Bakken Oil Reserve

[lenny66]

A friend of mine sent this to me. I found it to be very interesting reading. It's a bit long, but if this is true, we should not have to be paying $4-5 a gallon for gasoline or $8-$12 for racing fuel. Lenny66

You Better Be Sitting Down When You Read This!

 

As you may know, Cruz Construction started a division in North Dakota just 6 months ago.

 

They sent every Kenworth (9 trucks) we had here in Alaska to North Dakota and several drivers.

 

They just bought two new Kenworth's to add to that fleet; one being a Tri Drive tractor and a new 65 ton lowboy to go with it.

 

They also bought two new cranes (one crawler & one rubber tired) for that division.

 

Dave Cruz said they have moved more rigs in the last 6 months in ND than Cruz Construction moved in Alaska in the last 6 years.

 

Williston is like a gold rush town; they moved one of our 40 man camps down there since there are no rooms available.

 

Unemployment in ND is the lowest in the nation at 3.4 percent last I checked.

 

See anything in the national news about how the oil industry is fueling North Dakota's economy?

 

Here's an astonishing read. Important and verifiable information:

 

About 6 months ago, the writer was watching a news program on oil and one of the Forbes Bros. was the guest.

 

The host said to Forbes, "I am going to ask you a direct question and I would like a direct answer;

 

how much oil does the U.S. have in the ground?" Forbes did not miss a beat, he said, "more than all the Middle East put together.."

 

The U. S.. Geological Service issued a report in April 2008 that only scientists and oil men knew was coming, but man was it big.

 

It was a revised report (hadn't been updated since 1995) on how much oil was in this area of the western 2/3 of North Dakota,

 

western South Dakota, and extreme eastern Montana.

 

Check THIS out:

 

The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, and has the potential to

eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates

 

it at 503 billion barrels. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable( 5 billion barrels), at $107 a barrel,

we're looking at a resource base worth more than $5.3 trillion.

 

"When I first briefed legislators on this, you could practically see their jaws hit the floor.

 

They had no idea.." says Terry Johnson, the Montana Legislature's financial analyst.

 

"This sizable find is now the highest-producing onshore oil field found in the past 56 years," reportsThe Pittsburgh Post Gazette.

 

It's a formation known as the Williston Basin , but is more commonly referred to as the 'Bakken.'

 

It stretches from Northern Montana, through North Dakota and into Canada.

 

For years, U. S. oil exploration has been considered a dead end.

 

Even the 'Big Oil' companies gave up searching for major oil wells decades ago.

 

However, a recent technological breakthrough has opened up the Bakken's massive reserves, and we now have access of up to 500 billion barrels. And because this is light, sweet oil,

 

those billions of barrels will cost Americans just $16 PER BARREL!

 

That's enough crude to fully fuel the American economy for 2041 years straight.

 

And if THAT didn't throw you on the floor, then this next one should - because it's from 2006!

 

U.S Oil Discovery - Largest Reserve in the World

Stansberry Report Online - 4/20/2006

 

Hidden 1,000 feet beneath the surface of the Rocky Mountains lies the largest untapped oil reserve in the world.

 

It is more than 2 TRILLION barrels. On August 8, 2005 President Bush mandated its extraction.

 

In three and a half years of high oil prices none has been extracted.

 

With this motherload of oil why are we still fighting over off-shore drilling?

 

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:

 

8 times as much oil as Saudi Arabia

 

18 times as much oil as Iraq

 

21 times as much oil as Kuwait

 

22 times as much oil as Iran

 

500 times as much oil as Yemen

 

And it's all right here in the Western United States!

 

HOW can this BE? HOW can we NOT BE extracting this? Because the environmentalists and others have blocked all efforts to help America become

independent of foreign oil! Again, we are letting a small group of people dictate our lives and our economy. WHY?

 

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.

 

Don't think 'OPEC' will drop its price even with this find? Think again! It's all about the competitive marketplace, it has to.

 

Think OPEC just might be funding the environmentalists?

 

Got your attention yet? Now, while you're thinking about it, do this:

 

Pass this along. If you don't take a little time to do this, then you should stifle yourself the next time you complain about gas prices, by doing NOTHING, you forfeit your right to complain.

