Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

^ +1

Global oil market with OPEC in control makes all this possible. All of these terrorists get funded by oil money one way or the other. All of the oil producing middle eastern countries would be piss poor and irrelevant if it wasn't for oil.

Alternative energy is the answer. We just need an actual policy and goal to push for development sooner rather than later since there is no reason why capital markets would want to solve the problem.

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

We don't need OPEC. There's plenty of oil here at home. But your commander in chief keeps hindering the ability to get it. That's why every time we get closer to becoming energy independent the price of oil plummets just like it did recently. They need us more than we need them.

Can't have capital markets in an overly regulated government controlled economy. The government is picking winners and losers, and we're the losers.

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

Saudi Arabia can produce oil for around $10 a barrel. U.S. shale operations costs to produce oil are around $50 and up per barrel. March crude futures are trading around $52.70 as I write this.

OPEC has the ability to put our operations out of business as we're seeing by their current policy. We saw their power in the '70's. Then when they cut production in 2008 by more than a million barrels a day. Now they leave the tap wide open and show that our operations can not compete if they do so.

Capitalism can not compete when the rest of the worlds oil is government controlled and cheaper to produce than ours.

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

Shale is not the only place we can get oil. We have many oil reserves that are on lockdown.

Obviously Canada has enoough on tap to warrant having the Keystone pipeline go right through the middle of our country to feed oil tankers in the Gulf of Mexico for export to other countries, if it ever gets approved by our liar in cheif.

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

Middle Eastern countries can do it cheaper than us. Our easy oil is gone.



Lifting Costs Finding Costs Total Upstream Costs
United States – Average $12.18 $21.58 $33.76
On-shore $12.73 $18.68 $31.38
Off-shore $10.09 $41.51 $51.60

All Other Countries – Average $9.95 $15.13 $25.08
Canada $12.69 $12.07 $24.76
Africa $10.31 $35.01 $45.32
Middle East $9.89 $6.99 $16.88
Central & South America $6.21 $20.43 $26.64

http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=367&t=6

"Canadian oil sands — slated to be a top consumer of the pipeline — will need oil prices to stay between $65 and $75 a barrel to make production there economically feasible."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/...ject/18994601/

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

Natural gas is mixed into that equation, so it's hard to tell what the true cost of the oil is.

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

How about this data. Our reserves are deep water and arctic. The prices for our methods begin past the high end of middle eastern country costs.


Oilfields Estimated Production
/source Costs ($ 2008)
Mideast/N.Africa oilfields 6 - 28
Other conventional oilfields 6 - 39
CO2 enhanced oil recovery 30 - 80
Deep/ultra-deep-water oilfields 32 - 65
Enhanced oil recovery 32 - 82
Arctic oilfields 32 - 100
Heavy oil/bitumen 32 - 68
Oil shales 52 - 113
Gas to liquids 38 - 113
Coal to liquids 60 - 113

Source: International Energy Agency World Energy Outlook 2008

http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/...12407420090728

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

Quoting something from nearly a decade ago is basically pointless.

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

Our drilling has become more technically challenging, while the middle east's hasn't. What paradigm shift has occurred to indicate that the point I'm making is dated by that data?

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

Alternative energy is a joke, as witnessed by Solyndra and other companies our government have poured billions into and then closed their doors. If something is economically feasible, it should be self-suffiicient, not dependent on constant taxpayer funding. Oil and nuclear are the answer, lift the stupid regulations on them trying to make silly ideas like solar and wind feasible. Both have some merit, but only in certain locations and situations.

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

Open up ANWR and those problems all go away.

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

Alternative energy loses steam when oil gets cheap. There is no infrastructure for it at this point. Solar and wind during the day converted and stored as hydrogen would be one way to work toward solving the issue. Getting people on board is the hard part when alternative energy can't compete with cheap oil.

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

The middle east wins in all oil scenarios.

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

Other than cars, we should have made huge moves to solar a decade ago,.. but its hard to tax and regulate the Sun, and there lies the problem.
"If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there'd be a shortage of sand."-Milton Friedman

Yep.

And this.
http://thehill.com/policy/energy-env...rilling-rights
I like how the government auctions off something that doesn't belong to the government. Open it up and watch oil prices go down rapidly.

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

^ The middle east will still be profitable selling their oil. They will continue to sell their oil and the market will increase as China and India continue to industrialize. The U.S. leads the way in technology. If we adopt alternative energy and make it work, others will follow.

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

OPEC and the Saudies can't keep their oil prices below $50 for the long term. They are just playing a power grab right now, that's the only reason they did it. You really think that if it weren't for the Keystone vote coming up weeks ago that the price of oil would have came down anyway?

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

The major problem is that Saudi Arabia is the largest oil producer in the world and they can control the price because of that. If we produce more than them, supply will overwhelm demand and price will crash unless they cut production. They can always produce cheaper than us and middle east stays rich in oil money. No end ever to oil money for terrorists.

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

We don't have to out produce them, all we have to do is become less dependent on foreign oil and the effect will be dramatic.

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

How does that scenario play out?

Re: Jordanian pilot burned alive by terrorist
 

We as a country do import a lot of oil, but we also produce a lot for our own use.

If OPEC and the Saudies have such a monopoly on low cost production, our ramping up production for our own use shouldn't really scare them, but it did. Just like politicians, don't pay attention to what they say, pay attention to what they do. They last thing they want is an oil independent USA.