Gas is gonna go through the roof.....

[SpasticGramps]

The Bakken Shale is a pretty big deal. The Eagleford is really starting to attract a lot of attention south of San Antonio. Lots of rigs are moving from East Texas gas drilling to south texas for more oil. You're right though, all of this won't put a dent in what we need.

I think the rig count for land horizontal wells is past 1,000 in the US right now. That's just horizontal. That's not including directional S well type wells.

 

[igrowone]

Posted this elsewhere here but OPEC members are only allowed to pump what they do based on their reserves. So a country with larger reserves can pump more oil and make more money. Don't know when they changed that but what do you think happened? Countries started raising their reserve numbers, pretty significantly, even though no new discoveries in almost all cases. Came across this info about 5 years ago while researching peak oil.

Also Saudi Arabia was starting to have problems with some of their fields a few years ago. Their ability to pump more oil than they already are is pretty limited. They're pretty much maxed out. Any significant global recovery will really put a strain on the system.

On the flip side industry analysts are predicting the US will be pumping a lot more oil than we already are due to advances in drilling technology. The hot spot is the Bakken shale area for new discoveries but Texas is seeing increases in production. All this won't make much of a dent though.

i had read this myself, it did make sense, in a bad kind of way
interesting about increasing American oil output, American output peaked a while ago
kind of the cornerstone of the peak oil foundation, once you peak, you don't increase again
as it stands, i think our 'go to' choice is natural gas for transportation, for the next 20 years or so

 

[Mountain]

i think our 'go to' choice is natural gas for transportation, for the next 20 years or so

They've found so much natty gas recently that a few companies have put plans in motion to build EXPORT terminals! The US will be an energy exporter. Honda makes a good natty gas car...at least they used to a few years ago. You could not buy it and only on lease. Was mainly for use in places like corporate complexes and such. Driving range ain't that great cause of the low energy density of Liquified Natural Gas. Before oil hit $150 a barrel was working on an alternative energy project and was gonna create a show vehicle using Magnegas (Google it) and tour the country educating peeps. You can put Magnegas in an LNG car, Ford was making a gas/LNG car and don't know if it's still in production. Was a crazy idea...LOL! Was hoping for some corporate sponsorship and media coverage. Honestly my timing was perfect cause the car would have been rolling before the energy 'crisis' hit but just couldn't close the deal out. Honda might have taken the car back once they found out what I was doing...lol...which is basically using hydrogen and they were in the process of releasing their like $50,000+ hydrogen car and I was gonna use a $20,000 model currently in production...probably would have pissed them off and stolen their thunder a bit.

Anyway one of the issues with using natty gas for cars is available distribution. Yeah lots of houses piped with natty gas and the lines could be modified but no natty gas 'stations' and that's a problem.

 

[igrowone]

^^^ infrastructure is always the big stumbling block, we're setup for gas/diesel, anything else is a huge expense to change over to
you pick your poison, it's all got problems
push comes to shove, we could start building really efficient autos, though they would not be what we're used to, only pain will drive that change

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

U.S. Unveils $53 Billion High-Speed Rail Plan

U.S. Unveils $53 Billion High-Speed Rail Plan

JULIE PACE 02/ 8/11 04:39 PM

WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama is calling for a six-year, $53 billion spending plan for high-speed rail, as he seeks to use infrastructure spending to jump-start job creation.

An initial $8 billion in spending will be part of the budget plan Obama is set to release Monday. If Congress approves the plan, the money would go toward developing or improving trains that travel up to 250 mph, and connecting existing rail lines to new projects. The White House wouldn't say where the money for the rest of the program would come from, though it's likely Obama would seek funding in future budgets or transportation bills.

Obama's push for high-speed rail spending is part of his broad goal of creating jobs in the short-term and increasing American competitiveness for the future through new funding for infrastructure, education and innovation. During last month's State of the Union address, Obama said he wanted to give 80 percent of Americans access to high-speed rail within 25 years.

At the same time he's calling for new spending on sectors like high-speed rail in the upcoming budget, Obama also has pledged to cut overall spending as he seeks to bring down the nation's mounting deficit. The White House has said environmental programs for the Great Lakes, and block grants for community service and community development are among the programs that will face cuts.

But it's unlikely the cuts Obama proposes in the budget will be enough to appease the GOP. Republicans now controlling the House have promised to slash domestic agencies' budgets by nearly 20 percent for the coming year.

The White House has said cuts must be cautious, arguing that drastic reductions in spending could cause the still-fragile economic recovery to stall. Vice President Joe Biden said Tuesday the administration wouldn't compromise when it comes to spending on the infrastructure, education and innovation programs Obama is touting.

"We cannot compromise. The rest of the world is not compromising," Biden said in Philadelphia at an event announcing the high-speed rail initiative.

