It takes anywhere from 1 day to a few months to drill a typical oil or gas well. I'd say the vast majority of wells are drilled in under a month. There are simply not enough drilling rigs in existence to render every piece of "wilderness" noisy at any one time.
I spend my working life around drilling rigs, and in wooded areas it can be damn hard to find one. Even with a map or directions to follow, you often don't see them until you've turned the final bend in the road, and are pointed right at it. And the wildlife generally ignore them, too. Quite common to see deer grazing placidly within sight of a working rig, ditto elk, caribou, and moose. I've seen a black bear snooping around RIGHT UNDER the sub-structure of an operating rig, right next to the BOPs. Probably scavenging food dropped by the hands.
I agree with the part about the SUV craze...and about the CAFE standard sieve. But the 'they' part isn't quite right. The manufacturers are going to build what the consumer will buy, keeping as much profit in it for themselves as they can get. When you do have cheap gasoline, the fickle consumer is going to buy as big a machine as his monthly payments can afford. When we had the 'real' shortage back in the seventies, people were dumping their big ol' Olds, Buicks, Caddy's, and Lincolns in droves, and the used car market sucked. We got quick band-aid fixes from our in country manufacturers (like the Vega and Chevette) that got a lot better mileage. But that was done pretty much by removing weight from the structure, and not ramping up the engine technology very much. 'They', the in country manufacturers pretty much opened the door to outsiders who already had the smaller, lightweight, high mileage vehicles in production elsewhere. They just flooded our country and consumers sucked it right up. Then we have a run up in our dollar along with cheap gas for a decade. Guess what? Hogs at the trough get what they want and the manufacturers build it... But this time their cost curve is screwed up because of their long term short sightedness of underfunding their pension liabilities. So now they cry wolf and try to wrap themselves in the insolvency blanket and try to change the rules in which they profit from. And the offshore people just keep plugging away selling their stuff and not playing that game. So now, the manufacturers are looking at the double barrel of having higher fuel prices force the demand for higher mileage cars, and they are going to have to react to it. But these higher mileage cars don't bring the profits that the big ol' boats do, so they are looking at higher production cost's with lower margins. Now they really are screwed, so they cry for help....again. Pretty soon there won't be a savior at the door. Ask Chrysler in a couple years what that is like. Jeff (Who drives a 2 seat Studebaker to save gas ) Rice
What they accomplished is the automakers building a bunch of little economical cars that no one really wanted so we often sold at less than it cost to build to push up the automakers average fuel economy so they could then build and sell the profitable cars people actually wanted.
Face it, this is a big country and we are by and large big people, so we want big comfortable vehicles.
People are just not going to adopt cars like the Smart in droves, they didn't do it in Europe so we sure aren't going to do it here. If gas prices stay high you are just not going to see things like full size pickups and Escalades go away, what your going to see is those sorts of vehicles with new types of drivetrains.
How about a plug in hybrid diesel Escalade that gets 50 MPG around town?
You mean that each well does not immediately become a Toxic Waste Site? You mean that pumping a naturally occurring substance up so it can be used to drive our economy does not turn the local area into a desolate wasteland, devoid of all plant and animal life?
WoW!
I live in Western Pennsylvania - Titusville- home of the world's first commercial oil well. If something bad can be done to the environment by oil drilling, refining, pipelines, and other processes- it has been done here.
We have tons of deer, turkey, bear, etc etc etc. We drink the water that comes out of the ground and eat the fish that swim in the creeks.
Found on the web May 21... .....Price of crude oil last year at this time $80 ......Price of unleaded gasoline last year at this time $2.35
.........Price of crude oil right now $64
......Price of unleaded gasoline right now $2.41
Just the messenger. People seem to agree that it's the lack of refining capacity, none built in twenty years.
Seems logical and sad. Allow me to offer the thought that while our economy has grown since last year, our oil refining capability has remained static, courtesy of the Greens.
A pretty good analysis of what happened. I got burned by the 73 gas crisis when I wanted to sell a suburban with a 396 in it. Took a big loss. Another factor hurting the domestics is their medical costs for present and past employees. Most other countries we compete against have national healthcare.
But not a good as many of the domestic models that can be purchased for less. GM has far more models for sale in the US that get 30 MPG. or more, than does any import brand
There have been no new refineries built, but throughput has increased a bit because of improvements made to existing refineries.
