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Originally Posted by Derwood
Oil dependency is "bad" insofar as oil is a limited resource,
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On the surface I can not dispute your point, even water is a limited resource on this planet. However...
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Estimates of how much oil remains undiscovered range wildly. Oil is found underground, making any estimates of how much remains to be extracted just that--an estimate or an educated guess. The EIA estimates that the global oil supply is at approximately three trillion barrels, a figure
accepted by many scientists.
Yet some peak-oil skeptics insist that far more oil has yet to be found. That is due to the tremendous amount of oil hidden within "unconventional" sources, they say, which are often not counted in estimates of remaining oil reserves. The most commonly cited of those unconventional sources is "oil sands," or "tar sands," a sludgy mixture of clay, water, sand and bitumen found mostly in Canada. Critics of the peak-oil theory say that the world will soon be able to extract billions of barrels of synthetic crude oil from the bitumen found in the tar sands.
Additionally, they say, advancements in technology in the coming decades will unlock oil that could previously not be extracted from existing drilling sites. Oil-extracting machinery has improved by leaps and bounds throughout the last several decades, peak-oil skeptics note. For example, they point out that in the 1970s, offshore wells could penetrate only 600 feet below the Earth's surface. Today, however, technology has improved to the point where such operations can extract oil from as far as 10,000 feet below the surface. There is no reason not to expect that technology will continue to improve in the coming decades, they maintain.
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How Much Oil is Left? - Associated Content - associatedcontent.com
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and the sudden increase in this "standard of living" is going to rapidly deplete said resource.
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Do you support use of nuclear power for energy? Coal?
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Your earlier remark that flippantly degraded wind turbines struck a nerve as that's EXACTLY the kind of thing energy companies need to be investing in
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No. Let windmill companies invest in windmills, let oil companies invest in oil. Why would you expect a wolf to be a lamb? If I am an oil man why do you think I am going to develop something that will put me out of business or hurt my ability to make profits?
I suggest, I don't remember the book I read years ago on this subject, looking into how auto companies destroyed urban trolly/train systems in the previous century. They created shell companies that bought trolly systems and converted many of them to bus operations. Government let it happen and did not even know. I suggest "environmentalist" stop protesting, go out and develop the technology and compete to win the game. They should have a cut-throat mentality to put oil companies out of business, rather than making signs and demanding hearings.
---------- Post added at 10:25 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:20 PM ----------
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Originally Posted by ASU2003
Maybe the Chinese company outbid the American companies. China needs oil and is willing to pay for it.
Then again, we owe China a lot of money, and they may have problems letting us borrow money to compete with their own domestic companies.
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Or, American oil companies are being hindered by American politicians, causing them to miss or miss out on opportunity. If I thought what you think, I would not have a problem with honest competition leading to an honest defeat, I would just expect to do better next time.