Lots of "untapped" wells in US "just sitting

zeke · Heavy Crude Joined: Dec 07, 2007 Posts: 181

I've been hearing and reading lately what seems to be an urban legend among some folks that there are "hundreds and thousands" of oil wells which could be pumping sweet crude at this very moment, if not for...

and then the story has it that the oil companies are sitting on more sweet domestic crude than in 50 Ghawars, yadda yadda..

I'm wondering what, if any, the kernel of truth there is to this story which has vaulted it to full-on whopper status.

anyone know about this?

zeke
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Cashmere · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Mar 27, 2008 Posts: 1938

There was a rumor in my high school that I was hung better than JHolmes himself. In fact, I'm the origin of the exclamation, 'Word, Holmes!"

In the end, however, it turned out to be untrue.
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Massive Human Dieoff must occur as a result of Peak Oil. Many more than half will die. It will occur everywhere, including where you live. If you fail to recognize this, then your odds of living move toward the "going to die" group.

MD

There is always some "shut-in" capacity around, for various reasons. Back in the 80's when the price crashed quite a few wells were shut down for economic reasons.

I think that's the seed of truth you are looking for.
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"Don't ever become a pessimist... a pessimist is correct oftener than an optimist, but an optimist has more fun, and neither can stop the march of events."
Robert A. Heinlein

md@peakoil.com

MadScientist · Heavy Crude Joined: May 19, 2004 Posts: 418

I got to a point in my PO education...back in about 2005, when I realized that capping oil wells (which has been happening much more recently than the '80s) , delaying ANWR and OCS development, and setting up shop in Iraq make a lot of sense strategically.

In a lot of ways, the worst thing we could do is drain ALL of our domestic reserves in some last twitch effort to maintain. Far better to use the rest of the world's oil, at whatever the price.

Sooner or later you'll realize the "plan" is not to save us from a fall but rather to be in a position of power after the inevitable. And dont have any illusions about fluffy things like freedom and democracy being a part of that position of power.
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"The future power is manpower"

JustaGirl · Heavy Crude Joined: Apr 09, 2008 Posts: 106

Last I read there are around 6,000 capped wells. I wouldn't expect much from them. Maybe extend the plateau a bit, probably not.

zeke · Heavy Crude Joined: Dec 07, 2007 Posts: 181

Armageddon

Wells are capped to keep the pressure up from inside the same field. People are too stupid to realize this.

Serial_Worrier · Heavy Crude Joined: Jun 05, 2008 Posts: 233

Pump every last drop of that sweet crude baby. Mmm hmmm. I need more of that sweet gas for my H2 and Ram V8 as I commute to Best Buy to buy that latest 80" Plasma with Super-HiFi Fidelity 12.1 Surround Sound!

Windmills

Another seed of truth that is distorted in these types of urban legends is that, yes, there is a lot of oil that companies are "sitting on": it's the oil left in a field that can't be extracted, which is usually about 70 to 80% of the amount originally in the ground, if I recall correctly. As a field is produced, the pressure drops too far for anymore oil to be pumped out.

The myth-makers take a fact like that and ignore the part where the oil can't be extracted and just say, "look at all that oil left in the ground! They're just sitting on it...because...because they hate our freedom!"

cynthia · Heavy Crude Joined: May 29, 2005 Posts: 356

My father is 75 years old and lived in California for the first 20 years of his life. He saw numerous oil wells capped and believes if only we opened them up we wouldn't be so dependent on ME oil thereby making gasoline affordable again.
Hmmm. I like to keep the family visits pleasant and have stopped discussing contrary viewpoints.
cynthia

MonteQuest

Serial_Worrier · Heavy Crude Joined: Jun 05, 2008 Posts: 233

Let Freedom Ring baby! BTW, Rush Limbaugh needs more of your money, so please contribute:

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/menu/fathers.guest.html

joeltrout · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Sep 19, 2007 Posts: 1317

Snik · Tar Sands Joined: Jun 19, 2008 Posts: 68

Total bunk Zeke. At $140 per BO there nobody is stupid enough to be "sitting" on any oil reserves, except for the federal government of course. Razz

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