Obama's call for increased spending on high-speed rail projects is nothing new. He's long seen the sector as an area of opportunity for creating jobs and improving the nation's transportation system. His administration awarded $10 billion in federal grants for high-speed rail projects last year, including $2.3 billion for California to begin work on an 800-mile-long, high-speed rail line tying Sacramento and the San Francisco Bay area to Los Angeles and San Diego; and $1.25 billion to Florida to build a rail line connecting Tampa on the West Coast with Orlando in the middle of the state, eventually going south to Miami.

Obama also laid out a plan last summer to invest $50 billion in high-speed rail, as well as highways, bridges, transit and airports, adding it to the first year of a six-year transportation bill.

Congress didn't act on the proposal before adjourning last year, but Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said he's confident lawmakers will take up the measure again and deliver a bill to Obama by August.

Thus far, Obama's plans to increase spending on high-speed rail have received a chilly a reception from Republicans. House Transportation Committee Chairman John Mica, R-Fla., urged the administration Tuesday to focus its spending on the crowded Northeast rail corridor, and not "squander limited taxpayer dollars on marginal projects."

Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, the second-ranking House Republican, urged the administration to involve the business community in its high-speed rail plans.

"I'm not in favor of additional monies that we don't have, to be spent on those projects, and would certainly look for ways to leverage the private sector to get it involved," Cantor said.

The White House said the six-year rail plan would include strong "Buy America" requirements that attract private sector investment in developing and operating passenger lines, and would ultimately create tens of thousands of jobs in the U.S.

Associated Press Writers Joan Lowy and Alan Fram contributed to this report.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/08/us-high-speed-rail-plan_n_820234.html?ir=Green

.

 

[turbolaser4528]

Yeah, Obama says all the right things, saw the state of the union speech and I was shocked ! He was talking about investing in infrastructure, oil companies are doing more than fine, so let's take away tax benefits from them to give to alternative energy companies, lets try to stop lobbyists by making their visits to the White House transparent, etc. etc.. He certainly talks the talk, but will he walk the walk ? I hope so.

Saw that wikileaks cable on Saudi Arabia the other day, it's not an "end of days" scenario I don't think though.

I watched the documentary "Collapse" and that was 2 much doom and gloom for me, but It was interesting and made some good points.

Never underestimate America's innovative abilities !

We can now make oil in a laboratory;

http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/04/university-of-michigan-bio-oil/

We can turn our garbage into fuel now, China and Japan are already doing this;

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waste-to-energy

And I think natural gas is a short term alternative, but lets not forget the potential to reduce our dependence on foreign oil via bio-diesel which can be added to most diesel engines with NO modifications.

There is also our booming Solar and Wind power industries, which are attracting more and more investors every year as it becomes for lucrative. We have many alternative energy source options.


I agree, very interesting time to be a alive, the only constant is change !!!

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Change is key. But change might mean the end of the money party for old energy. But these rich bastards aren't planning to sit on their laurels and watch others take us green. They're already finding ways to convert, they're just not advertising any more than BP... "beyond petroleum".

It's just that we already have the infrastructure in place to milk carbon-based fuels. The same rich bastards will be even richer when we go green. We just won't milk the old way of life in the magnitude we do today.

We built conventional infrastructure because we had no choice. It was either build or do without. Now we've got a choice, one that requires further infrastructure and innovation. This costs business potential profits and that's when they cry our freedoms are being lost. Cry me a river...

We only have to look back to the 20th century to see what happened. Europeans developed mass-transit and zoning laws that lessened the need for a cars. America built mass road systems and big oil lobbied for zoning laws that spread the population as far as possible, making mass-transit less viable overall.

It's not just going to be a lifestyle change for the rich and powerful. Going green will affect everybody.

 

[Mountain]

Saw that wikileaks cable on Saudi Arabia the other day, it's not an "end of days" scenario I don't think though.

I watched the documentary "Collapse" and that was 2 much doom and gloom for me, but It was interesting and made some good points.

And I think natural gas is a short term alternative, but lets not forget the potential to reduce our dependence on foreign oil via bio-diesel which can be added to most diesel engines with NO modifications.

There is also our booming Solar and Wind power industries, which are attracting more and more investors every year as it becomes for lucrative. We have many alternative energy source options

I don't see the Wikilieaks info as 'end of days' just feel that at some point a major adjustment will happen and fairly suddenly which will have an influence in how the world functions. There's lots of other countries pumping oil.

Collapse was not the best oil focused documentary. Crude Impact was good and dovetailed nicely with A Crude Awakening. While cruising Netflix saw The Oil Factor and added that to my list.

One of the things about biodiesel is the energy input required to create the BTU output. Honestly never looked at it but with corn for sure it's an energy net negative...

