Did U.S. oil production peak in the 1970s, and if so, why?
Yes it did. They problem is everybody wants gas but nobody wants to live near a refinery. All the environmental laws created since then would make the price astronomical and would do nothing for the smell and it would still be dirty.
November 4th, 2009 at 10:07 am
Matthew Simmons, an oil industry analyst, expert who began studying trends in the 1970’s was among the first to announce that U.S. domestic oil production would "Peak" (Plateau) in production around the late 70’s to early eighties.
Oil did in fact peak due to the limited reserves underground.
He was correct despite wide criticism by many. The
September, 2008 issue of FORTUNE Magazine (last month) has an entire story on Matthew Simmons.
What is further shocking is that net GLOBAL production will peak around 2068 according to Matthew Simmons. He forecasts that for each 10 years between now and 2068, oil may DOUBLE almost every decade until it reaches $500.00 per barrel.
This would translate to about $20.00 U.S. per gallon at today’s rate.
Europe is already paying about $8.00 per gallon or more depending on the country.
Oil reserves are a finite, irreplaceable source of energy. Once depleted they are gone forever.
This is why there is a big push by many industry leaders to develop "Renewable Energy" sources that can be renewed such as Wind, wave, biofuels, etc.
The U.S. always had a small limited number of oil fields and Matthew Simmons also discovered that new oil field discoveries has dropped while demand is rapidly increasing.
If you do the research, its quite scary and politicians don’t seem to be doing anything about this.
References :
http://en.wikipedia.org
http://www.simmonsco-intl.com//wiki/Peak_oil
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mRLGtTzd8E
November 4th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Yes it did. They problem is everybody wants gas but nobody wants to live near a refinery. All the environmental laws created since then would make the price astronomical and would do nothing for the smell and it would still be dirty.
References :
November 4th, 2009 at 11:19 am
Because the Democrats blocked the oil co. from drilling. They say that the oil co has lots of leases that they have not drilled. It cost about 1 million per day. Would U drill if U did not think that it would produce.
References :
November 4th, 2009 at 11:42 am
A political decision was made to allow US firms to import oil from all parts of the globe, mostly so that later on there would still be some oil to drill for left in America. That residual oil would still be very expensive. It would only be drilled for when foreign sourced oil becomes much more costly than this costly American residual oil.
Eventually American residual oil will be extracted, but we should not expect to see it sell for much less than imported oil. That assumption would mean that those who own it have lost their marbles. They will defer drilling to ensure that supply does not exceed demand. Just the past few weeks American exploration for natural gas has been cut back sharply because it looks as though we will have a surplus for this winter. That is, at current prices there would be a surplus. The owners do not wish to sell for less.
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November 4th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have declared an Oil Embargo on the United States and other countries after they helped Israel which the country is an enemy of Egypt, an OPEC member. This has happened in 1973 so the answer is yes, US oil production had peaked in the 1970 because of the Oil Embargo.
References :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OPEC
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1973_Oil_Crisis
November 4th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
the founding country of OPEC was Venezuela, not Saudi, they were second. VZ then nationalized its oil and took away billions of dollars from companies doing business there. During the big embargo, the US said drill baby drill, guess what, just the idea that US technology could crush OPEC was enough for them to back off.
Peak oil will never happen, as long as there is a buyer, oil will be found. The environuts stopped drilling and it looked like we had no more oil or peak oil, but that’s wrong.
References :