an economist she entered conventional left-wing politics and professional public service.
Is Mr. Obama going to discuss our loan to Petrobas last year?
The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil’s Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil’s planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan.
Or maybe Mr. Obama is going to discuss Brazil’s deep water oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico:
Petrobras, the Brazilian state-run energy giant, is to begin drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico this month with deep water technology never before used in US waters.
The [Petrobas] Cascade and Chinook wells lie 180 miles south of Louisiana in water depths ranging from 8,200 to 8,850 feet (2,500 – 2,697 metres).
By comparison, the top of the BP well involved in the Deepwater Horizon disaster of April 2010 was about 5,000ft (1,524 metres) below the surface.
When will our companies be allowed to drill in the Gulf of Mexico? The moratorium has been removed but now extraordinary measures and regulations are in place that are restricting new operations. Maybe Mr. Obama can convince Mrs. Rousseff to comply with the same regulations that have been imposed on our oil production.
David DeGerolamo
http://ncrenegade.com/editorial/why-is-obama-going-to-brazil/
President Obama is taking a working vacation to Rio de Janeiro with his family. I question the timing of this trip based on current events and his low approval ratings. Here is his reasoning:
I’ll begin my trip by visiting Brazil to work with its new president, Dilma Rousseff, to strengthen the relationship between the hemisphere’s two largest democracies and economies. With around 200 million people, a growing middle class, and a per-capita income rising by almost 7% a year, Brazil imports more goods and services from the United States than from any other nation — mainly high-tech, manufactured goods from aircraft to chemicals to clean energy components.
Dilma Rousseff has an impressive background:
“She was 16 when Brazil fell prey to a military coup in 1964 and like many was soon drawn into the world of underground opposition.
“Introduced to Marxist politics by the man who became her first husband, Claudio Galeno, she helped build up one of the guerrilla organisations trying to overthrow the government – at one point spending three years in prison.
“After democracy was restored she had a daughter, Paula, now a 33-year-old lawyer, with her second husband Carlos Araújo, a revolutionary leader who had met Fidel Castro and Che Guevara. She trained as an economist she entered conventional left-wing politics and professional public service.
Is Mr. Obama going to discuss our loan to Petrobas last year?
The U.S. is going to lend billions of dollars to Brazil’s state-owned oil company, Petrobras, to finance exploration of the huge offshore discovery in Brazil’s Tupi oil field in the Santos Basin near Rio de Janeiro. Brazil’s planning minister confirmed that White House National Security Adviser James Jones met this month with Brazilian officials to talk about the loan.
Or maybe Mr. Obama is going to discuss Brazil’s deep water oil drilling in the Gulf of Mexico:
Petrobras, the Brazilian state-run energy giant, is to begin drilling for oil in the Gulf of Mexico this month with deep water technology never before used in US waters.
The [Petrobas] Cascade and Chinook wells lie 180 miles south of Louisiana in water depths ranging from 8,200 to 8,850 feet (2,500 – 2,697 metres).
By comparison, the top of the BP well involved in the Deepwater Horizon disaster of April 2010 was about 5,000ft (1,524 metres) below the surface.
When will our companies be allowed to drill in the Gulf of Mexico? The moratorium has been removed but now extraordinary measures and regulations are in place that are restricting new operations. Maybe Mr. Obama can convince Mrs. Rousseff to comply with the same regulations that have been imposed on our oil production.
David DeGerolamo
http://ncrenegade.com/editorial/why-is-obama-going-to-brazil/
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Obama’s Ultimate Betrayal
- Personal Liberty Digest - http://www.personalliberty.com -
By John Myers On January 12, 2011
Welcome to 2011; another year for President Barack Obama, whose energy policies are dictated not from the White House but from Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.
Obama’s Christmas gift to the nation was the December announcement by the President himself to clamp down further on domestic oil and gas drilling. Welcome to the New Year where pump prices now average more than $3 per gallon.
Despite the worst recession since the Great Depression, we are paying the highest gas prices since 2008. All thanks to Obama’s need to go Green, which is enriching Arab oil producers while putting America’s future at risk.
