The biomass thing is a falacy. It's a friggin' fairy tale that is more ludicrous than Snow White. How many damn dinasours were there? Quadrillions?? Please. If you dig up dead bodies--people, pets, anything--1 year or 1,000,000 years after burial you will NOT find crude or any oil variant. Think about basic science first: the human body, for instance, is over 90% water (hopefully you will agree with that fact). So, after a period of time after burial, organic matter such as a human body turns from water to oil? LOL It just doesn't happen like that.
While this may be true, I'm sure it takes longer than a decade or two. In practical terms, when the oil in the ground goes, its gone. 1000 or 1,000,000 is of little consequence. If we don't stop using oil in the next hundred years, it won't matter anyway, humankind will perish from the pollution.
Why? Why is it not possible that oil is self-replentishing? If oil is a resource that replentishes itself as a result of the intense heat and pressure under the earth's crust, it very well may be that we will not run out. We have a water cycle (transpiration, evaporation, precipitation, etc.) so it is entirely possible we can have an "oil cycle." As stuff (anything on the surface of the earth) decomposes, it works its way down over time to become baked under pressure. The extreme temperatures and pressure could change the composition of matter to that of crude. (i.e. carbon to diamond)
LOL I always thought that was nonsense too, and what they ALL happened to only die in mass graves in isolated areas of the world
KNOWN oil fields have produced far in excess of the "known" quanity for years.... No one knows how much is there.....technology has increased to ridiculous levels....oil companies are some of the most technology driven companies in the world....highly secretative... I would bet only NASA and US military has better "stuff", LOL Drillers finding new oil all over the US all the time.....small to medium size fields....not big enough to make any press....but they add up.... A lot of guys make a very nice living just off of "workover wells"...drilling deeper than before, better techniques than before etc etc.... SteveD
the biggest question is/are: why aren't we hearing anything from the White House over these prices? why hasn't anything been done to chase away (who cares if they go off shore to other markets) these speculators or some coordinated effort by the world exchanges to limit specution and return the markets to the hedgers (actual producers and users (gas stations, etc.))? how far will they (in this case the US Govt) allow this increased speculation in fuel and petroleum products as well as the grain and feed markets go? will wheat at $120 bushel be acceptable? will oil at $220 be acceptable? will gasoline go back to the 70's shortages or achieve this $5 gal prices? at what point action? (not what action, but significant depression in this artificial appreciation)
The White House and its jokers in the Bush Administration are too busy BUYING OIL and putting it into the Strategic Oil Reserve. ( 70,000 barrels per day for the next 6 months, starting in January ).
The current inventory is displayed on the SPR's website. As of April 15, 2008, the current inventory was 701.1 million barrels (111,470,000 m³). At current market prices ($115 a barrel) the SPR holds over $80 billion worth of petroleum.
Mexico is a total disfunctional "Nationalized" nightmare. They have already hit "peak" oil there (2005) and are on the downslope. Given their complete unwillingness to invite "foreigners" into the country on E&P projects, the Country will literally run out of oil reserves in the next 8-9 years. Pemex and the Mexican government are a complete joke. Vicente Fox saw firsthand just how difficult it is to get anything done there. Someone needs to drop a bomb on the entire Mexican legislature. They ( and their budget ) have literally been sucking PEMEX dry. As it is, PEMEX pays out over 60% of its revenue in royalties and taxes, and those funds pay for over a THIRD of the Mexican government's budget. The only thing keeping them afloat is the fact that the price of crude has gone through the roof. Meanwhile, everything else about the company is in shambles. Pretty scary when you see that they are #3 on that list above. :eek:
Chairman Markey has called for a three-point plan to reduce gas prices and oil dependence in the short and long term, which includes temporarily ceasing the purchase of oil for the SPR while it is currently at record prices. Chairman Markey says this will send a strong signal to oil speculators who are currently pushing prices to new heights. "At $119 a barrel, taking significant quantities of oil off of the market to fill the Strategic Petroleum Reserve is like throwing chum into the feeding frenzy of speculation happening on trading floors across the world," said Chairman Markey. "By continuing to purchase oil at these record prices, the Bush administration is aiding and abetting the highway robbery of American consumers at the pump." http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock News/1415950/