Seems a shame to walk when the pavements will be full and the roads will be clear ;-)
Fuel theft will become more of a problem though. Being slightly mean I'd think about leaving petrol cans around with water stored in them to see how long the thief can drive away before their engine is wrecked :-)
The price of fuel will keep on going up. Demand is rising and supply is dwindling. At some point we will be lamenting the £5 gallon as it rises towards £10.
teabelly
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In fairness Teabelly, industry pundits were looking at the mid to long term prices dropping until this latest madness. What's scarey is that this was the 80s early 90s scenario for global conflict. Slightly (only slightly) different world now. If only people used the ingenuity they put nto find even more guresome ways of killing each other into the pursuit of happiness.....
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" If only people used the ingenuity they put nto find even more guresome ways of killing each other into the pursuit of happiness"
Or proper alternatives to an oil based economy!
I am no "green" but I am concerned about being so tied in to unstable states for fuel supply. The other problem is that if we suddenly found a viable alternative fuel then those states would put the price up to crippling levels whilst the west converted over!
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Or proper alternatives to an oil based economy! I am no "green" but I am concerned about being so tied in to unstable states for fuel supply. The other problem is that if we suddenly found a viable alternative fuel then those states would put the price up to crippling levels whilst the west converted over!
I watched Syriana last night which is all about the oil industry and the people involved in it. Made for an interesting evening, very scary to know that things like that go on 'on our behalf'
Jonathan
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There may be no real need for the price of oil to go up, apart from profiteering. Take a look at this, which is going the rounds on the internet:-
The U.S. Govt's
Secret Colorado
Oil Discovery
Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky
Mountains lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the
world - more than 2 TRILLION barrels. On August 8, 2005
President Bush mandated its extraction. Three companies
have been chosen to lead the way. Test drilling has
already begun...
Dear Reader,
Five months ago, the U.S. Energy Department announced
the results of a land survey...
It was conducted to determine the official amount of oil
a thousand feet deep in the Rocky Mountains...
They reported this stunning news:
We have more oil inside our borders, than all the other
proven reserves on earth.
Here are the official estimates:
a.. 8-times as much oil as Saudi Arabia
b.. 18-times as much oil as Iraq
c.. 21-times as much oil as Kuwait
d.. 22-times as much oil as Iran
e.. 500-times as much oil as Yemen
...And it's all right here in the Western United States.
James Bartis, lead researcher with the study says,
"We've got more oil in this very compact area than the
entire Middle East."
More than 2 TRILLION barrels. Untapped.
"That's more than all the proven oil reserves of crude
oil in the world today," reports The Denver Post.
When asked about America's least-publicized oil supply,
Utah Senator Orrin Hatch said:
"The amounts of oil are staggering. Who would have
guessed that in just Colorado and Utah, there is more
recoverable oil than in the Middle East?"
Here's the kicker...
The U.S. government already owns the land. It's been
right there under our noses the whole time.
In fact, the government's appointed a small group of
companies to begin the drilling.
Test drilling has already begun.
And the profit forecasts are ridiculous. According to
the RAND Corporation (a public-policy think tank for the
government), this small region can produce:
Three million barrels of oil per day... That
translates into more than $20 BILLION a year.
These are the conservative estimates. The U.S. Energy
Dept. estimates an eventual output of 10 million barrels
of oil per day. At that rate, the money flow would be
even greater.
I've written this letter to tell you everything I've
learned about this rarely publicized oil reserve...
who's drilling it... and how to get a piece of the
world's biggest, untapped oil supply - before it's too
late.
Here's the full story...
The Next American Oil Boom
There's a new source of oil in the American West.
Today, it sits idle - untapped - inside more than 16,000
square miles of rock and sand.
Geologists call what lies in this region, oil shale.
What is oil shale?
At first glance, oil shale looks like an ordinary black
rock.
It feels grainy to the touch and... greasy. You see,
what's inside oil shale has huge governments, Big Oil,
venture capitalists, and even everyday investors
scrambling to stake a claim.
Oil shale - when heated - oozes bubbling crude.