 

Now I just wonder what would happen in this country if every one of you sent this to every one in your address book.

 

By the way, this can be verified. Check it out at the link below!

 

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

[RBSF]

You would think the present administration would be totally on board with this and the syncrude pipeline from just over the border in Canada. Jobs, booming economy, the president becomes an iconic hero.... There must be more to the story. We can, do, and should blame the environmentalists, but who are they? Who pays them? I doubt the Sierra club and like-minded folks would have the teeth if the government didn't allow it. I want to blame the president, but can I really? Well, yeah, he does take quite a bit of OPEC money for his campaign, surely that has just a bit of influence... Anyway, thanks for the read, I'll pass it on too.

[Big G Smith]

You would think the present administration would be totally on board with this and the syncrude pipeline from just over the border in Canada. Jobs, booming economy, the president becomes an iconic hero.... There must be more to the story. We can, do, and should blame the environmentalists, but who are they? Who pays them? I doubt the Sierra club and like-minded folks would have the teeth if the government didn't allow it. I want to blame the president, but can I really? Well, yeah, he does take quite a bit of OPEC money for his campaign, surely that has just a bit of influence... Anyway, thanks for the read, I'll pass it on too.

 

In the 2008 campaign for president, Obama came right out and said he was for high oil prices so it would be easier for him to move the country into wind and solar power.

 

The only way to get these prices down is to vote him out of office in November.

I for one will not be voting for Obama

[RBSF]

I can't WAIT for my solar/wind truck to get here to allow me to work in the oil field!!!

[PAPosse]

..... easier for him to move the country into wind and solar power.

 

Blowing sunshine....isn't that what most politicians do?

[rebelracewriter]

It's funny(peculiar, not haha) that in 2008 Pres. Obummer and more recently his energy czar Chiu have said they want higher oil prices, yet just the other day, the Messiah-in-Chief contradicted himself and his energy czar saying he didn't want higher oil prices......So let's see....who's in full campaign mode now?

 

Sad part is since this will never be reported by the lame stream media, the kool-aid drinkers will never hear about this, or just blow it off because he's a nice guy.....

 

Paul, if you don't believe the eniviromentalists are in the pants....er, pockets of the administration, you might be mistaken....

[Definitive]

Went to a couple sites and they are saying it could be as much as 5 trillion barrels.Canada is going to dust us....just so a squirrel doesn't get a drop of oil on it's fur.If there weren't so many worried more about animals than humans,we could tell the enemies of democracy to kiss our....but no,we will keep giving them all of our money so they can eventually crush or control us...pathetic.

[JamesHigdon]

...we will keep giving them all of our money so they can eventually crush or control us...pathetic.

 

Don't resolve yourself to that, I'm 26 and sure as hell haven't. There is no problem we face now as a country that is worse then what we have faced before and no issue we can't solve WHEN we pull together a single people. Revisionist history has lead to a "woe is me" attitude in our country that people are beginning to get fed up with and when the American populace gets fed up there is nothing we cannot conquer.

 

You want to change this? You want to make a difference, VOTE. Beyond just voting keep in mind every time you spend a dollar that dollar is the casting of a vote for or against a principle and a way life. Don’t like Chinese made products, shop somewhere that sells American made blue jeans. Don’t like foreign oil, buy fuel from a company that sources American crude. Don’t like our current situation, VOTE and do it loudly.

[Jamie]

Question, would writing/emailing your congressman or rep. be a more direct thing for the time being? "Mr. Congressman, this has been brought to my attention (insert info) now what are you going to do about it? I hate to remind you but your job is one the line if we don't get the answer we are looking for." Something to that effect anyway. The one thing I got out of that Kony2012 video yesterday was they will take note if they receive 25 or more calls, letters or emails about a particular topic. I would gladly email or call and read a blanket letter daily if I had to.

[Definitive]

...we will keep giving them all of our money so they can eventually crush or control us...pathetic.

