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2006-09-05 Home Front Economy

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A trio of oil companies led by Chevron Corp. have tapped a petroleum pool deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico could boost the nation's reserves by more than 50 percent.

A test well indicates it could be the biggest new domestic oil discovery since Alaska's Prudhoe Bay a generation ago. Chevron on Tuesday estimated the 300-square-mile region where its test well sits could hold between 3 billion and 15 billion barrels of oil and natural gas liquids. The U.S. consumes roughly 5.7 billion barrels of crude-oil in a year.

It will take many years and tens of billions of dollars to bring the newly tapped oil to market, but the discovery carries particular importance for the industry at a time when Western oil and gas companies are finding fewer opportunities in politically unstable parts of the world, including the Middle East, Africa and Russia.

Vast Pool People...YES!

Posted by RD 2006-09-05 15:26|| || Front Page|| [11137 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 That's great, but we still need to BUILD MORE REFINERIES.

Cars and power stations don't run on raw oil.

Posted by Barbara Skolaut">Barbara Skolaut 2006-09-05 16:13|| http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html]">[http://ariellestjohndesigns.com/page/15bk1/Home_Page.html] 2006-09-05 16:13|| Front Page Top

#2 Big deal! It's only six months worth of oil; same as ANWR!

{Rationale: Lowest forecast, 3 B divided by 5.7 b/yr=0.52 years, or just over six months. You'll see someone seriously expressing this viewpoint before too long. Mine is not serious.}

Posted by Bobby 2006-09-05 16:26|| 2006-09-05 16:26|| Front Page Top

#3 Barbara is right. Our biggest vulnerability is with the refineries, not the quantity of oil. We need to build refineries further inland.

Posted by 49 Pan">49 Pan 2006-09-05 16:31|| 2006-09-05 16:31|| Front Page Top

#4 What mountain of paperwork is actually required to get a refinery built these days?

Posted by eLarson 2006-09-05 16:36|| http://larsonian.blogspot.com]">[http://larsonian.blogspot.com] 2006-09-05 16:36|| Front Page Top

#5 A new refinerey will probably never be built in the United States. But a lot of existing refineries will be expanded dramatically. The same will be true for nuclear sites.

Posted by Nimble Spemble 2006-09-05 16:44|| 2006-09-05 16:44|| Front Page Top

#6 You'd think they could capture all that excess heat and generate electricity somehow. Maybe combining it with a power plant would make it more palatable. Can it be done?

In any case, at this point in the game, we must always strive to improve energy efficiency at all levels because our economy will probably grow to suck up every bit of energy we produce unless something big changes. As long as the economy is strong and energy is based on "fossil fuels", demand will be higher than supply, and the resulting high prices will always be a damper.

Posted by gorb 2006-09-05 17:45|| 2006-09-05 17:45|| Front Page Top

#7 There is one refinery being built. It is ~~the most godforsaken land imaginiable~~ the wouthwestern Arizona desert.

Posted by Jackal">Jackal 2006-09-05 23:11|| http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html]">[http://home.earthlink.net/~sleepyjackal/index.html] 2006-09-05 23:11|| Front Page Top

#8 your clever Halliburton-issued encryption can't sneak by me.... you meant Southwestern Arizona Desert, huh?

Mother G didn't raise ~~much of~~ an idiot here, dammit!

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2006-09-05 23:41|| 2006-09-05 23:41|| Front Page Top

08:34 NN2N1
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