This precious resource is rare - found only in a few
select countries. Places like China, Brazil, Estonia,
Morocco, and Australia.
But the real story is how much untapped oil shale lies
beneath U.S. soil. As the chart to the right indicates,
there's 4-times more oil shale in the U.S. than in all
other countries combined.
Over the past 125 years, oil shale has been the secret
oil source for a handful of nations. Specifically, those
fortunate enough to have it...
a.. China's been using oil shale since 1929. Today,
China is the largest producer of oil from oil shale.
It plans to double the daily rate of production soon.
a.. Estonia is an oil shale dependent economy. Over
90% of the country's electricity is fueled by shale
oil. In fact, electricity run on oil shale is a chief
export.
a.. In 1991, Brazil built the world's largest oil
shale facility. They've already produced more than 1.5
MILLION tons of oil to make high quality
transportation fuels.
b.. Jordan, Morocco, and Australia have recently
announced plans to utilize their oil shale resources.
All 3 governments are currently working to build oil
shale facilities.
But all these countries' oil shale resources pale in
comparison to the U.S. supply. As you can see from the
table to the right, the United States dominates the oil
shale market - with over 72% of the world's oil shale
resources.
Our gargantuan supply of oil lies beneath an area called
the Green River Formation - a barren stretch of land
covering portions of Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming.
World-renowned geologist Walter Youngquist calls the oil
beneath the Green River Formation, "a national
treasure."
Congress calls this area simply, "the next Saudi Arabia."
It's easy to see why...
This region holds the largest known oil reserve on the
planet...
Colorado's Oil Lands - Restricted for 76 Years, Now Open
for Drilling
There are over 16,000 square miles of oil shale in the
Green River formation...
Each acre holds 2 million barrels of oil - it's the most
concentrated energy source on earth, according to the
Energy Department.
The federal government owns 80% of this oil-rich land.
In fact, the government placed protective legislation on
this land in 1930, forbidding anyone to touch it.
You see, the government always knew this land was
saturated with oil - but getting it out has always been
expensive.
Buying oil from foreign countries was always the cheaper
bet. It has been for the past 80 years.
Wisely, the government kept the land around for a "rainy
day", protecting it with 1930s legislation.
I'm sure you're aware of today's situation at the gas
pump. Buying oil from foreign countries has gotten out
of hand. The price of oil is sky-high. It's way too
expensive to keep buying foreign oil. In other words,
the "rainy day" has finally arrived.
The timing couldn't be more perfect. Oil shale
technologies have begun to advance - drastically.
Companies are coming up with ways to extract oil from
the Green River Formation very cheaply.
For example, one Utah-based company says it can extract
the oil for as little as $10 a barrel. In fact dozens of
companies have stepped forward with similar claims. With
oil prices approaching $70 a barrel - these are pretty
significant breakthroughs.
That's all the government needed to hear.
On August 8, 2005, President Bush signed into law, a
mandate lifting the protective legislation on the Green
River Formation.
This mandate is called The Energy Policy Act of 2005. It
calls for the opening phases of oil extraction in the
Green River Formation - the world's most concentrated
energy source.
We're finally ready to tap the largest oil reserve on
the planet...
"The United States Could become 'The New Middle East'"
~ U.S. Energy Department Survey
If you want to get in on the American oil shale boom,
here's what you need to know...
The New Middle East
It can be difficult to imagine such massive
amounts of oil. Below, I've included a page of the
Energy Department's classified report. It puts
into perspective how much recoverable oil we have
- and the kind of money that will be made...
There's so much oil in this region the Energy
Dept. thinks we could become the world's leading
oil producer.
This reserve is so big it's projected to last for
500 years, according to some estimates.
You could even add together all the oil in the
Middle East-and our reserves would still come out
on top - 3-TIMES LARGER.
That's a lot of oil.
Of the 2 trillion barrels of proven oil in the Green
River Formation - between 800 billion and 1.2 trillion
barrels are recoverable. That's the amount of oil we can
actually get out and use.