 

Don't resolve yourself to that, I'm 26 and sure as hell haven't. There is no problem we face now as a country that is worse then what we have faced before and no issue we can't solve WHEN we pull together a single people. Revisionist history has lead to a "woe is me" attitude in our country that people are beginning to get fed up with and when the American populace gets fed up there is nothing we cannot conquer.

 

You want to change this? You want to make a difference, VOTE. Beyond just voting keep in mind every time you spend a dollar that dollar is the casting of a vote for or against a principle and a way life. Don’t like Chinese made products, shop somewhere that sells American made blue jeans. Don’t like foreign oil, buy fuel from a company that sources American crude. Don’t like our current situation, VOTE and do it loudly.

 

It sounds like you have a good handle on the tea party....whether intentionally or accidentally...

 

My comment has nothing to do with woes me...it was meant to get some to think about our perspective on our future as a nation being worth some risk to our environment.The environment is very important.Is our future as a free society?If you review history carefully,you will find that our economy was backed by our natural resources right from the start.France,Spain,England,etc...didn't fight for the New World because it was pretty.They wanted our riches.

 

This country has never ever been in as much of a bind as it currently is.We have never been as beholding to any other nation as we are now,and $10.00 a gallon gasoline would bring our economy to it's knees.

 

If we managed energy independence,what happens around the world wouldn't have as much of an effect on our price at the pump or in our markets.That confidence would do wonders for our economy.

 

What you are saying about "not buying made in China"is the same philosophy behind "energy independence".

 

In racing,there is always a "big dog".Other racers are always doing what they can to defeat that big dog.Don't think for a second that there aren't other nations out there that wouldn't want our position in the world.We have made it clear that militarily that wont happen.Someone will have to do it economically.Don't let environmental righteousness allow that to happen.

 

Do exactly what the young man has suggested and vote.It has been set up as the most effective way for us to direct the course of the nation.....of course griping is sometimes fun too.

[ProTree]

the oil patch is booming in midland/odessa area.folks out here in the oil biz tell me if the speculators that drive the price had to lease a ship,take delivery of the oil and lease a place to store it after they buy it at the end of the day,the price would drop quick.instead they never see it or feel it,just trade paper.

[tqj3]

Unless gasoline prices hit about $4.25 per gallon or so, none of the "alternative fuel sources" have a chance of being financially successful, therefore they won't be developed. In addition, if we aren't going to develope alternatives, our best bet would seem to be to leave our oil in the ground and just buy theirs. When theirs runs out, we'll still have ours.

 

Also, gas prices aren't that high. Corrected for inflation, gas is no more expensive than it was when I was a teenager. (It took about a half hour working at minimum wage to buy a gallon of gas then, and it takes about a half hour to earn enough to buy a gallon now.)

[NickHolt]

Unless gasoline prices hit about $4.25 per gallon or so, none of the "alternative fuel sources" have a chance of being financially successful, therefore they won't be developed. In addition, if we aren't going to develope alternatives, our best bet would seem to be to leave our oil in the ground and just buy theirs. When theirs runs out, we'll still have ours.

 

Also, gas prices aren't that high. Corrected for inflation, gas is no more expensive than it was when I was a teenager. (It took about a half hour working at minimum wage to buy a gallon of gas then, and it takes about a half hour to earn enough to buy a gallon now.)

 

Not too sure where you got your $4.25 per gallon figure as the cut point for alternative fuels. Could you share that with us please?

 

I truly take exception to your contention that we should leave the domestic oil in the ground. You and Mr. Obama seem to be on the same wave length on that one whereas many folks in the oil business are 180 degrees in the other direction. I guess it's academic at this point since Obama is not about to allow free enterprise to flourish in the USA.

 

And I question your math on your corrected-for-inflation price of gas. What price and what year are you using for your base price? I'd like to run my own algorithm on that one.

 

Nick

[tqj3]

The $4.25 per gallon number comes from the fact that T. Boone Pickens stopped his wind farm plans when gasoline dropped below $4.00 per gallon.

 

I'm not advocating the use theirs and save ours approach, but if we aren't going to be serious about either conserving fuel or finding new sources, something else should be on the table.

