I just recently found this Newsmax.com article against environmentalism. I found some of it to be very informative. For instance, the author states that according to a U.S. geological survey, the Bakken formation found in the Great Plains may contain upwards of 400 billion barrels of oil worth a total of $36 trillion dollars at today’s oil prices. He also mentions oil deposits off the Florida Keys which are being exploited not by the U.S., but by China and Cuba instead.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect that I got from reading this article is that it is clear that the author is not an Objectivist—i.e. he uses an semi-altruistic premise in arguing for the use of DDT, the premise being that we have a responsibility to our African brothers—but quotes ARI’s Michael Berliner in recognition of the fact that environmentalism is fundamentally anti-man.
I just recently found this Newsmax.com article against environmentalism. I found some of it to be very informative. For instance, the author states that according to a U.S. geological survey, the Bakken formation found in the Great Plains may contain upwards of 400 billion barrels of oil worth a total of $36 trillion dollars at today’s oil prices. He also mentions oil deposits off the Florida Keys which are being exploited not by the U.S., but by China and Cuba instead.
There is actually a lot of oil being discovered here in NZ. Some predict that while we will never be a Saudi Arabia or likes in terms of the amount of oil, we may be the next Norway.
…the Bakken formation found in the Great Plains may contain upwards of 400 billion barrels of oil worth a total of $36 trillion dollars at today’s oil prices.
Yes, when people compute oil-reserves they use the price of oil as a critical assumption. e.g., if oil is $100 a barrel, the world has more practically usable reserves than if oil is $30 a barrel. For instance, Canada’s oil-sands have so much oil that they’re second only to Saudi Arabia. However, if oil goes back below $30-40 a barrel, it will be too expensive to tap this oil, so the number would be dropped from the typically-quoted reserves numbers.
As oil has now gone beyond $100, shale-based oil is now practical. Of course, for it to be tapped requires some confidence that the price will remain high. Still, it is the rising price of oil – rather than geological discovery – that is the key change in most shale-oil cases. If prices stay high, the biggest remaining problem – for shale-oil the U.S. – will be the environmentalists. There too, I read about some people experimenting with techniques where they will use a new type of drill to somehow heat the rock deep inside the earth… getting the oil out with minimal change to the external environment… all that the so-called beauty that voters want to keep in place.
Meanwhiule, there have been some off-shore conventional-oil discoveries off Brazil. Nowhere near the size of Canada’s reserves, but a substantial discovery with the possibility that there is more sround the area.
Meanwhiule, there have been some off-shore conventional-oil discoveries off Brazil. Nowhere near the size of Canada’s reserves, but a substantial discovery with the possibility that there is more sround the area.
That is the sort that is being found here in NZ (actually, they are oil anf gas reserves with a lot more gas than oil), and much more is expected to be found. Many search expiditions are due or taking place in NZ waters.