I really don't like deceptive political math. I just have one number to talk about that I saw on John McCain's website within the area where the Lexington Project is discussed. Though it's not exactly clear how much oil we have in US territory from the numbers presented, one is given.
We have trillions of dollars worth of oil and gas reserves in the U.S. at a time we are exporting hundreds of billions of dollars a year overseas to buy energy.
If we use $4 / gallon, with 31 US gallons / oil barrel , 3 trillion dollars, say, is around 24 billion barrels of oil. $2 / gallon gives 48 billion barrels. How many billion barrels does the US consume every year you ask? Well in 1971 the US produced around 14 billion barrels ( according to hubbertpeak.com ) And the world production has been leveling off around 60 billion bbl / year over the past few decades. And by "produced", I believe I also mean "used", since country reserves are not what's being raised, the consumption is rising. So our reserves aren't all that much. Do they even give us a full year?
So why are these numbers selectively not provided(?) :
- how much oil in the untapped Alaskan land ?
- what about off the coast of Florida ?
- or the Gulf of Mexico ?
Anyway, of course the hubbertpeak.com numbers should be confirmed. But If you look there, you'll see that M. King Hubbert's numbers about oil production have been accurate in the past as far as prediction matching verification.
You know what, I forgot to reference Dr. Albert A. Bartlett from the University of Colorado at Boulder 's presentation on oil math, as seen on wonderingmind42 's YouTube page.
I think the $4/gal reflects 'retail markup'
ReplyDeleteThen that means giving the amount of oil we have in dollars is that much more deceptive. Why should we have to guess what cost per gallon they are using?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, who do you believe is raising the price? I wish I knew the numbers, but I bet most of oil used in the US is foreign, so most of what Exxon sells is either Exxon pumped at Exxon owned pumps overseas or bought by Exxon from the Saudis or Kuwaitis and resold.
Whenever I read about the price of oil, it's at least becoming clear that the "market forces" explanation is bullshit, but that investors are only carrying the price up ( to make money ) because they see it on its way up in the future ( because oil is becoming scarcer and scarcer ).
This makes sense to me, but it's not anywhere near the full picture. I also find refreshing what I read about Saudis being praised for lowering the price of oil for some poorer countries, since they are doing it not out of generosity, but get them to spend the money. (Hello, Macy's buy one get one free bbl ! )