 

Fuel price comparision? 1960 at 30 cents per gallon, current price of $3.50 more or less per gallon and $7.25 minimum wage.

[rebelracewriter]

(It took about a half hour working at minimum wage to buy a gallon of gas then, and it takes about a half hour to earn enough to buy a gallon now.)

 

Fuel price comparision? 1960 at 30 cents per gallon, current price of $3.50 more or less per gallon and $7.25 minimum wage

 

So minimum wage back in 1960 was .60/hr?.....I don't think so!.....Sounds like Obummer math to me....Just like his skewed unemployment numbers....but that's another arguement for another day.....Liberals math cracks me up!

[ProTree]

reb,unemployment is down because most that were getting it ran out.now most of those folks that were on it have moved over to drawing disabilty.and tq,speaking of wind farms.come out to west texas where i'm at and see the wind farms.t boone may have stopped, but there are so damn many the earth is starting to spin a little faster,shortening the days.tboone said he wasnt doing the wind in texas because of transmission lines.he's doing it somewhere else.

[tqj3]

(It took about a half hour working at minimum wage to buy a gallon of gas then, and it takes about a half hour to earn enough to buy a gallon now.)

 

Fuel price comparision? 1960 at 30 cents per gallon, current price of $3.50 more or less per gallon and $7.25 minimum wage

 

So minimum wage back in 1960 was .60/hr?.....I don't think so!.....Sounds like Obummer math to me....Just like his skewed unemployment numbers....but that's another arguement for another day.....Liberals math cracks me up!

 

No, Reb, minimum wage was a buck, but with many exemptions.

I was working in a restaurant for 50 cents an hour plus tips in 1962

, But the busboys were pulling down a fast 40 cents an hour. In 1964 I was a hospital orderly and minimum wage was $1.25 and I was making $1.07 with lots of over time, but no over time

pay.

But the mistake liberals make is thinking raising the minimum wage will put more money in peoples' pockets. In reality, raising theminimum wage only devlaues the dollar.

[NickHolt]

Sorry to burst your bubble, TQ but here are the facts.

 

Minimum wage in 1960 was $1.00 per hour. Average gas price centered around $0.30 a gallon. In Texas the historical record shows that gas was actually a few cents cheaper, but to give TQ the benefit of the doubt, I'll use the national average price of $0.30 per gallon.

 

The average price of gas in Texas according to the very latest figures available is $3.66 a gallon and the minimum wage in Texas is $7.25 an hour.

 

The percentage of an hour's work at minimum wage in 1960 that was spent on a gallon of gas was 30%. ($0.30 divided by $1.00 = 30%)

 

The percentage of an hour's work at minimum wage in 2012 that is spent on a gallon of gas is now 50%. ($3.66 divided by $7.25 = 50%)

 

Expressed as a percentage of an hour's worth of work, the price of gas has nearly doubled.

 

The indisputable fact is that we are sitting on one of the world's largest oil supplies right here in the good old USA. The Obama administration, however, has openly declared (through the Director of the Department of Energy) that the plan is to drive the price of oil so high that it becomes economically profitable to develop alternative forms of energy for transportation. Of course, the economy stands a good chance of collapsing in the process.

 

Nick

[ProTree]

when i got married i remember gettin' a buck sixty an hour.thought i was banking

[Josh42]

Just got back from palm springs California today and you oughta see the wind farms out there all over the place. An gas was 4.49 a gallon out there

[1-Crew]

Might want to fact check some of the original claims:

"The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska's Prudhoe Bay, and has the potential to

eliminate all American dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates

 

it at 503 billion barrels. Even if just 10% of the oil is recoverable( 5 billion barrels), at $107 a barrel,

we're looking at a resource base worth more than $5.3 trillion."

 

The 2008 USGS survey reports the Brakken is estimated to have an estimated 3.0 - 4.3 billion barrels of "technically recoverable" oil. Not 500 billion..