Obama regulators have been busy slipping in ill-advised energy policies. First came the pre-Thanksgiving announcement that oil exploration and drilling in Alaska would be curtailed. All for a good cause, said the Obamaites, to help save vast expanses of polar bear habitat. Then Obama’s Department of the Interior made a pre-Christmas policy change that would further cut domestic oil supplies by making energy-rich lands untouchable.
It seems that Obama forgot that designating Federal lands as wilderness areas was supposed to require an act of Congress. Yet the day before Christmas Eve, Obama’s Department of the Interior did a coup d’état. As a result, the Obama administration alone is able to judge where oil can or cannot be drilled. In doing this, Obama has thwarted George W. Bush’s policy that restricted unilateral action by the White House.
Then there is the drilling in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico. Nearly three months after the Obama administration lifted its ban, oil companies are still waiting for approval to drill the first new oil well in the Gulf. In fact, the petroleum industry expects the wait to continue until the second half of 2011, and perhaps well into 2012.
This long delay by the Obama administration is costing Big Oil billions of dollars that they have tied up in Gulf projects; projects that are now on hold while petroleum companies pay out thousands of dollars every day on rigs that stand idle.
Last week the Wall Street Journal wrote this indictment of Obama’ energy policy:
“Their impact goes beyond the oil industry. The Gulf coast economy has been hit hard by the slowdown in drilling activity, especially because the oil spill also hurt the region’s fishing and tourism industries. The Obama administration in September estimated that 8,000 to 12,000 workers could lose their jobs temporarily as a result of the moratorium; some independent estimates have been much higher.
“The slowdown also has long-term implications for U.S. oil production. The Energy Information Administration, the research arm of the Department of Energy, last month predicted that domestic offshore oil production will fall 13 percent this year from 2010 due to the moratorium and the slow return to drilling; a year ago, the agency predicted offshore production would rise 6 percent in 2011. The difference: A loss of about 220,000 barrels of oil a day.”
All of which leaves America more susceptible to an Arab oil embargo. The last one happened in the 1970s when the U.S. was pumping twice as much oil as it is now.
With the U.S. gulping more foreign crude than ever, Arabs could bring America to its knees. You would think that a President as smart as Obama would understand the risk he is putting the nation in; a nation which he has sworn to protect.
Perhaps the greatest waste of American resources is out West where there is potentially hundreds of millions of barrels in oil reserves and trillions of cubic feet in gas deposits; all of it just waiting to be drilled and pumped to a thirsting nation. Yet our President is obstructing America from meeting its energy needs.
Ben Lieberman of The Washington Times explains:
“Utah is particularly hard hit, with up to 6 million acres in jeopardy of being locked away from development. Rep. Rob Bishop, Utah Republican, told The Salt Lake Tribune, “[This decision will seriously hinder domestic energy development and further contribute to the uncertainty and economic distress that continues to prevent the creation of new jobs in a region that has unduly suffered from this administration’s radical policies.”
But there is more. Two days before Christmas the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) undertook a Pearl Harbor-like pre-emptive attack on U.S. refiners with an order that will place severe limits on carbon-dioxide emissions. The EPA, in language Joseph Stalin would have been proud of, said: “The details have yet to be determined.”
The Moroccan Candidate
The bottom-line is that under Obama, Washington is certain to increase the cost of converting oil into gasoline. If you are looking forward to spending $5 per gallon at the pumps, you will love Obama’s bold new move to make America more green.
The $5 per gallon is not just a number I picked out of the air. The former president of Shell Oil says that’s entirely possible as high demand pushes the price of crude oil higher and higher.
Culminating some time by the third quarter of 2012, retail pump prices in places like California and New York will reach roughly $5 per gallon, said former Shell Oil president John Hofmeister.
Former energy secretary Bill Richardson was asked about Hofmeister’s stark prediction: “I hope he’s wrong, but this is a very volatile energy market and we haven’t moved as fast as we should in America towards reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.”
Hofmeister underscores the urgent need to develop domestic oil production and he even accuses the Obama administration of being anti-oil.
“I have no problem moving beyond oil but not today, not tomorrow, not 2011 or 2012. We can’t. It’s simply impractical and unreal,” Hofmeister said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy (DOE) has put out a statement saying it will continue to pursue responsible oil and gas production while focusing on vehicle efficiency standards and investing in electric vehicles, bio-fuels and mass transit.