Extracting this much domestic oil is very attractive to
the government, especially in today's politically
unstable environment.
It's estimated that tapping U.S. oil shale would
decrease domestic oil prices by as much as five percent
a year. That may not sound like much, but consider that
a 5% drop in oil prices would save Americans $15 - $20
BILLION a year at the gas pumps.
That's why on August 8, 2005, President Bush signed into
law the Energy Policy Act of 2005.
This historic legislation officially opens up the Green
River Formation to a handful of drilling companies.
In January, the government gave six companies 160 acres
of the government's oil-rich land apiece - to test their
oil shale drilling methods for commercial production.
Already 3 have been cut... Now only 3 are left.
From the remaining three, I think only one company's
drilling technology will meet the government's strict
shale development standards - and go on to develop oil
shale on a commercial level.
This company would be responsible for launching
America's first commercial oil shale operation and
production "...Leading the way to more than two trillion
barrels of oil shale deposits in the Green River
Formation," writes the U.S. Federal News Service.
I'll not only tell you who I think this company will be...
I've found several more ways you can make money from
this situation.
How much can you expect to make?
You might be stunned when you see the numbers...
U.S. Oil Shale Could Make You $551,900 in the Next Few
Years
You may be aware of a similar situation going on, right
now in the oil business, in an area called the Alberta
Oil Sands.
This region in Northern Canada holds billions of barrels
of oil - which also happen to be locked inside large
amounts of sand and rock.
Why am I telling you this?
Because in their recent analysis of the Green River
Formation, the Energy Department wrote that the
opportunity to make money in U.S. oil shale is
"Comparable to Alberta, Canada Oil Sands."
If you know anything about Canadian oil sands, you know
for the past 5 years they've been moneymaking machines.
Here are a few examples:
a.. In late 2003, Jay Reardon bought shares in a
company called Western Oil Sands. If he cashed out
today, he'd profit $364,070.32. Needless to say, he's
holding out for more. Western Oil Sands has gone up
1,564% in the last 5 years.
a.. Investor J.R. Stanton got in on a company called
Suncor Energy in April 2003. Today, he's built a
lasting family fortune worth more than $824,900. Since
the late 90's this stock has taken off 2,390%.
a.. Since she began investing last year, Nichole
Brubaker has made over $28,300 with Canadian Oil Sands
Trust. This cash cow has returned a solid 1,605% since
1998.
A $10,000 investment in each of these leading oil sands
companies in the late 1990s would now be worth more than
$551,900.
Incredibly, even more money stands to be made with U.S.
oil shale - at least 3-times more, by my calculations.
How do I know?
Just look at the numbers:
Fact #1 - U.S. oil shale is 2-times as dense as Canadian
oil sands: It takes 2 tons of Canadian oil sand to
produce one barrel of oil. It takes only half as much
oil shale to generate a barrel of oil. There's simply
more oil in oil shale.
Fact #2 - The U.S. has larger oil resources: There's
11-times more oil in the U.S. than there is in Alberta,
Canada.
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Amazing. And now you can buy bits of the moon as well, and pay to have a newly discovered star named after you. Where will it all end ?
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Just glad i can walk to work and run the landie on gas!
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Am I being cynical but bang on time the price of fuel seem to rise just in time for the holiday season and therefore greater consumption by the motorists on their hols. Strange that !!
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Fullchat
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>>Incredibly, even more money stands to be made with ........
And it just so happens that I'll give you the money to invest in this opportunity. My great-grandfather died leaving £344,000,000 in a bank account in Nigeria and all we need is........................................
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The extraction of oil from oil shale in the Rocky Mountains is not a joke, nor is the quantity of oil trapped there - it's been well documented for years. Unfortunately, compared to the price of conventionally extracted crude oil, the price was too high. However, technology has progresses and figures of around $30 a barrel are now being put forward.
Oil use to be extracted from shale by digging it up, heating it to 1000°F and then condensing the products - natural gas and crude oil. However, the latest way is to drill holes and put heaters at the bottom, heating the shale in-situ. The products then vapourise and are condensed at the surface.
