3 - 15 Billion Barrels of Oil Found in Gulf of Mexico

Nice, but a drop in the bucket (or barrel) considering the U.S. consumes about 5.7 Billion barrels in a single year. Still, this would be a 50% increase in known U.S. oil reserves if it pans out. But the required deep water drilling is currently an emerging, unproven, and limited availability technique. So this is still years out.

Since this is the Green Room I'll just add that this is probably bad news for renewable energy, but likely good news for all you American truck owners. I can hardly believe that some of those common vehicles only get 12 miles per gallon. Even my old 1973 Pontiac Catalina with a 400 cubic inch V-8 and an automatic tranny got 13 - 14 miles per gallon, even if I was towing a boat up a mountain with three other people, camping gear, fishing tackle, ice chest, etc.

Bud-burbia gas price update: $2.439 per gallon of regular unleaded about a week ago. I was surprised to see it this low.

Here's some links to the Gulf Oil story:

http://tinyurl.com/gb5wr

http://www.washingtontimes.com/business/20060906-122533-8399r.htm

They claim 2 bucks buy Thanksgiving Day.
Maybe I can go to Grandma's house.

Not gonna be even close to $2 here in CT. Not with the new taxes. We'll be closer to $2.50

In the long term (decades) oil has to go higher. In the next 2-5 or so years, I'm pretty sure we'll see either a stabilization or maybe even some retreat as 1) new production comes online and 2) refineries are built/retooled to deal with the heavy crude, not just the easy stuff.

It's a cyclical industry, has been for decades.

As for Mo's Catalina, that was before we started choking cars with emissions equipment. And besides, that 400 wasn't breaking a sweat once it got rolling, whether empty or loaded to the gils, those cubes were all for laying rubber off the line.

Steve

That' right Steve. Crankcase recirculaor was all she had. No smog pump. No catalyst. I don't believe it even had vapor recovery.

As an exercise in futility, I decided I'd see if I could do an ultimate tune-up and eek a couple more miles per gallon out of her. Silicon solid core spark plug wires, high dollar plugs, high dollar points, dwell and timing on-the-money (even up and down a bit just to see the results), all new vacuum and other hoses, new fuel filter, gas additive, high and low test gas, leaded and unleaded gas (this was at the cusp when both were available), marvel mystery oil in the crankcase, clean air filter (and no air filter testing), drive alone, drive with people, race with sports cars, nothing mattered. That car got 13 miles per gallon, no matter what it had in it, on it, or around it. I never bothered to even change the plugs after that. Just didn't matter.

BTW: you're right about the torque off the line, too. I once raced a Mazda RX7 with one guy inside while I had two good friends in the car with me, just for grins. Everyone was shocked that I edged him out up to about 50 or 60 miles an hour and before arriving at the next stop light. Everyone except me. What a monster torque generator that thing was, and it only had a two barrel carb to boot. If I could have put tractor tires on it I think I could have plowed a field and still got 13 miles per gallon. We had all sorts of cute names for her: tuna boat, land barge, la catalina, lead sled, tank... The sheet metal body work was so think it survived a massive texas hail storm that nearly bankrupted a couple insurance companies. I was shocked that I could hardly see any dimples as hard as I looked. Essentially zero damage. That was one heavy duty beast of a car.

We once took it backpacking in the Pecos Primitive Wilderness. It was so large inside that on the way back, when we encountered a massive downpour and didn't feel like setting up the tents and sleeping soaked to the bone only a day from our nice soft beds, the four of us actually slept comfortably in that rolling motel. One on the back bench, one on the back floorboard with the extra geer and pads to flatten the drive shaft hump, one on the front bench seat (me), and one on the front floorboard with extra geer to flatten the console hump. Nearly as much room as in the 3 man (haha - that's what they called them anyway - it would be 3 very intimate men types to suffer that compaction) backpacking tents we were using. I think it was more comfortable for me on the front bench seat than in my sleeping bag with light backpacking pad.

And I once carried a load of bricks in the trunk. Not sure how much weight, but it was enough to line the bottom twice and build a small brick wall and hearth for a little pot bellie stove in a converted cow shed. The suspension bottomed out every little bump I rolled over for 100 miles. After I unloaded the bricks the car didn't ever completely return to its previous posture. Oops. I was one of the first low riders I suppose.