Currently we are importing about 3.6 billion barrels a year, making this about a one year supply. The "technically recoverable" part is tricky, the oil is not easily recovered, it requires expensive recovery techniques such as horizontal drilling, steam injection and hydraulic fracturing. The fact that the Brakken is being developed at all is that at $100/barrel it becomes economically feasible to try and extract the oil. Plain and simple, if the price falls below $100/barrel, drilling in the Brakken will come to a screeching halt (as will deep offshore drilling and development of the oil shale deposits around Pennsylvania). Cheaper crude would result in increased dependence on imported oil and further delay development of alternative energy.

 

Price of gasoline is only partially related to the price of crude oil. It is also determined by the cost of refining and transportation costs. Consider this:

 

Since September 2011, two refineries in the Philadelphia area (ConocoPhillips Trainer refinery and Sunoco's Marcus Hook refinery) and one major Caribbean export refinery supplying the East Coast (HOVENSA's U.S. Virgin Islands refinery) have closed. In addition, Sunoco has announced plans to idle its remaining Philadelphia-area refinery (Sunoco Philadelphia) in July 2012 if no buyer is found. The three Philadelphia-area refineries (Trainer, Marcus Hook, and Philadelphia) taken together represented 50% of total East Coast refining capacity as of August 2011.

[jwmbishop]

Personally - I think we SHOULD deplete all other sources of crude before we use ours. Then WE will have what no one else has - and the power that brings (and yes it would make us targets - but the Marines are always up for a few challenges). AND the funding for terrorism will be over (of course the oil countries will wither up and die - no one seems interested in buying sand...)!

 

Cold? yes. But after 9/11 I really don't care what those oil millionaires over in the arab countries have for a living standard... they were nothing before oil dependency and they will be nothing when it dries up.

[Definitive]

Adjusting the price of gasoline (or diesel) to inflation to justify the argument that it isn't really to expensive is wagging the dog.The price of transportation has one of the largest impacts on inflation (if not the biggest).Inflation causes people to fight for higher minimum wages.Of course raising the minimum wage is another large factor in inflation increase (resulting in the minimum wage earner to be even farther behind in just a few years.

 

Not sure where he got that report basically saying the Bakken is useless (not disputing that with my lack of knowledge) but if true,don't the Canadians look foolish?

 

The sad part about all of this is,if minimum wage was $1.00 an hour again and gas was .30 a gallon prices of goods and services would come down a little but it would pale in comparison.

[1-Crew]

The Bakken isn't useless, it is perfectly viable and will produce useable oil. The caveat is it is only profitable for the oil companies if the price of crude remains at or above $100/barrel. The Canadians are tapping into the same reserve but lack the refining capability, thus the push for the pipeline.

 

Key word here, profitable. Oil companies are like everyone else, they are in business for profit, not some altruistic notion of helping mankind. If it doesn't make a profit, don't do it. The "Government" has very little to do with the whole process and very little leverage to affect the process. Anybody that believe a politician, Republican, Democrat or Other, can really have any long term control over gasoline price is at best naive, at worst stupid.. The only governments that manage to control gasoline price to any degree are autocratic and do so by artificial subsidies (Egypt, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, etc.)

 

Keep in mind, the pipeline was not, and is not, a "shovel ready" project and had the bill authorizing it passed, it would have presented quite a challenge to the Canadian companies researching it to come up with the engineering plans to actually put it in place. If built, it is projected that most of the oil refined by Texas refineries would then be sold on the international market (not domestically).

 

Would it create jobs, yes. Would it reduce the price of gasoline, no..

[Definitive]

One thing I've noticed that most people are missing in this debate is that energy independence is just that.It doesn't mean energy cheapness.It would be interesting to see how many Americans would pay $1.00 a gallon more for gasoline in order to tell our enemies to kiss our asses.When Reagan suggested gasoline should go from $1.20 a gallon to $4.00,he was referring to foreign affairs.If we used our middle east military budget to offset our price at the pump maybe this could happen?Hmmmm....buy our own oil refined by ourselves partially paid by our military savings would equal about the same money from our pockets but....saves soldier's lives.Now I guess I'm doing too much thinking out loud...some day dreams are realistic...some aren't.

 

As long as Americans are a throw away society that always wants the cheapest things....other countries will hold us hostage....is independence a dirty word?I know Communism,Socialism,and Marxism aren't anymore.