Obama’s DOE must think America alone can make the Earth green. What the President seems to forget is the fact that China, India and Russia, along with a host of Third World polluters, are using coal and even wood furnaces to drive their industries.
It appears to me that Obama’s Green policies are nothing more than collateral damage to a nation that needs domestic petroleum and the jobs that that industry provides. Instead Obama’s policies seem to be helping Arab oil exporters.
If you think I exaggerate, consider this from the Dec. 29 Economist, not known as a bastion of conservative ideals: “Mr Obama’s team of managing the Middle East is even more inept than Mr Bush’s. The American right and many Israelis think he is too pro-Arab.”
Dubya Billboard: “MISS ME YET?”
People in the petroleum industry don’t believe Obama is pro-North America, at least not when it comes to energy. Canada’s oil sands — which help keep America on the road every day—have been labeled “dirty oil” by Obama Democrats (as if the crude they pump out of the Saudi desert was somehow clean). And given the political realities that exist in many parts of Alaska, Sarah Palin has a greater chance of hitting a gusher with an errant shot from her AR-15 than Big Oil has with a drill-bit.
Despite Bush’s multiple mistakes in the Middle East, he was a patriot who at least wanted to ramp up domestic oil and gas production. That’s not true of Obama, who seems intent on increasing America’s dependency on Arab oil.
As I write to you, oil has topped $90 per barrel. I believe that by summer it will break over $100 per barrel. That makes Big Oil a good investment. But at what cost?
Under Obama’s presidency we are headed for an energy crisis worse than anything President Jimmy Carter could have engineered. Just how high oil prices will go I don’t know. Much depends on what happens in the 2012 election.
Yours in good times and bad,
John Myers
Myer’s Energy and Gold Report
http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/government/obamas-ultimate-betrayal/print/
By John Myers On January 12, 2011
Welcome to 2011; another year for President Barack Obama, whose energy policies are dictated not from the White House but from Abu Dhabi and Riyadh.
Obama’s Christmas gift to the nation was the December announcement by the President himself to clamp down further on domestic oil and gas drilling. Welcome to the New Year where pump prices now average more than $3 per gallon.
Despite the worst recession since the Great Depression, we are paying the highest gas prices since 2008. All thanks to Obama’s need to go Green, which is enriching Arab oil producers while putting America’s future at risk.
Obama regulators have been busy slipping in ill-advised energy policies. First came the pre-Thanksgiving announcement that oil exploration and drilling in Alaska would be curtailed. All for a good cause, said the Obamaites, to help save vast expanses of polar bear habitat. Then Obama’s Department of the Interior made a pre-Christmas policy change that would further cut domestic oil supplies by making energy-rich lands untouchable.
It seems that Obama forgot that designating Federal lands as wilderness areas was supposed to require an act of Congress. Yet the day before Christmas Eve, Obama’s Department of the Interior did a coup d’état. As a result, the Obama administration alone is able to judge where oil can or cannot be drilled. In doing this, Obama has thwarted George W. Bush’s policy that restricted unilateral action by the White House.
Then there is the drilling in the deep-water Gulf of Mexico. Nearly three months after the Obama administration lifted its ban, oil companies are still waiting for approval to drill the first new oil well in the Gulf. In fact, the petroleum industry expects the wait to continue until the second half of 2011, and perhaps well into 2012.
This long delay by the Obama administration is costing Big Oil billions of dollars that they have tied up in Gulf projects; projects that are now on hold while petroleum companies pay out thousands of dollars every day on rigs that stand idle.
Last week the Wall Street Journal wrote this indictment of Obama’ energy policy:
“Their impact goes beyond the oil industry. The Gulf coast economy has been hit hard by the slowdown in drilling activity, especially because the oil spill also hurt the region’s fishing and tourism industries. The Obama administration in September estimated that 8,000 to 12,000 workers could lose their jobs temporarily as a result of the moratorium; some independent estimates have been much higher.
