Now, about my disappearing ecosystem... This post sponsored by a grant from the Patty Dumpling Endowed Chair for coverage of oil spills, oil company dickishness, and occasional schadenfruede at the folly of Big Oil Hey, Kids, how about some actual NICE TIME news on the environment and global warming? While it's not quite as nice as, say, the Democrats taking back Congress and putting some people on the House and Senate Science committees who think science is actually a thing, it's still a temporary reprieve for one endangered chunk of the planet. Several huge oil companies, including Royal Dutch Shell, ConocoPhillips, and others, have
Solar and wind are already cheaper than oil. Trouble is, with oil, somebody else pays most of the bill. Ask the Ogoni people what oil really costs. Or the Iraquis.
Fracking, particularly in North Dakota...yes. Tar sands...probably not so much. For most oil exploration and field development cost a lot more than extraction, so oil companies can continue to produce from existing wells in ND (and elsewhere) while they lay off anyone involved in developing new wells. Tar sands are very expensive to produce, not so expensive to locate as everyone knows where they are and they're simply strip mined. So, tar sands can't really drive prices down, though they can place a cap on prices.
If I remember right, Saudi Arabia was, in fact, flooding the market with oil a year or two ago hoping to drive out other producers. They've apparently succeeded too well, as current reports suggest they're having some difficulty funding their government at current prices.
so, so, happy about this news. if there had been a spill in the arctic ocean like what we saw in LA, then it would have been about a million times harder to stop. It would be more devastating than the Exxon Valdez.
I used to work in the O&G industry so I can take a stab at this.
Under Obama's administration, the US has just about become energy independent, which means that we no longer rely on foreign oil, particularly from the Middle East. We still import some oil, but we try to get it from Western partners like Mexico, etc.
Drilling of new wells has slowed waaaay down, but not stopped and there's several reasons for this. Oil & Gas has always been a boom and bust business, something those of us in Colorado know well. So oil companies that can afford to keep developing new properties to keep the industry going. After the oil crash in the '80's we gradually lost a great deal of the infrastructure for extraction and it had to be rebuilt, which can take a LOT of time. For example, new drill rigs have to be built at an enormous cost and the drill rigs of today are very advanced and cost in the millions. You don't want business to completely dry up putting them out of business. Oil companies don't own oil rigs (onshore or offshore), they are contracted. So there are still contracts with the rig companies to fulfill.
Yes, there's still foreign oil coming into the LA and TX refineries, but many of them are just parked in the Gulf at the moment. And just because it's refined in the states doesn't mean we keep it. It may then be purchased by another country.
I could go on, but it's really not that interesting to most people.
Nope, the tar sands aren't burning and the fire is currently moving away from the Sunoco field. We have a Sunoco refinery in Commerce City and thus far, they have reported no slowing of incoming oil, though that will probably come.
Last I heard, they pulled all the fields in the area out of production. I can't say they've been capped off at this point, but probably not. They probably just 'shut in' the operating wells, which will keep them safe even if there's a burnover (which probably won't happen anyway).
There's a vast stand of dead trees in the area the fire's headed to. Fortunately, lots of dead trees, not very many people or settlements.
? I thought it was mainly fracking and Albertan tar sands that was doing that.
have you noticed that you never see a Hummer parked next to a dumpster? . . . their drivers have discovered that you can't tell the two apart.
[ humpsters ]
Michael "Whaddup? / Black Larry David" Steele. Someone should ask him whether he's going to vote for Trumpy.
sure there is . . . it's the first clause of Amendment II.
Solar and wind are already cheaper than oil. Trouble is, with oil, somebody else pays most of the bill. Ask the Ogoni people what oil really costs. Or the Iraquis.
Fracking, particularly in North Dakota...yes. Tar sands...probably not so much. For most oil exploration and field development cost a lot more than extraction, so oil companies can continue to produce from existing wells in ND (and elsewhere) while they lay off anyone involved in developing new wells. Tar sands are very expensive to produce, not so expensive to locate as everyone knows where they are and they're simply strip mined. So, tar sands can't really drive prices down, though they can place a cap on prices.
If I remember right, Saudi Arabia was, in fact, flooding the market with oil a year or two ago hoping to drive out other producers. They've apparently succeeded too well, as current reports suggest they're having some difficulty funding their government at current prices.
ISWYDT
I dunno, I was raised Catholic. I'm pretty tough on myself. I've already given myself a very stern warning.
so, so, happy about this news. if there had been a spill in the arctic ocean like what we saw in LA, then it would have been about a million times harder to stop. It would be more devastating than the Exxon Valdez.
Here, it nearly is $2 gas. I filled my car yesterday for $2.05/gallon.
I sent Senator Inhofe an email when we reached the seventy degree mark in February. He didn't respond.
I used to work in the O&G industry so I can take a stab at this.
Under Obama's administration, the US has just about become energy independent, which means that we no longer rely on foreign oil, particularly from the Middle East. We still import some oil, but we try to get it from Western partners like Mexico, etc.
Drilling of new wells has slowed waaaay down, but not stopped and there's several reasons for this. Oil & Gas has always been a boom and bust business, something those of us in Colorado know well. So oil companies that can afford to keep developing new properties to keep the industry going. After the oil crash in the '80's we gradually lost a great deal of the infrastructure for extraction and it had to be rebuilt, which can take a LOT of time. For example, new drill rigs have to be built at an enormous cost and the drill rigs of today are very advanced and cost in the millions. You don't want business to completely dry up putting them out of business. Oil companies don't own oil rigs (onshore or offshore), they are contracted. So there are still contracts with the rig companies to fulfill.
Yes, there's still foreign oil coming into the LA and TX refineries, but many of them are just parked in the Gulf at the moment. And just because it's refined in the states doesn't mean we keep it. It may then be purchased by another country.
I could go on, but it's really not that interesting to most people.
Don't be silly! This is 'Murika! There ain't no Sanity Clause.
Which means they'll find a way to monetize clean/renewable energy. Sorry, my mood is as black as my soul today.
Nope, the tar sands aren't burning and the fire is currently moving away from the Sunoco field. We have a Sunoco refinery in Commerce City and thus far, they have reported no slowing of incoming oil, though that will probably come.
Last I heard, they pulled all the fields in the area out of production. I can't say they've been capped off at this point, but probably not. They probably just 'shut in' the operating wells, which will keep them safe even if there's a burnover (which probably won't happen anyway).
There's a vast stand of dead trees in the area the fire's headed to. Fortunately, lots of dead trees, not very many people or settlements.
But, doesn't increased supply further depress prices?