BCT Editorial – 9/12/06

This page was last updated on September 12, 2006.

Brief reprise; Editorial; Beaver County Times; September 12, 2006.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“United States must take advantage of short-term boost in oil reserve

“All the discovery of a major oil find in the Gulf of Mexico buys the United States is a little more time to find alternative energy sources to break its addiction to imported oil.

“Last week, Chevron Corp. announced it had tapped into oil fields that could boost U.S. oil reserves by 50 percent, eventually adding as much as 750,000 barrels of new daily U.S. crude oil production within six years.”

[RWC] Hmm, a previous editorial told us 876,000 BPD “would only be a drop in the bucket” and thus didn’t justify drilling in ANWR.

“McClatchy Newspapers reported that’s equal to about 15 percent of the previous week’s oil production of 5.03 million barrels per day.

“That’s about what is being pumped out of Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay oilfield, which tops U.S. oil production.

“Obviously, this is good news for Chevron and its partners. They have invested and will invest a ton of money in finding this site and developing it.

“It’s also good news for the United States because it will serve as a buffer, albeit a minor one, against the vicissitudes of the international oil market.”

[RWC] So, if “it’s also good news for the United States,” why then did the Times publish a series of editorials lobbying against domestic exploration for and production of oil and natural gas supply? Links to some of those editorials are shown below.

“So, let’s not kid ourselves. This is a short-term fix. At the end of 2005, the United States had about 12 years of oil reserves (at current extraction rates), according to The Economist. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia has 66; Iran, 93; Iraq, 100-plus; Kuwait, 100-plus; United Arab Emirates, 97; Venezuela, 73; Libya, 63; and Nigeria, 38.

“If the time this discovery has bought us isn’t used wisely, the United States will remain far too dependent on imported oil from extremely unreliable sources.

“We won’t get many more chances to find alternative sources of energy before time runs out.

“Let’s not blow it this time.”

[RWC] Does the Times realizes how silly it looks? As noted above, over the last 18 months we’ve been treated to at least five editorials (“Drop in the bucket,” “Oil wrong,” “Dead end,” “Tapped out #1,” and “Tapped out #2”) lobbying against domestic exploration for and production of oil and natural gas supply.

Don’t get me wrong. We can’t drill our way to energy independence. The idea, however, that we should discontinue looking for domestic reserves is nuts.