Might have been a different story if the lights had been a little further apart, or *gasp* there had been a curve. Did the Catalina lift up in the triple digits the way the Le Mans did?

Steve

I referred to it as 'boat suspension' as any hill or road irregularity would be like riding over large rolling waves in a boat, or maybe like a roller coaster. And yeah, I was making sure there were no curves up ahead and definitely shut her down way before a quarter mile or the little sporty RX7 would have cleaned my clock farther than that. A curve would likely have put me in the ditch.

We had all sorts of cute names for her: tuna boat, land barge, la catalina, lead sled, tank...

mo, i once owned a jet boat named the tuna cruiser. it was probably named that for a different reason though.

Hey Bruce,

I think i hear what you are not saying

> 3 - 15 Billion Barrels of Oil Found in Gulf of Mexico

... and just in time for the elections...

Yep , How about that . Thats the same flap the neighbor and I were yacking about over the fence tonight . Comparing wood piles and bitching about the leaders . ( so there called )

...For the near term, the discoveries are likely to have little effect on day-to-day trading in energy futures, not to mention pump prices at the filling stations....

...The vast oil deposit won't significantly reduce the country's dependence on foreign oil and won't help lower prices at the pump anytime soon....


I'm willing to bet that if they had lost 15 million barrels of oil - we would be seeing a definite, immediate spike in prices at the pump!

At least they can't spike the price of the wood in my backyard....wait...my chainsaw uses gas and oil DANGIT!

Isn't that why the gas prices have gone down lately? Oh yeah, that's right, it's getting close to election time.

The big question is just why the hell did they tell anyone about it. Thats no way to run a business and with the price coming down. You are right, its the elections.

I hate to rain on your conspiracy theories, but this is the same pattern we've had for years. Prices crash late summer, then stabilize around Xmas when it starts getting cold, and start a run up to "summer driving season". Even last year, we just had a little extra kick on the price from Katrina.

I'm surprised they kept it quiet 10 minutes.

Steve

I was up in CT yesterday, stopped by the Preston Trading Post to oogle stoves and stuff. They had a nice Jotul trailer parked out front and were burning a stove or two. Got me thinking about this season.

As for gas, its always expensive up in CT, taxes account for a lot of the difference. Go from NY to CT and you add a quarter to the price of a gallon.

-- Mike

To view it graphically, try http://www.lansinggasprices.com/price_by_county.aspx

Steve

Oh I wouldn't call it conspiracy. You can however bet your buttons that these guys all cooperate in ways to keep the price as high as possible without dire consequences. You can bet that they have and will continue to do everything they can to keep the price as high as possible without lowering consumption. You can call that conspiracy or just corporate planning or whatever definition you want. Last year it was hurricanes then it was the war, then Iran whatever. The only real item in all of this is refinery capacity.

Steve, That's a cool site. Thanks. Looks like we in Missouri are in pretty good shape comparatively speaking. I wonder why the states below me are higher? Seems like it's only cheap in Missouri because it's easy to pump gas up from the Gulf where all the refineries are located, which seems like to would make gas even cheaper for the states adjacent to Louisiana and Arkansas.

The new oil discovered in the Gulf will require a whole new, and unproven, and more expensive technology to harvest. It will be years before much of any of that oil comes on line, IF EVER. And the volume estimate is pretty broad. From 3 to 15 billion barrels. If it turns out to be 3 billion barrels and it's expensive to pump, it won't be much to get excited about.

Hey BB, This is Houston calling Walker Ridge...

"This is Mr. GAss Hole in Houston. Let me talk to Mike, the rig monkey. I heard he's been braggin' about the length of his drill bit again."
(Mike) "Uh, hello Mr. GAss Hole..."
"Hey Mike... I think you forgot something important to your career here at GAss Hole, Inc. so let me see if I can adequately describe the difference between you and me. I'm sitting in a 2000 sq ft luxury penthouse office with three Playboy Playmates while you're stuck in a God forsaken bio-hazard and hurricane hell hole with Boudreaux, Jimmy Joe and Billy Bob. So let me just say two things. One, shut up. And two, you're fired."

(Mr. GAss Hole) "Mike, I received your communique. NOOA confirmed current predictions. Don't forget GPS coordinates. Will bring suit case and Playmates to provide long overdue raises for you and the boys."