Gulf oil reserve: "huge" defined
With news of a "huge" oil reserve (AP, by Brad Foss) found in the Gulf of Mexico, it begs the question “What does 'huge' mean?”
To understand, here are some US numbers:
Barrels of oil
Barrels consumed per day: 20,000,000
Barrels consumed per year: 7,300,000,000
Estimated barrels in the new reserve: 3billion - 15billion
Estimated time to consume: 5 months to 2 years
(Estimated time to consume ANWR reserves: 6 months)
Gallons of gasoline (in terms of barrels of oil)
Gallons of oil per barrel of oil: 42
Refined gallons of gas per barrel of oil: 19-20
Approximate annual US gas consumption (7.3B barrels x 20gal): 140 billion gallons
Average American household consumption (The following numbers are rounded. Their purpose is to show reasonableness.)
Estimated number of households in the US: 140,000,000
Gallons of gas consumed per US household per year: 1,000
Gallons of gas consumed per US household per day: 3Reserve size
Estimated US oil reserves: 29 billion barrels (29 / 7.3 = 4 years supply)Estimated Saudi oil reserves: 250 billion barrels (34 years supply… if only the US, but that’s not the case.)
So it is fair to say that this reserve increases America's oil reserve by 50% (from 4 years to 6 years). But when I look at these numbers, I don't see this as a panacea. Rather, I see this as enabling us to kick the can down the road. At times that may be the best thing to do. However, with America at war, largely because of our dependence on Mideast oil, I feel we must take action now to reduce (then end) our dependence.
Can we make it happen? Well, it was once said:
"I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out..." - Pres. Kennedy, May 25, 1961, on sending a man to the moon
We can and should do it. And whether or not Washington acts, Connecticut can and should take action. Lucky for us, our Legislature knows what is truly important. Could you imagine if it was still legal to sell soda in school?
Tim White
State Representative candidate (R-89)
Bethany, Cheshire & Prospect
TimWhite98@yahoo.com
p.s. In retrospect, I really should have referenced my statistics. However, I didn't keep track of everything. And I cannot attest to all the numbers, but wouldn't post them if I felt that they were incorrect or even just misleading. Simply put... I'm pretty sure everything here is fair and/or accurate.
6 comments:
Tim, where should we get our oil from
1. Arab Sheiks who either look at other way at radical Islam, or endorse it
2. Latin dictators who want to be the next Fidel Castro
3. Barren Alaskan wilderness which might inconvenience a few caribou.
CT politicians choose doors #1 and #2
anon... I'm not averse to inconveniencing a few caribou, but more importantly, I want:
1) to move beyond oil and to renewable energy; and
2) energy independence.
ANWR only addresses #2, not #1.
But to your point... I've never really investigated the pros and cons of drilling in ANWR. So I really can't address your specific point.
Regardless though, it's not renewable. And renewable is where I want to get.
How bout this for an answer to our problems... begin converting to (nonrenewable) natural gas vehicles, build up the related infrastructure, then in 5-10 years... with the (gaseous) gas-equipped infrastructure in place, we make the leap to a (renewable) hydrogen economy?
It just seems to me that we can drill and drill for more and more oil, but at some point it will run out. So the sooner we begin moving to alternative fuels, the better off we will be.
Tim, what is the conversion expense for the grand plan?
The reason people buy gas @$3/gallon is the alternatives are still pricier
anonymous 1:31 am wrote: what is the conversion expense for the grand plan?
Substantially less than the war in Iraq has cost to date (and will continue to cost through at least 2009, since Bush has declared that he won't be conducting the inevitable pullout), with the upside that research and development of new energy technologies would bring new jobs and fields of knowledge.
Tom, while energy conversion is a must, let's not pull a Wolfowitz and understate the cost and complexity of the endeavor
The cost of the Iraq War to date has been about $280 Billion, over a three year period
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2006/04/20/GR2006042000160.html
ExxonMobil's annual revenue is far in excess of that
http://www.exxonmobil.com/Corporate/About/Corp_FinancialHighlights.asp
Anon 1:31am... I'll put together my plan (incl. some numbers) soon and post it here. It'll be part of my continuing series on "War & oil."
But for starters, one estimate to convert existing gas station infrastructure to an ethanol offering is $2,000 - $15,000. That is to simply convert existing infrastructure, not to build anything new.
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