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Anyone capable of discussing gas without politics? Anyone?

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sandgk;1202211; said:
2 - Drill Here, Drill Now -
2a - Rocky Mountain Oil Shale - there are copious articles describing the benefits to the US of opening up and exploring oil shale. Most are scam like promotional pieces for paper companies.

Some, instead examine the real challenges to getting oil out of oil shale
.
You could call the arguments heated, for the real soft underbelly of oil shale is that it takes a huge amount of energy to extract the kerogen from oil shale. Then, as if that were not sufficient obstacle, the material must be cracked and converted in yet another high energy intensive process to yield petroleum like grades of product.As pointed out on "The Oil Drum," the price point at which Oil Shale becomes viable is often tantalizingly out of reach. Why? Because the huge cost of the energy to extract and then process the kerogenous compounds also rises.

Oil Shale Reserves - A Daily Reckoning White Paper Report

"Most of the petroleum products we consume today are derived from conventional oil fields that produce oil and
gas that have been naturally matured in the subsurface by being subjected to heat and pressure over very long periods
of time. In general terms, the In-situ Conversion Process (ICP) accelerates this natural process of oil and gas
maturation by literally tens of millions of years. This is accomplished by slow sub-surface heating of petroleum
source rock containing kerogen, the precursor to oil and gas. This acceleration of natural processes is achieved by
drilling holes into the resource, inserting electric resistance heaters into those heater holes and heating the
subsurface to around 650-700F, over a 3 to 4 year period.

This white paper is somewhat difficult to read but is loaded with information. Shell has a process that is thermally conductive and requires a lot of power. In addition, there's a concern about freezing the ground to contain the oil that is released and to prevent it from entering the ground water.

I say we get T Boone Pickens to generate the power needed with one of his wind farms, send the power to the oil shale locations and make it a dedicated oil reclaim process. It takes 3 to 4 years for the resistance heater to work so we better get busy. T-Bone better start those wind mills. Beam me up Scotty. We have some serious work to do.
 
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With the money I'm saving on gas being over in this fucking desert, I'm thinking of investing in one of these...

arrested-development-segway.jpg


GOB was awesome. I miss 'Arrested Development'. :(
 
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UTgrad on the oil crisis
A lot of folks can't understand how we came
to have an oil shortage here in our country.
Well, there's a very simple answer.

Nobody bothered to check the oil.
We just didn't know we were getting low.
The reason for that is purely geographical.



Our OIL is located in:
ALASKA
California
Coastal Florida
Coastal Louisiana
Wyoming
Utah
Kansas
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
andTexas
Our dipsticks are located in DC
Any Questions? NO?...Didn't think So.
 
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utgrad73;1203929; said:
Our OIL is located in:
ALASKA
California
Coastal Florida
Coastal Louisiana
Wyoming
Utah
Kansas
Oklahoma
Pennsylvania
andTexas
Our dipsticks are located in DC
Any Questions? NO?...Didn't think So.

Well done. :lol:

We're the only nation on Earth with the ability to extract natural resources from its own land that has foolishly chosen not to do it. As long as we keep electing the people who put our domestic resources off limits, we will remain at the mercy of the good folks at OPEC. :ohwell:
 
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Taosman;1203986; said:
Dril! Drill! Drill! That's always the answer from certain groups. :tongue2: Had a dentist like that once, he wasn't the answer either. It's gonna take fuel conservation first then multiple sources.

$4.19 as of yesterday.

Demand has been decreasing in the US in recent months as the price has hit $4 a gallon. Americans are driving less for the first time in decades. The market is now demanding fuel efficient vehicles rather than SUVs, so the price of gas is finally high enough to change behavior (typical car stays on the lot 60 days, Prius 6 days). The irony is that even at $5 a gallon, it would take the typical consumer 5 years to recoup the investment of buying a Prius over a similarly equipped non-hybrid vehicle... now if gas hits $10 a gallon...

The problem is that China and India are exponentially increasing demand. There's not much we can do except develop alternatives.

The other irony: even if we open up more land for drilling, the companies don't have the equipment to do it. They already have all their equipment in the field (that's why they aren't drilling all the other areas already leased to them).
 
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gas incentives in various ways

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Some U.S. motorists sick of getting clobbered at the pump seem willing to do just about anything for free fuel, from giving up the right to name their children to stealing from day-care centers to donating blood.
In Orlando, Florida, David Partin pledged to name his son after local radio hosts to win a $100 gas card as part of a contest. Partin will collect the card in December, when his son is born, if he can produce a birth certificate proving the baby is named Dixon Willoughby Partin, after the hosts.
"(His wife said) this is his problem to explain when the child is older," Greg Stevens, WHTQ-FM program director told Reuters.
At the Shady Lady Ranch brothel in Beatty, Nevada, clients who spend $300 or more this month will receive $50 gas vouchers as part of a promotion to beat the summer slump in business.
"It's rocking along. We're doing quite well. June and July historically are not big months," said James Davis, who co-owns the ranch with his wife, Bobbi.
The first $1,000 in gas cards were given out within a week, he added.
In Mesquite, Texas, thieves drained $100 worth of gasoline from buses used by the Higher Ground Church day-care center and have hit four or five other church center fleets in the area.
"It was someone who was desperate," said James Green, the church's pastor. "All he had to do was come and ask us and we would have bought him a tank of gas."

Second page of the article here. The brothel is my favorite!
 
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Shouldn't gas prices be dropping like a stone, now? Oil is down over $10 a barrel. I'm paying 4.19. WTF?
Gas Prices Should Eventually Drop As Oil Slumps

Howard Nathan
DENVER (CBS4/AP) ― Oil rebounded to near $131 a barrel Friday in Asia as news of an output cut in Nigeria helped to halt the sharp decline in prices that began three days ago. But prices are down sharply from a week ago when crude oil was about $147 a barrel. That has many wondering when the prices at the pump will start to drop.

The slowing demand for gas that costs $4 a gallon may have also helped bring prices down in the supply and demand model. Americans have been driving less as the prices keep going up and the economy slows.

A member of the Colorado Petroleum Marketers Association said we won't see a drop in the price at the pump for a couple weeks.

The gas station have to first sell off the big supplies they bought as a hedge against rising prices they had to pay.

"It is all about replacement costs," said Mark Larson, Executive Director of the association. "As soon as we deplete that inventory, then we'll start to see the street price reflect the new costs. Bust guess, two to three weeks."

Larson said that for every dollar up or down the price of crude oil moves there's a corresponding impact at the pump of about 2 cents.
cbs4denver.com - Gas Prices Should Eventually Drop As Oil Slumps
 
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Taosman;1209208; said:
Purely political rhetoric by the Whitehouse.

toledoblade.com -- Natives support Republican goal of drilling for oil

Critics of the congressional trip abound.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) issued a statement linking the House Republicans with the ?failed policies? of President Bush. She said oil companies already have leases to drill on 68 million acres on land and off shore that they have not exploited.

?Opening new lands to drilling won?t save Americans one penny for at least a decade,? Mrs. Pelosi said, again calling on Republicans to support her call to release oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.

U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Toledo) called the trip ?a junket? and ?a public relations stunt at taxpayers? expense in an election year.?

?The Boehner-led delegation wants to send pretty pictures back home when the picture isn?t pretty at all,? Miss Kaptur said in a prepared statement, adding that families are being ?stretched to the limit? while oil companies revel in historic high profits.

?What?s next on their agenda for Big Oil, drilling in Lake Erie?? Miss Kaptur asked.

Mr. Steel said he?s heard no calls for sinking oil wells in the Great Lakes.

More rhetoric.
 
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