Our dependence on foreign oil has us all down in the dumps. Although prices at the pump are dropping, the exorbitant cost of gasoline is continuing to take its toll on our finances and sporting lives as automotive enthusiasts. I really feel compassionate for the folks across the country who depend on petroleum for household heating. This is going to be a tough winter for the millions of people who struggle just to feed their families. It’s extremely difficult to decipher what’s really happening, every mainstream news media outlet has a different story to spin. I’ve been struggling myself to find some answers. I have nearly given up watching any of the news channels. Thirty-second snippets of what?
When I read about our dependence of foreign oil and our lack of domestic refineries its only about some politician pointing a finger at another politician. There’s definitely a need for a change in the oil industry and our unquenchable thirst for crude oil. We need to invest more in alternative and renewable energy sources and domestic oil production. Stopping the waste of fuel by maintaining our vehicles properly would go along way. Correct tire inflation is extremely important aspect of fuel economy.
This is my food for thought: I just got off the phone with a good friend, he lives in the Great Plains region of the United States. We already know these areas hold a vast amount of oil far greater than Saudi Arabia, and most other regions in the Middle East. My friend owns a well service company. After a well has been drilled his company moves in a gets it producing. I was told that from start to finish it takes him 17 days to get a well up, running, and producing oil, at a cost of 1.8 to 2.8 million dollars. If ANWR in Alaska were developed it would cost of billions, and we wouldn’t see that oil for quite a number of years. Off shore drilling platforms take much longer to build and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The potential for ecological disaster for off shore drilling is far greater than that of a land based oil rig.
Where’s the logic? In these tough economic times why the folks at the top looking to develop domestic oil fields that are much harder to access at a cost of billions more?