“The slowdown also has long-term implications for U.S. oil production. The Energy Information Administration, the research arm of the Department of Energy, last month predicted that domestic offshore oil production will fall 13 percent this year from 2010 due to the moratorium and the slow return to drilling; a year ago, the agency predicted offshore production would rise 6 percent in 2011. The difference: A loss of about 220,000 barrels of oil a day.”
All of which leaves America more susceptible to an Arab oil embargo. The last one happened in the 1970s when the U.S. was pumping twice as much oil as it is now.
With the U.S. gulping more foreign crude than ever, Arabs could bring America to its knees. You would think that a President as smart as Obama would understand the risk he is putting the nation in; a nation which he has sworn to protect.
Perhaps the greatest waste of American resources is out West where there is potentially hundreds of millions of barrels in oil reserves and trillions of cubic feet in gas deposits; all of it just waiting to be drilled and pumped to a thirsting nation. Yet our President is obstructing America from meeting its energy needs.
Ben Lieberman of The Washington Times explains:
“Utah is particularly hard hit, with up to 6 million acres in jeopardy of being locked away from development. Rep. Rob Bishop, Utah Republican, told The Salt Lake Tribune, “[This decision will seriously hinder domestic energy development and further contribute to the uncertainty and economic distress that continues to prevent the creation of new jobs in a region that has unduly suffered from this administration’s radical policies.”
But there is more. Two days before Christmas the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) undertook a Pearl Harbor-like pre-emptive attack on U.S. refiners with an order that will place severe limits on carbon-dioxide emissions. The EPA, in language Joseph Stalin would have been proud of, said: “The details have yet to be determined.”
The Moroccan Candidate
The bottom-line is that under Obama, Washington is certain to increase the cost of converting oil into gasoline. If you are looking forward to spending $5 per gallon at the pumps, you will love Obama’s bold new move to make America more green.
The $5 per gallon is not just a number I picked out of the air. The former president of Shell Oil says that’s entirely possible as high demand pushes the price of crude oil higher and higher.
Culminating some time by the third quarter of 2012, retail pump prices in places like California and New York will reach roughly $5 per gallon, said former Shell Oil president John Hofmeister.
Former energy secretary Bill Richardson was asked about Hofmeister’s stark prediction: “I hope he’s wrong, but this is a very volatile energy market and we haven’t moved as fast as we should in America towards reducing our dependence on fossil fuels.”
Hofmeister underscores the urgent need to develop domestic oil production and he even accuses the Obama administration of being anti-oil.
“I have no problem moving beyond oil but not today, not tomorrow, not 2011 or 2012. We can’t. It’s simply impractical and unreal,” Hofmeister said.
Meanwhile, the Department of Energy (DOE) has put out a statement saying it will continue to pursue responsible oil and gas production while focusing on vehicle efficiency standards and investing in electric vehicles, bio-fuels and mass transit.
Obama’s DOE must think America alone can make the Earth green. What the President seems to forget is the fact that China, India and Russia, along with a host of Third World polluters, are using coal and even wood furnaces to drive their industries.
It appears to me that Obama’s Green policies are nothing more than collateral damage to a nation that needs domestic petroleum and the jobs that that industry provides. Instead Obama’s policies seem to be helping Arab oil exporters.
If you think I exaggerate, consider this from the Dec. 29 Economist, not known as a bastion of conservative ideals: “Mr Obama’s team of managing the Middle East is even more inept than Mr Bush’s. The American right and many Israelis think he is too pro-Arab.”
Dubya Billboard: “MISS ME YET?”
People in the petroleum industry don’t believe Obama is pro-North America, at least not when it comes to energy. Canada’s oil sands — which help keep America on the road every day—have been labeled “dirty oil” by Obama Democrats (as if the crude they pump out of the Saudi desert was somehow clean). And given the political realities that exist in many parts of Alaska, Sarah Palin has a greater chance of hitting a gusher with an errant shot from her AR-15 than Big Oil has with a drill-bit.
Despite Bush’s multiple mistakes in the Middle East, he was a patriot who at least wanted to ramp up domestic oil and gas production. That’s not true of Obama, who seems intent on increasing America’s dependency on Arab oil.
As I write to you, oil has topped $90 per barrel. I believe that by summer it will break over $100 per barrel. That makes Big Oil a good investment. But at what cost?