(Omnivore's Dilemma)

• corn requires 29 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced;
• switch grass requires 45 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced; and
• wood biomass requires 57 percent more fossil energy than the fuel produced. (From a 2005 Cornell study)

Switch Grass is used for ethanol production BTW. As for wind that's cool but then in some areas the turbines are killing a lot of predatory birds like hawks and eagles...lol. Solar is cool and about 2 years back some young kid genius developed a 3D type wafer so the panels will be more efficient (have no idea what happened to that one) then there's thin film solar technology which comes in large rolls. I think the thing for biodiesel is production in ponds by algae instead of something like vegetable based oils. You can harvest a crop of algae within a very short period for one, use desert land which is basically useless and once setup everything is automated through pumps and piping so very efficient.

Over time alternative energy will add up but the easiest thing we could do is stop wasting so much energy (some simple things like fluoro bulbs, proper tire inflation, leaving lights on, etc.) and general over consumption.

 

[HUGE]

I don't see the Wikilieaks info as 'end of days' just feel that at some point a major adjustment will happen and fairly suddenly which will have an influence in how the world functions. There's lots of other countries pumping oil.

Collapse was not the best oil focused documentary. Crude Impact was good and dovetailed nicely with A Crude Awakening. While cruising Netflix saw The Oil Factor and added that to my list.

One of the things about biodiesel is the energy input required to create the BTU output. Honestly never looked at it but with corn for sure it's an energy net negative...


[/LIST]
Switch Grass is used for ethanol production BTW. As for wind that's cool but then in some areas the turbines are killing a lot of predatory birds like hawks and eagles...lol. Solar is cool and about 2 years back some young kid genius developed a 3D type wafer so the panels will be more efficient (have no idea what happened to that one) then there's thin film solar technology which comes in large rolls. I think the thing for biodiesel is production in ponds by algae instead of something like vegetable based oils. You can harvest a crop of algae within a very short period for one, use desert land which is basically useless and once setup everything is automated through pumps and piping so very efficient.

Over time alternative energy will add up but the easiest thing we could do is stop wasting so much energy (some simple things like fluoro bulbs, proper tire inflation, leaving lights on, etc.) and general over consumption.

i will watch these.

 

[turbolaser4528]

With Bio-diesel you can take the used oil from all the fast food restaurants everywhere and turn that into bio-diesel pretty cheaply I would imagine. Cheaper than growing sunflowers, we could also use hemp to make the biodiesel !!

I think with biodiesel you can grow your own plants and just convert them into fuel for your diesel vehicle. I'm sure its an involved process, but it seems like a good deal.

For documentaries on Netflix check out one called FUEL, its all about our oil dependence and bio-diesel as an alternative.


If we can "grow" oil, as is being done in a select few laboratories, on a large scale...that would be epic

 

[Mountain]

For documentaries on Netflix check out one called FUEL, its all about our oil dependence and bio-diesel as an alternative.

Yeah put that one on my list recently. Did a ton of research on WVO and biodiesel and will be interesting to check the flick out. I remember when I was into that stuff and reading reports of peeps drilling holes in the WVO bins at restaurants and supermarkets and pumping out the stuff...lol. That's when gas prices were skyrocketing. Still it's hard to find restaurants where you can get the WVO cause for one a lot of people into making biodiesel, but still possible, and a lot of places have contracts with companies to remove it. Believe it or not before the oil crisis a few years ago WVO, and rendered fat, was processed and sold, and still is, to cattle yards and mixed in with their feed.

With older Mercedes and VW's you don't even need to make biodiesel and can use Waste Vegetable Oil straight. There were 2 companies that were making good kits but can't remember. You need tank heaters otherwise the WVO gels when it gets cold.

 

[SpasticGramps]

Bahrain (small island off the Saudi coast) is now starting to riot too. WTI really took a dump and went back down to ~85 right after Murbarak left. I was surprised about that. It's almost up 1% today. With continued destabilization in the region I reckon it will be above 92 in a few days.

Washington Post article HERE.

By BRIAN MURPHY
The Associated Press
Monday, February 14, 2011; 8:23 AM

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates -- Bahrain's security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets Monday at thousands of anti-government protesters heeding calls to unite in a major rally and bring the Arab reform wave to the Gulf for the first time.

The punishing tactics by authorities underscore the sharply rising tensions in the tiny island kingdom - a strategic Western ally and home to the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

 

[igrowone]

^^^ could be, i'm thinking it's more the lighting of a long slow fuse
oil stocks have been high, that's not unusual after a price surge
but the trend is not our friend

 

[Mountain]

^^^ could be, i'm thinking it's more the lighting of a long slow fuse
oil stocks have been high, that's not unusual after a price surge
but the trend is not our friend

Oil stocks are hot and IMO will continue to move at least in the near term. Oil will go higher from here...unfortunately.

