Obama aims for oil independence

[banpaeng]

Good question Ron. I worked in the Refinery business and actually helped put oil into the caverns. Most of it is Mexican heavy crude or Heavy Arab. Very difficult to refine unless you use coker units. There are other methods which I am not familiar with but still very little refinery capacity for this kind of crude. A lot of this crude is stored in salt domes on the Gulf Coast. I have worked at the Bryan Mound Strategic Petroleum reserve and the Hackberry SPR. There are more than this. I am not an expert but know enough to know what is written is pure bull. Yes the Politicos of both parties have spun the story about the petroleum reserve. It was started to have crude if the US was not able to get crude from elsewhere in a national emergency. Not for some slap happy politico to use in a propaganda campaign. Like I said both parties have spun the myth.

One more thing. Getting it out of the salt domes takes time. I do not remember the exact amount of crude that can be extracted at once but I will say something on the line of 1 to 2 Million per day (a drop in the bucket). Remember it then has to be loaded on ships, a bit by pipeline, and delivered to the refineries that can process it. It just does not happen over night. That is like the drilling off the US coast. There are not enough rigs and you could not get all the production on line easy.

Ron, hope that satisfies you. Like I said I am no expert but spent over 30 years in the oil and oil transport business.

I do not believe every thing T. Boone Pickens writes but he is quite knowledgeable about the oil business. You might read some of his stuff.

[aznyron]

I know nothing about Mr Pickens except I saw him on fox news once he was being interviewed
by H/C and what he said was interesting to me what I do know is we are in deep sh/it
and we have to do some thing and not get more lip service like we got since Nixon was President
now if I recall Germany ran there war machine in WW2 on synthetic fuel what ever happened to
that formula ? some thing to think about

[BobHelm]

The Pickens Plan...

http://www.pickensplan.com/theplan/

p.s. he is not exactly a "liberal" - I think an astute businessman who can see that the writing is on the wall for oil..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T._Boone_Pickens

[banpaeng]

Like I said before I do not believe every thing Boone writes. He is a heavy player in wind and N. Gas. However N. Gas is a way to go in my opinion. Wind I just do not know enough about to really form a solid opinion. I do not think it is bad but it is expensive and wind turbines are heavy maintenance I am told. Maybe someone who is more on mechanics can add to this.

[Aardvark]

Geo-thermal is the way to go. The U.S. should set the first one up in Hawaii where it would be cheap and then do there research from there. They used it for a few years in New Zealand now and we have a couple in Oz that should come on stream soon.

[aznyron]

the one thing it failed to mention was COAL the USA has more coal than all the oil in the mid east so
I am told I am sure we could burn coal with out all the toxins being dump in our air just takes some
money and knowledge but IMO the oil companies are the problem they sell us oil from the M/East
and import our oil to Japan some thing fishy about that or am I being to cynical

[Aardvark]

A mate of mine worked for exploration companies in Northern Australia in the 70's and 80's. He said they found plenty of the stuff but just Capped the wells and moved on. A few months back a guy at work mentioned a conspiracy theory that the West was going to use every litre of Oil from the Middle East and then start tapping all the wells in the West to take back the Zillions the Arabs have made over the years and turn them all back into Goat Herders like they were before Oil, it is just a conspiracy theory after all

[aznyron]

AArd I love it I will not be around to witness it but I love it triple the price of every thing we sell them

[cookie]

I do have to ask where you dig up some of your stuff Cookie. I am so glad you believe it. It is one in particular that is just a lot of hot air.

The whole thing is a joke. Another socialist program I am sure you would like to see however it is pure bunk as usual.

The answer to your question Ban:

"BUY SOME GLASSES OR START READING !!!!!!!"

This plan is the OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE ENERGY PLAN

I added the link before and I will add the link again to your service!!!!!

http://www.whitehouse.gov/agenda/energy ... vironment/

So you are telling me now that the official US Energy Plan is a joke??? and a socialist program????just a lot of hot air?????

Do I smell here some more "OBAMA-HATE" ?????


By the way, if you didn't visit the new official White House website before, I can give you the advice to do it. It is well worth the visit and refreshing....

[jackspratt]

AArd I love it I will not be around to witness it but I love it triple the price of every thing we sell them

Ron how many middle eastern/arab countries do you reckon are in the top 10 exporters of oil to the US?

Would it surprise you to know it is 4, supplying only about 22% of the total US crude imports?

As for Australia, less than 20% is imported from the middle east.

[banpaeng]

Hey that is a good one Cookie. Obama-hate. Never heard that one.

No I ask you that because you have been the most critical non-US citizen of the problems here in the US and believe any thing that is put out by the Politicos spin machines and press.

If one lives here or has lived here, they then might have a better clue as to what might be good of the US. It is just like I do not believe the reports about the middle east coming out of the press here in the US as a complete package. I like to read others but only form the middle east. They know what is good for their country and not The US. That is why I do not write on forums in the Middle East telling them how to run their country. Let them run it. I know you do not understand this but I mind my own business.

Oh about Obama, He is my President and so far like most of what he has done. I doubt seriously if I will like everything he does, just like Presidents in the past, and most likely Presidents in the future. One thing is clear, I will support the President of my country as long as he is in office and being a US citizen can say he is doing a good job or criticize him as I have earned that right.

[aznyron]

AArd I love it I will not be around to witness it but I love it triple the price of every thing we sell them

Ron how many middle eastern/arab countries do you reckon are in the top 10 exporters of oil to the US?

Would it surprise you to know it is 4, supplying only about 22% of the total US crude imports?

As for Australia, less than 20% is imported from the middle east.

Jack I will not challenge you on those figures I do know we don't get all our oil from the M/E some we get from Mexico
and most likely other S/A nations I should know more since I do complain but some times fail to inform my self on a topic

[BobHelm]

Ron, just for you I will post again....top 15 oil suppliers to USA...

[aznyron]

Bob Thank you I am happy to see our neighbor to the north is number 1 and our other neighbor to the south west is number 3 but I am not happy with the rest excluding the UK which is our best friend
of all the countries world wide

[banpaeng]

And I will say again Ron, the Alaskan crude that goes to Japan has to be replaced in the same amount to the US. It is to expensive to take all that crude around either South America or thru the Panama Canal.

A lot is taken to the three west coast states of California, Oregon and Washington. Some is pipelined inland to refineries.

I am only speculating on the answer about the Oil in Australia. Sometimes oil is found even here in the US. The field does not turn out to be as productive as thought or the reserves not of sufficient quantity to transport this oil to refineries. It is like old wells here in the US, when crude shot up they put these wells pumping 5 to 10 bbls per day were put on line as it now is profitable. A lot of these wells are now being turned off now as they are just not making any money. At least that is what the oil companies say. I have a couple of friends here in the US that have wells and this is what they are told. (gee I wish I had a couple) Is it true? Most likely!! With the Regulations here in the US, it can get pretty expensive to transport crude.

I truely think a lot of this is just like I might walk by a building and speculate it took a year to build. When I hear three, I might think gee what took so long. It is because I am not a carpenter so do understand all that has to go into that building. It is the same for any business or country, when we speculate on what we sometimes think, reality does not match. That is one reason why Politicos sometimes make goofy statements. That is why myself and others sometime say something which they believe, only to have another counter.