I thought the ME didn't have a great deal of shale, since it forms in a different set of geological features. I also thought that ME's oil is preferred because its cheaper - the type of oil produced requires less processing costs. But what do I know...I pick this up from pretending to follow conversations with geologists who were speaking about 1000 feet above my head (aka it was too embarassing to ask questions and I'm not sure I got it right)..cat. wrote:
Those of you that do not have much background in geopolitics and oil, google the Green River Formation. We have more Oil then Saudi Arabia sitting in our backyard. Why dont you know about this? Well quite simply the government has this area as protected. The Oil companies are trying to get their greedy hands on formulating a more cost effective way to extract Oil from the Shale formation since the government is allowing the research now.
Correct, the ME's oil isnt oil shale. and its alot cheaper to refine because of this. If the US puts its mind to dedicating the resources to figure out a way to refine the GRF shale cheaper, you can bet it will happen. Untill then you will see us bleeding the ME's oil dry.Pug wrote:
I thought the ME didn't have a great deal of shale, since it forms in a different set of geological features. I also thought that ME's oil is preferred because its cheaper - the type of oil produced requires less processing costs. But what do I know...I pick this up from pretending to follow conversations with geologists who were speaking about 1000 feet above my head (aka it was too embarassing to ask questions and I'm not sure I got it right)..cat. wrote:
Those of you that do not have much background in geopolitics and oil, google the Green River Formation. We have more Oil then Saudi Arabia sitting in our backyard. Why dont you know about this? Well quite simply the government has this area as protected. The Oil companies are trying to get their greedy hands on formulating a more cost effective way to extract Oil from the Shale formation since the government is allowing the research now.
I think our responses to the region have been due to hard choices. I think the kill 'em all mentality will be more harmful to both sides in the long run...but at the same time they got to shape up or history will continue to repeat itself.imortal wrote:
It would go to pot. The only reason we care about the place is the oil. The British and the French formed the nightmare we have there when those empires grabbed random nomad tribes, made them 'royalty,' and randomly created lines on a map and called them countries.
Let them all go to pot. They will run out of money eventually if we stop using oil.
You can say "give 'em Israel" and become isolationists, but I don't think that's reasonable nor rational. That's an unbelievable and possibly an impossible situation to solve. But in the same breath as "give 'em Israel", all sides must be accountable.
So I also believe that becoming isolationist after the area is squeezed dry isn't an option either.
Deep wells in the Gulf too. Largely unexplored...I live on the coast and everyone around here is scrambling to sink wells out there. The recent exploratory well had a flow rate just a few nicks lower than the oil field off the North Slope of Alaska...so it's there. Plus there's Florida - they don't allow companies to sink wells within XX miles of the coastline because it affects tourism. The entire Gulf shelf has been good to us...and there's plenty of Florida coastline that companies already know where the oil is...but they can't drill.CoronadoSEAL wrote:
alaska alaska alaska. also, we will make advancements in alternative fuels.
Alternative fuels is just around the bend I think.
We'll be fine. Imports will become more expensive, thats about it. Some company is looking at a bunch of sites for one of those coal to oil conversion plants, plus hemp is becoming slowly more popular as a crop. We export a shitload of our food too, so food prices may even drop.
I'm waiting for the day the West has oil and the ME runs dry. Special finger to you OPEC!
When I was still at school an ex pupil who worked for Shell came back to give a lecture on the oil industry. One of the things he was adamant about was the fact the oil is not going to run out anytime soon, certainly not in the next 50-100 years. Apparently reserves are hugely underestimated and everytime they get more accurate surveying equiptment they find more.
My vote is the middle east will end up like most of Africa. Tribal division, lost of fighting and very little money to go around. However, in their case, hollywood will not be there to adopt their children and build their schools. No one will feel guilty for the situation like they do in africa.
Yeah, I've heard the same from several sources. It seems like every time we think we have say, 50 years left, we discover a new source. I providing we don't go too crazy with increasing our oil consumption, we're good for a long while. That's not to say we shouldn't try to conserve it though.RicardoBlanco wrote:
When I was still at school an ex pupil who worked for Shell came back to give a lecture on the oil industry. One of the things he was adamant about was the fact the oil is not going to run out anytime soon, certainly not in the next 50-100 years. Apparently reserves are hugely underestimated and everytime they get more accurate surveying equiptment they find more.
To be honest I doubt a world wide peace is impossible.
Humans are selfish and egoistic in nature, no one can deny that.
Look through our history, as long as we have existed we've had disputes.
If we ain't gonna fight about the oil anymore, we'll find a new reason to fight.
Sadly that's how it is.
At least from my point of view.
Humans are selfish and egoistic in nature, no one can deny that.
Look through our history, as long as we have existed we've had disputes.
If we ain't gonna fight about the oil anymore, we'll find a new reason to fight.
Sadly that's how it is.
At least from my point of view.
Syria certainly has more potential than Iraq, since culturally, it is more unified. When the oil runs out, I suppose our offers will become a lot more enticing. Reading between the lines, it would seem that Syria obeys Iran out of fear rather than out of loyalty, so if we put Syria in a position where we protect them from Iranian influence (like through putting a military base there), they will likely comply with our interests.Pug wrote:
Of course this was pre-Hez/pre-Iraq...but what if you take a traditional angry country and turn it into something else? What impact would it have? Would it improve the way we are perceived in the Middle East?
Yeah, there's a lot of ifs...but assuming things calm down and some tenative peace is restored, the door may creak open.
In the long run, I think Syria would rather have us as a friend than Iran.