Saw a movie called Crude not too long ago about contamination of Ecuador by Chevron and it's worth checking out. Saw this in the news today...problem is the chances of Ecuador collecting is pretty slim from what I understand...still the judgment rocks...

QUITO, Ecuador – An Ecuadorean judge ruled Monday in an epic environmental case that Chevron Corp. was responsible for oil drilling contamination in a wide swath of Ecuador's northern jungle and ordered the oil giant to pay $8.6 billion in damages and cleanup.

The amount was far below the $27.3 billion recommended by a court-appointed expert. But whether the plaintiffs — including indigenous groups who say their hunting and fishing grounds in the headwaters of the Amazon River were decimated by toxic wastewater — can collect remains to be seen.

In a statement Chevron called the decision "illegitimate and unenforceable" and said it would appeal. It has long contended it could never get a fair trial in Ecuador and has removed all assets from this politically volatile Andean country, whose leftist president, Rafael Correa, had voiced support for the plaintiffs. Chevron it did not believe the judgment "enforceable in any court that observes the rule of law."

The marathon high-stakes case, fraught with corporate espionage, geopolitical intrigue, has been winding its way through U.S. and Ecuadorean courts for 17 years.

Even Hollywood had a role, with Chevron successfully forcing documentary filmmaker Joe Berlinger to surrender outtakes from his documentary "Crude" about the dispute, a decision upheld by a U.S. appeals court. Those outtakes were used in attempt to show that a plaintiffs' attorney, Steven Donziger, had both denigrated and unethically influenced Ecuadorean justice.

The plaintiffs' lead lawyer, Pablo Fajardo, called the 187-page judgment "a great step that we have made toward the crystallization of justice" but added that "we are not completely satisfied" with court-specified damage award. He told The Associated Press that the plaintiffs would probably appeal. The suit was originally filed in a New York federal court in 1993 against Texaco and was refiled in Ecuador three years after Chevron, which earned $19.1 billion last year, bought the company in 2001.

Though it had only 47 named plaintiffs, the suit sought damages on behalf of 30,000 people for environmental contamination and illnesses that allegedly resulted from Texaco's operation of an oil consortium from 1972 to 1990 in a Rhode Island-sized oil patch dug out of virgin rain forest.

Monday's ruling was hailed by the environmentalist groups Amazon Watch and Rainforest Action Networkhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110214/ap_on_re_us/lt_ecuador_chevron# as "proving overwhelmingly that the oil giant is responsible for billions gallons of highly toxic waste sludge deliberately dumped into local streams and rivers, which thousands depend on for drinking, bathing, and fishing."

 

[Mountain]

Gonna be an interesting summer...unrest in Middle East countries continues to spread...the word is out...dictatorships are history...but there goes stability in the region regarding oil supply...or at least the perception of stability. Whoever ends up in control will still need to sell oil to keep their countries functioning. Also read yesterday about Iran quashing opposition protests. That will be an interesting one to watch. A friend is Iranian and his father is a business big wig there in construction. Was telling me about the gathering storm with the younger class. With all that's happened recently in the Middle East, and seems to be gathering steam, Iran could blow up before too long.

 

[igrowone]

^^^ i saw the Iran goings on in today's news - there could be something ready to happen
if Iran got rid of the Mullahs(at least government wise), that would be major
i don't think that will be peaceful change, those pricks will kill before giving up power
tell you the truth, sounds more like a situation of near civil war

 

[Mountain]

those pricks will kill before giving up power
tell you the truth

Never really looked into it but don't know what regime is worse...the Shah or the current religious extremists.

As for peak oil Iran has topped out from what I understand. Their move toward nuclear power actually makes some sense. Their oil production has seen it's best years.

 

[igrowone]

Never really looked into it but don't know what regime is worse...the Shah or the current religious extremists.

As for peak oil Iran has topped out from what I understand. Their move toward nuclear power actually makes some sense. Their oil production has seen it's best years.

i'd say it's a tie with the Shah/Mullahs - societies often have a sense of 'acceptable', changing a government often changes faces, but many other things stay the same
i'd have no problem with Iran using peaceful nuclear power(with inspections)
their oil fields are quite old, kind of a microcosm of the world situation

 

[amannamedtruth]

Just wait till water costs as much, some places it does.

 

[SpasticGramps]

Shit is really starting to hit the fan in Libya too. They produce ~2% of the worlds oil. Unlike Egypt this will really matter to the oil markets.

The price at the pumps is protected by oversupply right now. Once it's used up expect $4/gal gas by summer. Easy.

Both WTI and Brent shooting up as the Middle East goes up in smoke, but don't worry there isn't enough inflation yet. Ben will take care of it.