Under Obama’s presidency we are headed for an energy crisis worse than anything President Jimmy Carter could have engineered. Just how high oil prices will go I don’t know. Much depends on what happens in the 2012 election.
Yours in good times and bad,
John Myers
Myer’s Energy and Gold Report
http://www.personalliberty.com/conservative-politics/government/obamas-ultimate-betrayal/print/
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
HERITAGE FOUNDATION
Morning Bell: Obama’s Anti-Drilling Agenda
President Obama’s oil spill commission will release its long-awaited final report this morning, recommending new government regulations and limits on drilling. These conclusions could shape the future of the oil industry — and impact our nation’s energy policy for years to come.
The commission’s primary focus was determining the cause of the spill. Last week it revealed that errors by BP, Transocean and Halliburton contributed to the blowout of the Macondo well, resulting in the deaths of 11 people and the worst spill in history.
But the commission’s members have decided to go a step further. The anti-drilling measures recommended in their report would take America in the wrong direction. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Obama picked five members who lack expertise in drilling and have a history of donating to Democrats. One member leads the Natural Resources Defense Council.
READ MORE: http://blog.heritage.org/2011/01/11/morning-bell-obamas-anti-drilling-agenda/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
President Obama’s oil spill commission will release its long-awaited final report this morning, recommending new government regulations and limits on drilling. These conclusions could shape the future of the oil industry — and impact our nation’s energy policy for years to come.
The commission’s primary focus was determining the cause of the spill. Last week it revealed that errors by BP, Transocean and Halliburton contributed to the blowout of the Macondo well, resulting in the deaths of 11 people and the worst spill in history.
But the commission’s members have decided to go a step further. The anti-drilling measures recommended in their report would take America in the wrong direction. This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Obama picked five members who lack expertise in drilling and have a history of donating to Democrats. One member leads the Natural Resources Defense Council.
READ MORE: http://blog.heritage.org/2011/01/11/morning-bell-obamas-anti-drilling-agenda/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
by Michelle Malkin on Monday, September 13, 2010
Obama jobs death toll watch: 150,000 more energy jobs in danger
Louisiana State University economist Joseph Mason has a new study on the jobs death toll damage that President Obama’s planned energy tax hikes will cause.
The Autumn of Wreckage is off to a fast start, eh?
Via the NYPost:
Just last week, President Obama explicitly targeted the industry for two massive tax hikes. First, he’d ban oil and gas companies from using the “Section 199″ tax credit, a measure for domestic manufacturers enacted in 2004 to boost US employment. (The Senate is set to vote this week on its version of the ban.) Second, he wants to end “dual capacity” protection for US energy firms.
Without this shield against double taxation on foreign revenues, American companies would be competing on an uneven global playing field. Again, Obama aims directly and specifically at the US oil and gas industry.
Yet, by the federal government’s own economic model, these tax hikes would lead to huge, immediate job losses. I ran the numbers through the Commerce Department’s RIMS II model; it shows, under the proposed changes to Section 199 and dual capacity, Americans would almost immediately lose more than 150,000 stable, private-sector jobs.
Because our energy firms operate as part of an integrated economy, as much as 38 percent of the job losses would come in professional fields, such as education, administration, health care, real estate and the arts. Another 21 percent would hit producers of necessities such as our food and textiles.
In other words, lawmakers would be slamming the very teachers, firemen and factory workers that they claim to want to help. And the fallout wouldn’t end there. Higher energy taxes would cost the US $341 billion in lost economic activity and $68 billion in wages over the next nine years.
http://www.facebook.com/#!/notes/michelle-malkin/obama-jobs-death-toll-watch-150000-more-energy-jobs-in-danger/430375965676
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Letters to the Editor - Sun Journal, New Bern
Liberals in NC
September 11, 2010 11:03 PM
Is North Carolina more liberal than California? It seems so at times. California voted over 10 years ago on marriage between a man and woman by over 60 percent. Has N.C. even been allowed to vote on the issue? Has the legislature even wanted to protect traditional marriage? I haven’t seen it.
