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Vet67to82 (< 20)

Debt and Assets - new thinking NEEDED -pt 2

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April 11, 2009 – Comments (4) | RELATED TICKERS: DXO.DL.DL , FAS , MRO

Take for example the SPR.   The USA gov't SHOULD use the SPR to control the price of crude like the Fed seeks to control interest rates, and SHOULD make use of UNREALIZED profits to generate income to the USA Treasury, and to DRASTICALLY reduce our dependance on FOREIGN crude .

Many people have expressed concern regarding the sale of crude from the SPR.  I agree with many of their points.   However many of those worried individuals have never been to the USA's Energy Information Administration's (US EIA) website.  They have never viewed the joint  US EIA and US Department of Energy (US DOE) report on the huge crude oil reserves in the shale of the BAKKEN.  They have NEVER viewed the US Geologiical Survey (USGS) that shows the gov't has known about the Bakken for DECADES.  Simply, the technology didn't exist to extract the crude economically ... but look out,  technology has caught up.  North Dakota is now a NET EXPORTER of crude. 

 If you go to the following link, you can view the U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 1653 on Diagenesis and Fracture Development in the Bakken Formation, Williston Basin: Implications for Reservoir Quality in the Middle Member

----->    http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/p1653/

and the PDF version is available:           http://pubs.usgs.gov/pp/p1653/p1653.pdf

the gov't has calculated the Bakken holds 200 - 400 BILLION bbls of crude, and recent estimates are now at 550 BILLION bbls of recoverable crude.   When you consider the Billions of bbls in the Bakken vs those who want to fill the SPR to 1.5 billion bbls ... WHY? 

 Why export USA dollars to countries that are financially using OUR USA dollars in supporting groups that want to destroy us?    We're using, per the weekly US EIA  energy report, approximately  20 million bbls of crude products per DAY.   Based on 365 days and 20 million bbls of crude products usage per day - that comes to a 75 YEAR crude supply in the Bakken all by itself.    Now, if you did fill the SPR to 1.5 billion bbls and  20 million bbls of crude products usage per day - that comes to a 75 DAY supply.  

With the Bakken- USA dollars STAY in the USA -


With the SPR- USA dollars are leaving the USA in shiploads  ... NEVER to return.  The trade imbalance (trade deficit)  will NEVER get better.  Our politicians keep promising actions to reduce our dependence on foreign oil.   WHEN?  

Congress is wasting time and money on hearings over Big OIl profits --- simply order them into the Bakken.   When OPEC has COMPETITION and the USA dollars disappear ... the price of crude will drop.  And if you STILL want to fill the SPR ... fill it with West Texas Intermediate (WTI)  or Louisanna Light Sweet (LLS) Crude. 

 

 

4 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On April 11, 2009 at 2:42 AM, jgseattle (40.48) wrote:

The U.S needs a comprehensive energy policy which includes drilling, alt in current form, and R&D for Alt for the next years.

The problem now is the the environomental laws make it so difficult to do anything.  Lawsuits tie up projects for years in the courts.  We need to streamline the process to develop energy as a national emergency. 

As you indicate the dollars we pay for oil are going to unstable regions.  If we could spend those dollars in the U.S they would have a multiplier affect versus a negative affect as someone else spends them.

I was disappointed the stimulus package did not have more long term investments aimed to reduce the U.S dependancy of foriegn oil and to build assets that have long term payoffs. 

Comprehensive energy planning.  It must have some cost for everyone.

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#2) On April 11, 2009 at 4:54 AM, Vet67to82 (< 20) wrote:

Thanks for your reply jgseattle.  I fully agree with your points.   We need a USA  energy policy and strategy for National Security as well as economic reasons.   

We also need all the states to set a Convention to compare the environmental laws, get all the Attorney Generals together, and go through all the laws and the differences,  to come up with a uniform code to simplify the burden on multistate businesses. 

Technology today is vastly improved.  Laws haven't kept up and are outdated to the point of being useless or requiring additional steps that are no longer necessary.  .  The "red tape" burden has kept us from building new refineries,  exploring and drilling on and offshore, etc  

It does have costs, as you point out, for everyone. 

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#3) On April 11, 2009 at 12:59 PM, devoish (98.76) wrote:

New recovery technologies have increased the the recoverable oil estimate of the Bakken by a 25 multiple to a maximum recoverable amount of 3.5 billion barrels, enough for 175 days at the most optomistic estimate in 2008.

http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=1911 

What new technology developed since last year and not accounted for in the report gets any more oil out? And how does it get anywhere near 400 billion barrels?

And what recent estimate says 500 billion "recoverabe barrels" of crude that is not a mistake? I suspect someone has confused terms.

 

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#4) On April 12, 2009 at 9:11 PM, Vet67to82 (< 20) wrote:

Well, devoish, I did pay attention in my education in Physics, Chemistry, and ... oh, yeah, Geology.  

 The Bakken shale formation interested me because it presented numerous divergences from traditional oil fields. First the is no pool to tap into and drain. Second, you can't inject heated steam as shale reacts with water and swells, which could render a well useless.   New drilling techniques being used in horizontal drilling hold promise in fracturing the shale and creating a "pool" location around the drill hole for the crude to pool and be withdrawn.   

But, the article you referenced is very interesting, but FLAWED for what it LEAVES out.   Of course, I understand, few people would, or could, read that article and comprehend what it was leaving out.    

But, and here is where paying attention in science pays off.  Supercritical carbon dioxide is beginning to be used to enhance oil recovery in mature oil fields.   It would also make perfect sense to employ this process in the Bakken shale.   

Supercritical carbon dioxide refers to carbon dioxide that is in a fluid state while also being at or above both its critical temperature and pressure, yielding rather uncommon properties. Carbon dioxide usually behaves as a gas in air at Standard Temperature and Pressure (STP) or as a solid called dry ice when frozen. If the temperature and pressure are both increased from STP to be at or above the critical point for carbon dioxide, it can adopt properties midway between a gas and a liquid. More specifically, it behaves as a supercritical fluid above its critical temperature (31.1°C) and critical pressure (72.9 atm), expanding to fill its container like a gas but with a density like that of a liquid. Supercritical CO2 is becoming an important commercial and industrial solvent due to its role in chemical extraction in addition to its low toxicity and environmental impact. The relatively low temperature of the process and the stability of CO2 also allows most compounds to be extracted with little damage or denaturing. 

Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas as it transmits visible light but absorbs strongly in the infrared and near-infrared.  So reducing CO2 in the atmosphere would also help the GREENHOUSE global warming complaints.  Supercritical carbon dioxide is seen as a promising green solvent because it is non-toxic, and a byproduct of other industrial processes. Furthermore, separation of the reaction components from the starting material is much simpler than with traditional organic solvents.

 I  strongly believe a lot more of the crude can be recovered than what your article considers ... and I'm certain, in future articles, you'll be reading a lot more about what I'm saying. 

Just remember ... you read it here first! 

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