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Graeme
Fission
Joined: Mar 04, 2005
Posts: 2646
Location: New Zealand
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 Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 5:46 am Post subject: The big myth about Big Oil |
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The big myth about Big Oil
| Quote: | Quick quiz: Name the top three oil-producing countries in the world.
For some reason, few people get this one right. The supplementary question is why? Could it be that popular mythologies make the correct answer appear impossibly wrong?
Yes, Saudi Arabia is No. 1 (with total oil production of 10.66 million barrels a day). Yes, Russia is No. 2 (with 9.67 million barrels). Nigeria, however, is not No. 3. Venezuela is not No. 3. Kuwait is not No. 3. The United States is No. 3 (with 8.49 million barrels).
Big Oil is big in one particular sense - when compared with Small Oil. Put the 10 largest U.S. oil companies together and you get 47 per cent of domestic American oil production. Add the next 10 largest U.S. oil companies and you get 57 per cent. Add the next 80 largest U.S. oil companies - altogether, the top 100 companies - and you get 75 per cent. Thus the 100 biggest U.S. oil companies produce only three-quarters of domestic American production. Add the next 400 largest U.S. oil companies and you get 90 per cent. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) stops counting at 500, attributing the final 10 per cent of domestic American oil production to "other companies."
It isn't only American oil companies that benefit. Property owners in the United States have property rights - unlike people in some oil-exporting countries where royalties flow exclusively to governments. For a proper appreciation of these rights, catch a rerun of the first (1962) episode of The Beverly Hillbillies. An oil company, probably an independent, would have paid Jed Clampett, Ozark farmer, a couple of dollars a barrel for the right to enter onto his land and to drill for oil. Now it would pay $25 a barrel or more. Windfall benefits, greater by far than Mr. Clampett's, flow to lucky Ma and Pa property owners across the United States to this day. |
theglobeandmail
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Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells.
Fatih Birol's motto: leave oil before it leaves us. |
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Tanada
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Joined: Apr 28, 2005
Posts: 3665
Location: West shore Lake Eire, MI, USA
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 5:59 am Post subject: Re: The big myth about Big Oil |
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What the heck are they talking about? The USA pumps just under 5 mbd and Saudi is way under that 10.66 they are claiming!
Just how old are the figures they used for this article anyhow? What are they counting as oil?
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Oxygen: - An intensely habit-forming accumulative toxic substance. As little
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Graeme
Fission
Joined: Mar 04, 2005
Posts: 2646
Location: New Zealand
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 6:23 am Post subject: Re: The big myth about Big Oil |
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Pity he doesn't quote his source. I found these data:
US is still number 3.
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Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe. H. G. Wells.
Fatih Birol's motto: leave oil before it leaves us. |
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Tanada
Expert
Joined: Apr 28, 2005
Posts: 3665
Location: West shore Lake Eire, MI, USA
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 6:32 am Post subject: Re: The big myth about Big Oil |
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Yeah, that chart incorporates COndensates, Natural Gas Liquids and 'unconventional oil' in with the crude oil, which to my way of thinking is misleading.
That chart also lumps all the FSU together as one entity which strikes me as bizzar, but thats probably just me. By that EIA chart FSU is #1, KSA #2 and USA #3. It also shows every other producer as being under 4 mbpd, which is kind of interesting in and of itself.
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Oxygen: - An intensely habit-forming accumulative toxic substance. As little
as one breath is known to produce a life-long addiction to the gas, which addiction invariably ends in death.--Isaac Asimov |
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joeltrout
Light Sweet Crude
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Joined: Sep 19, 2007
Posts: 1317
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 10:59 am Post subject: Re: The big myth about Big Oil |
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Thank you for bringing this to everyones attention.
People often forget about the good ole US of A.
joeltrout |
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aflurry
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Mar 28, 2005
Posts: 829
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 12:34 pm Post subject: Re: The big myth about Big Oil |
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| isn't it bad news when the #3 oil producer peaked 36 years ago? |
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Twilight
Expert
Joined: Mar 02, 2007
Posts: 2971
Location: UK
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mos6507
Fusion
Joined: Aug 03, 2007
Posts: 3771
Location: Boston Suburbs
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 4:58 pm Post subject: Re: The big myth about Big Oil |
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| Twilight wrote: | | aflurry wrote: | | isn't it bad news when the #3 oil producer peaked 36 years ago? |
The US peaked? There is plenty of oil under the ANWR, the Rockies, off California and Florida, if only the Democrats would get out of the way.  |
And what people don't realize is that "plenty" of oil disappears overnight when demand is as high as it is today. |
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ohanian
Light Sweet Crude
Joined: Oct 17, 2004
Posts: 1090
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| Posted: Fri May 09, 2008 6:24 pm Post subject: Re: The big myth about Big Oil |
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| mos6507 wrote: | | Twilight wrote: | | aflurry wrote: | | isn't it bad news when the #3 oil producer peaked 36 years ago? |
The US peaked? There is plenty of oil under the ANWR, the Rockies, off California and Florida, if only the Democrats would get out of the way. |
And what people don't realize is that "plenty" of oil disappears overnight when demand is as high as it is today. |
Remember this formula!!!
The power of exponential growth is stated by this formula
| Code: |
==============================
years_left = Log[(Con - Res + g*Res)/Con]/Log[g]
Where
Res = Reserve
Con = Consumption
g = Growth (eg. 1.04 is 4% annual growth in Consumption)
==============================
Example: coal
Res = 200 units
Con = 1 unit / year
g = 1.05 (5% annual growth in consumption)
years_left = 49.14 years
So even if the politicians tells you that there are 200 years
of coal left at current consumption level, there are actually
only 49 years left!!! (if you assume 5% annual consumption
growth)
===============================
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cube
Fusion
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Joined: Mar 12, 2005
Posts: 3588
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| Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 6:51 am Post subject: Re: The big myth about Big Oil |
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| aflurry wrote: | | isn't it bad news when the #3 oil producer peaked 36 years ago? |
It all depends how you want to "present" the information.
For example I can turn it around and say:
"Isn't it wonderful that the USA is still pumping oil even after peaking 36 years ago!"
You need to read the book Pollyanna and you'll get really good at being glad.
Probably the biggest myth about oil is the belief that we can transition into the soft and fluffy power down scenario. |
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Gazzatrone
Intermediate Crude
Joined: Nov 07, 2005
Posts: 556
Location: London, UK
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| Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 4:56 pm Post subject: Re: The big myth about Big Oil |
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| cube wrote: | | Probably the biggest myth about oil is the belief that we can transition into the soft and fluffy power down scenario. |
I think you do TPTB a grand service. The biggest myth about oil is that there is no need for any sort of power down. Any government will tell you that the way forward is through sustained economic growth. Its the only thing that the greater populous places faith in those that hold power.
Rising costs are blamed on just about everything other than the folly of maintaining a lifestyle based on a finite resource.
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THE FUTURE IS HISTORY! |
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Novus
Light Sweet Crude
Joined: Jun 21, 2005
Posts: 1702
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| Posted: Sat May 10, 2008 5:13 pm Post subject: Re: The big myth about Big Oil |
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| Graeme wrote: | Pity he doesn't quote his source. I found these data:
US is still number 3. |
The US only produces 5 million barrels of actual oil. That extra 2.4~ is ethanol which is energy loser when all inputs are taken into account. This puts the US at quite a bit lower than you think. |
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