According to WikiLeaks, Saudi Arabia is writing oil checks to the world that their sand-capped reserves can't cash.
In cables between a U.S. diplomat and the former head of exploration for Saudi oil, it was unlikely the country would maintain their 12.5 million barrels per day output in order to keep prices stable. They also indicated that Saudi producers are likely to hit their peak oil output as early as 2012. If true, it will be downhill from there for the enormous Saudi oil industry...which would be awesome to see their stranglehold on the world loosen.
As a comfort for our oil-thirst, a new drilling technique is opening up previously out-of-reach oil in the western US. Deposits scattered across North Dakota, Colorado, Texas and California could yield as much as 2 million barrels of oil a day by 2015. That's more than the entire Gulf of Mexico produces currently. This new drilling is expected to raise production by at least 20% over the next five years help reduce oil imports by more than half in a decade. Of course, the process is environmentally questionable.
The method is to drill down and horizontally into the rock, then pump water, sand and chemicals into the hole to crack the shale and allow gas to flow up. Since oil molecules are both sticky and larger than gas molecules, drillers learned how to increase the number of cracks in the rock and use different chemicals to free up oil at low cost.
We may not be out from under the thumb of big oil, but at least it could be our thumb in the future.
In cables between a U.S. diplomat and the former head of exploration for Saudi oil, it was unlikely the country would maintain their 12.5 million barrels per day output in order to keep prices stable. They also indicated that Saudi producers are likely to hit their peak oil output as early as 2012. If true, it will be downhill from there for the enormous Saudi oil industry...which would be awesome to see their stranglehold on the world loosen.
As a comfort for our oil-thirst, a new drilling technique is opening up previously out-of-reach oil in the western US. Deposits scattered across North Dakota, Colorado, Texas and California could yield as much as 2 million barrels of oil a day by 2015. That's more than the entire Gulf of Mexico produces currently. This new drilling is expected to raise production by at least 20% over the next five years help reduce oil imports by more than half in a decade. Of course, the process is environmentally questionable.
The method is to drill down and horizontally into the rock, then pump water, sand and chemicals into the hole to crack the shale and allow gas to flow up. Since oil molecules are both sticky and larger than gas molecules, drillers learned how to increase the number of cracks in the rock and use different chemicals to free up oil at low cost.
We may not be out from under the thumb of big oil, but at least it could be our thumb in the future.
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