Better Fill up today

[Diane Amberg]

Yup, that's just what I heard also. So while we're fussin', they're drillin.'    I know oil shale was talked about many years ago, but it was too costly at that time to extract it.  I'm sure it's not as "rich" as liquid oil, but surely if oil can be reclaimed from used tires, shale oil is good for something.

[dnalexander]

I have lived in Valdez, Ak and thought this info may be helpful to your discussion. This was sent to me by my former High School girlfriend who is a Petroleum Engineer for the state of Alaska.

http://www.anwr.org/
1. Only 8% of ANWR Would Be Considered for Exploration Only the 1.5 million acre or 8% on the northern coast of ANWR is being considered for development. The remaining 17.5 million acres or 92% of ANWR will remain permanently closed to any kind of development. If oil is discovered, less than 2000 acres of the over 1.5 million acres of the Coastal Plain would be affected. That¹s less than half of one percent of ANWR that would be affected by production activity.
2. Revenues to the State and Federal Treasury Federal revenues would be enhanced by billions of dollars from bonus bids, lease rentals, royalties and taxes. Estimates on bonus bids for ANWR by the Office of Management and Budget and the Department of Interior for the first 5 years after Congressional approval are $4.2 billion.  Royalty and tax estimates for the life of the 10-02 fields were estimated by the Office of Management and Budget from  $152-237 billion.
3. Jobs To Be Created Between 250,000 and 735,000 ANWR jobs are estimated to be created by development of the Coastal Plain.
4. Economic Impact Between 1977 and 2004, North Slope oil field development and production activity contributed over $50 billion to the nations economy, directly impacting each state in the union.
5. America's Best Chance for a Major Discovery The Coastal Plain of ANWR is America's best possibility for the discovery of another giant "Prudhoe Bay-sized" oil and gas discovery in North America. U.S. Department of Interior estimates range from 9 to 16 billion barrels of recoverable oil.
6. North Slope Production in Decline The North Slope oil fields currently provide the U.S. with nearly 16% of it's domestic production and since 1988 this production has been on the decline. Peak production was reached in 1980 of two million barrels a day, but has been declining to a current level of 731,000 barrels a day.
7. Imported Oil Too Costly In 2007, the US imported an average of 60% of its oil and during certain months up to 64%. That equates to over $330 billion in oil imports. That's $37.75 million per hour gone out of our economy!  Factor in the cost to defend our imported oil, and the costs in jobs and industry sent abroad, the total would be nearly a trillion dollars.
8. No Negative Impact on Animals Oil and gas development and wildlife are successfully coexisting in Alaska 's arctic. For example, the Central Arctic Caribou Herd (CACH) which migrates through Prudhoe Bay has grown from 3000 animals to its current level of 32,000 animals. The arctic oil fields have very healthy brown bear, fox and bird populations equal to their surrounding areas.
9. Arctic Technology Advanced technology has greatly reduced the 'footprint" of arctic oil development. If Prudhoe Bay were built today, the footprint would be 1,526 acres, 64% smaller.
10. Alaskans Support More than 75% of Alaskans favor exploration and production in ANWR. The democratically elected Alaska State Legislatures, congressional delegations, and Governors elected over the past 25 years have unanimously supported opening the Coastal Plain of ANWR.  The Inupiat Eskimos who live in and near ANWR support onshore oil development on the Coastal Plain.

[Wilma]

Sounds good to me.  So, who is against it?

[W. Gray]

In 2005, the last time it was up for vote, both Kansas Senators voted for it and it passed the Senate.

The Elk County US Representative voted in favor but the full house turned it down.

[frawin]

Crude Oil
Crude oil futures soared by more than $6.00 a barrel to over $134 this morning, bringing the gains for the last two days to $12 as the dollar weakened further on a jump in the jobless rate in
the U.S. to 5.5 %. Remarks by Israel's transport minister that an attack on Iranian nuclear sites looked "unavoidable" has also helped to drive prices higher. A recent forecast by a major
bank is predicting $150 oil by July 4th. Crude hit a record high of $135 last month and had retreated to $122 before yesterday's rally. The fall in the dollar put longer-term worries about
weakening demand on the back burner. World demand growth is still primarily in China, the Middle East and Latin America and through the summer, there is no reason to expect a materi
slowdown in demand.
Natural Gas
Gas futures are currently trading nearly 21 cents above yesterday's $12.63 close as hot weather in major consuming regions and steep rises in crude oil prices combined to push natural
gas prices higher. Weather forecasts for next week suggest temperature highs in parts of the Northeast, New York City in particular, of nearly 100 degrees. These are extremely hot
temperatures in June are above normal or for any time of year in NYC. Natural gas prices have doubled since the Jan. 08 contract settle of $6.38/MMBtu, currently trading at $12.74/MMBtu.

[Diane Amberg]

Thanks, DNA. That was much better than what I wrote. Very helpful. It sure is beautiful around that area. Any thoughts on the gold mine? 

[frawin]

July Crude Oil closed up $10.75 at $138.54, another all time high.
Frank

[Tobina+1]

I don't want to re-flame this fire, and I may have missed some of it...
But I do have to agree a bit with Pam about oil drilling causing a huge mess if not maintained properly.  There are many messes around this country that it seems that people don't care about.  Junk-filled oil fields with old, rusty pipe.  Areas around oil wells that have no vegetation growth due to spills.  Leftover old wells that have just been abandoned.  But, I know there are places and companies that do pride themselves on keeping oil fields clean and neat and less of a negative effect on the area around it.
Frank; did you (or have you) explained if drilling in AK will be different?  Will they be using companies that will work together with the nature groups?

[frawin]

Tobina, the huge amount of capital that will be required to drill an develop the ANWR  wiill dictate that only Major companies will be there. Tobina I agree that there are many old abandoned wellsites around the country, but I would venture that none of them were left there by the Major Oil Companies. My first jobs in the oil field was working on Rotary drilling rigs almost 50 years ago and even then the Major Oil Companies were very strict about the locations and how clean they were kept. The company that I do most of my work for now operates wells on Federal Lands and I can tell you that the Feds have very strict policies and rules on ckleaning up any pollution and maintainig thew production equipment in good condition to avoid any contamination. The Feds will be even more strict when drilling begins in the ANWR. I have said it before and I will say it again, "anytime you are using men, machinery and have Mother nature involved accidents and failures can and will happen". It is almost impossible to do a pilot project to see how it works as it would be to costly to lay the transportation lines out. WE could reinject the gas and not have to transport it but the crude oil is another problem.
Frank

[dnalexander]

Diane, the Pebble Goldmine near Lake Iliamna is a much more controversial topic in Alaska than drilling in ANWR  I was unaware of the proposed mine.  What I can tell you is, after a quick internet search on the subject, that any of my friends in Valdez will be very much opposed to the mine. The opposition comes from the Salmon fishing industry and most of the native villages in the area. I will investigate this more, since it is new to me.  It may take a while to give you more info. Since most of my friends are right in the middle of the Copper River Salmon run. I will let you know what I find out. Thanks for informing me about the mine.

David (DNA)