Jessica’s law was passed in California years before North Carolina. At a “town hall” meeting at Havelock library when I asked Rep. Wainwright about Jessica’s law, he asked, “What is that?” For a legislator not to know what that law is shows something is wrong. Uninformed? Or what is the problem? When I asked him after a Havelock Chamber of Commerce meeting about drilling for oil, he said, “We have to protect the trees.” I think people are more important than trees. I also asked him if he realized that his pro-abortion stance may have helped kill the future scientist who could have found a cure for cancer and he walked away. He should walk away from his job and let Mark Griffith help our state.
Going to Village Butcher a couple of years ago Alice Underhill was leaving it and commented on my bumper sticker. It reads “Drill for American oil now.” She came up to my car and said, “That’s not possible.” I asked, “Why not?” “It would take 10 years to drill if we found any.” “That’s what Bill Clinton said 10 years ago,” I reminded her.
“They don’t think there is much oil off North Carolina,” she said and I wanted to ask, “‘Who are they?’” as she rushed off. I think she needs to rush away from the law-making body also. Norm Sanderson’s business experience is actually better preparation than school teaching for representing us. In my opinion he legally won last time. Everyone should support him this time and keep an eye on the ballots.
Also, the UNC Board of Governors appointed Wake Forest University President Thomas Ross as the 17th president of the UNC system. Civitas reveals several questionable marks on Ross’ record, including over $200,000 given to ACORN. Do you want ACORN to control ballot returns?
If you love high taxes and big spending on plane rides, vote for liberals. If you think we deserve to keep more of the money we earn, vote for conservatives. (Don’t forget what caused the USSR to fall; the second S, socialists.)
J.E. Parys, New Bern
CCTA MEMBER
Editor’s note: Ross was president of Davidson College.
http://www.newbernsj.com/articles/california-90471-marriage-north.html
September 11, 2010 11:03 PM
Is North Carolina more liberal than California? It seems so at times. California voted over 10 years ago on marriage between a man and woman by over 60 percent. Has N.C. even been allowed to vote on the issue? Has the legislature even wanted to protect traditional marriage? I haven’t seen it.
Jessica’s law was passed in California years before North Carolina. At a “town hall” meeting at Havelock library when I asked Rep. Wainwright about Jessica’s law, he asked, “What is that?” For a legislator not to know what that law is shows something is wrong. Uninformed? Or what is the problem? When I asked him after a Havelock Chamber of Commerce meeting about drilling for oil, he said, “We have to protect the trees.” I think people are more important than trees. I also asked him if he realized that his pro-abortion stance may have helped kill the future scientist who could have found a cure for cancer and he walked away. He should walk away from his job and let Mark Griffith help our state.
Going to Village Butcher a couple of years ago Alice Underhill was leaving it and commented on my bumper sticker. It reads “Drill for American oil now.” She came up to my car and said, “That’s not possible.” I asked, “Why not?” “It would take 10 years to drill if we found any.” “That’s what Bill Clinton said 10 years ago,” I reminded her.
“They don’t think there is much oil off North Carolina,” she said and I wanted to ask, “‘Who are they?’” as she rushed off. I think she needs to rush away from the law-making body also. Norm Sanderson’s business experience is actually better preparation than school teaching for representing us. In my opinion he legally won last time. Everyone should support him this time and keep an eye on the ballots.
Also, the UNC Board of Governors appointed Wake Forest University President Thomas Ross as the 17th president of the UNC system. Civitas reveals several questionable marks on Ross’ record, including over $200,000 given to ACORN. Do you want ACORN to control ballot returns?
If you love high taxes and big spending on plane rides, vote for liberals. If you think we deserve to keep more of the money we earn, vote for conservatives. (Don’t forget what caused the USSR to fall; the second S, socialists.)
J.E. Parys, New Bern
CCTA MEMBER
Editor’s note: Ross was president of Davidson College.
http://www.newbernsj.com/articles/california-90471-marriage-north.html
Friday, September 10, 2010
Conservative Action Alerts
U.S. Government Loaned Mexican Government More Than $1 Billion to Drill Oil in Gulf of Mexico Last Year; Has $1 Billion More Planned For This Year
http://conservativeactionalerts.com/blog_post/show/1043
http://conservativeactionalerts.com/blog_post/show/1043
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