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Does this mean then that the brief spell of "anti gas-guzzler" going on in the US is now over again?
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A few weeks ago the King of Saudi Arabia halved the fuel prices overnight so a gallon og fuel is now 8p. Regards Peter
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Do I detect a hint of scepticism? The oil shale story is true.
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es the oil shale story is true.
What they omit to tell you is the HUGE capital costs involved in setting up the processing plants..(mining is usually the most economic way of processing the oil out of rock but not always ).
IWhen it costs $3 to $5 million to drill a hole 10,000 feet deep and get some oil out - say 5,000 barrels /day, which means any medium sized company can do it, oil shale projects to produce oil will be very big and $hundreds of millions to produce in any volume. And if th producing cost is $30 it is competing with conventional oil costing $2-$15 per barrel to produce.
Simple economics tells you we'll have to see far less conventional oil around and far higher prices before we see MAJOR volume output from shale.
No I' m not saying it will not happen.. it will just take a long time and several $ billions. There are probably only 20 oil companies with the finances to do it and they ain't.
madf
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This story has been doing the rounds for at least 10 years. It gets updated from time to time, but its still the same stuff.
And it is not economically worthwhile at this time, and may never be.
Oh, and BTW, there is no conspiracy.
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That's right.
You don't need a conspiracy to explain the fact the Oil Companies and Oil producing nations have sensibly chosen to extract all the easy to get to, easy to refine oil first. Now that easy oil is getting harder to find and extract, they're turning to heavy oils and oil like substances like tar sands and oil shales (actually Kerogen, almost like immature oil).
These substances are indeed found in huge quantities, mostly unexploited because there was no economic case for bothering.
Now that regular light sweet oil is hard to find, the heavy oils are becoming more attractive and getting mined in increasing quantities.
Question: 1) will it be enough to replace the decline in light, sweet crude and 2) how much costly energy will it take to extract tar sands and oil shale in a world where all forms of energy, especially natural gas and oil are getting more expensive.
Answers: 1) nobody really knows until we try and 2) capital costs are generally quoted at fixed prices from years when the energy inputs were cheaper, so the viability boundary in terms of $ per barrel always moves upwards. When it's too expensive to mine at $30 a barrel, it remains too expensive at $80 a barrel because it takes extensive amounts of energy to mine these so-called oil products.
Google a bit more folks and you'll see there's more to this than meets the eye. Trust me, if there were easy answers to this then we'd just go and mine the damn stuff and the price of oil would soon tumble down. Measure that against the observable facts...
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Monday, 17 July 2006
Oil's Not Well in Canadian Sands
With all of the uncertainty in the Middle East, the U.S. government is continuing to cozy up to its important oil supplier to the north.
DOE Secretary Bodman was in Alberta last week, touring oil sands facilities where "current oil sands production is over 1 million barrels per day, and is expected to double by 2010 and reach 3 million barrels per day by 2015," according to the agency. Canada accounts for more than 16 percent of our total imported crude oil and petroleum products, and with 175 billion barrels of proven oil sands reserves, Canada ranks second only to Saudi Arabia in global oil reserves.
(Hey Canada, consider joining us. We've got 2 Disney parks, more NHL teams, and lower taxes.)
However, according to Western Oils Sands, one of the major players in the oil sands project, the cost of extracting the oil is "skyrocketing." The cost of its project jumped 50 percent over the previously estimated bill of $7.3 billion, thanks to increasing costs of labor and supplies. Competitor Nexen says its oil sands costs will rise 10 percent, while Shell says the cost of its oil sands plant went up 50 percent.
According to Western, oil sands are a mixture of sand, bitumen and water. Bitumen is a heavy viscous crude oil that contains high amounts of sulfur. Bitumen can be processed into high quality, synthetic oil.
The environmental cost is also steep, as Al Gore told Rolling Stone that "four metric tons of landscape is torn up for every barrel of oil."
So while there may be lots of oil in the sand, it won't come cheaply.
blog.wired.com/cars/index.blog?entry_id=1522485
madf
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