I can sort of see the sense in the reluctance of oil companies' refusal to build new ones, given the current regulatory environment, and given that we may well be approaching a peak in oil production. A refinery is a long-term investment, and if your long-term projections show that crude supplies are about to dwindle, a new refinery makes little sense.
*The following is just me preaching in general, and is NOT directed at anyone here, specifically.*
/rant
People who complain the loudest about gas prices also seem to be the ones who do the least, personally, to modify their consumption habits.
It seems the shortfall between refinery capacity and fuel consumption is only a couple of percentage points. I hear these people say, "I've got to drive my car to work!" OK, not disputing that, but do you have to drive ALONE? Car-pool or ride-share with ONE other person, and your fuel cost for commuting is cut by 50%. Is it THAT hard to do? If work commuting is a major use of your vehicle, then it makes sense to pick a vehicle that is optimized for that task. Don't use the one-ton dually for commuting because you "had to have it to tow the boat trailer" 5 weekends a year.
If everybody in North America were to switch to a Diesel-powered vehicle as their daily driver, the current fuel shortage would turn into a surplus, because Diesels get better mileage, on a size-for-size basis, and also, one can get more Diesel fuel out of a barrel of crude than one can get gasoline. And with the new ultra-low sulfur Diesel, there is no longer any emissions-related reason NOT to use Diesel.
My own daily driver is a '96 Suburban Diesel; its fuel mileage isn't spectacular, but it beats the gasoline-powered counterpart. When I drive it for work, my mileage is paid for, and I come out ahead on the deal, enough ahead that I can afford the fuel I burn for personal trips. If my work situation were different, and I had to do a daily commute at my own expense, I'd drive something else, even a little sh*tbox Honda, as long as it got excellent fuel mileage. (Actually, I'd hunt down a mid-'80s Nissan Diesel pickup, they run forever.) Point is, I wouldn't continue to run the 'burb in circumstances where it wasn't advantageous for me to use it.
I've been to your local toxic wasteland and seen first hand what evil oil production can inflict on an area! You folks should be ashamed! All of those tree lined country roads in and out of town and all of that wildlife is a hazard to the general public. And that gurgling dump of a State Park is disgraceful. Don't get me started on the water. That horrid brew has no smell, taste or texture. Pure poison from the tap! I don't want that mess in my back yard! (here in Cleveland) ;)
My oldest daughter grew up in Tidioute with her mom. Crawford County, PA is some of the prettiest territory in the Eastern US.
Cleveland... Where the river catches fire? Oh, I suppose times have changed, but Cleveland is one city that has an ugly side on all four corners. Jeff (and one of those sides is a lake) Rice
"Tom Adk>> You mean that each well does not immediately become a Toxic Waste Site?
They don't have nearly the room of a big SUV, nor the towing capacity. I'd like to see how far someone gets towing a ski boat with a Camry loaded with six passengers and all the gear for a weekend at the lake.
Hey now, I'll have you know that our river hasn't caught fire in days!
It's funny how a city can laugh at itself. There are a number of local "Burning River" products. Burning River Ale (Great Lakes Brewery) is tasty stuff. Tom (I'll have the Elliot Ness Dark) Adkins
Its always worthwhile reading what Gordon has to say. As usual, he has a good analysis. As I mentioned before, I wish there was a diesel+electric (assist) 4x4 pickup/whatever that could
-tow a Studebaker "once in a while", or a boat, or a Boler--maybe 5 weekends a year
-have a top speed no more than 70 mph (as the tradeoff--and why do you want to tow your Stude at 90 anyway?)
-be able to cruise all day under load at 55-60
-take a while to get to top speed of 70 (as another tradeoff), as long as it was no more than about 30 seconds or so
-get about 50 mpg all the time, running on clean diesel
-start under $20K, with no electric anything except lights and a radio
-with real comfortable seats, & big enough for a carpool to work
I'd buy one. They just don't sell one in North America. You gotta buy something with cruddy mileage, 0-60 in 7.5 seconds, and a top speed of over
100, at over $40K if you want the other things...
Jim Bartley on PEI- maybe a base 2008 Jeep Patriot with a 1.9 litre diesel?
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