Oil Reserves

BEIJING -- In the first announced estimate of the amount of oil beneath Northwest China's huge Tarim Basin, Chinese geologists issued some phenomenal claims this week that immediately prompted deep skepticism from Western oil experts.In a telephone interview yesterday , Fan Pu, a well-known Chinese geologist who headed the first completed study of the Tarim Basin, said the basin holds almost 15 billion tons of oil.To put that in perspective, total "proven" world oil reserves -- oil that can be exploited at today's prices and with current technology -- total about 143 billion tons.

Say no to fracking if you don't want flammable drinking water ("Say yes to LNG," Nov. 13). We shouldn't ruin our drinking water just to deliver liquid natural gas to China. Would they run their tankers on natural gas? The oil is running out, so the cost of transporting anything is rising dramatically. China is a long way away and won't be able to afford it if we don't buy their plastic junk. Germany recently acknowledged that 99 percent of its oil reserves were imaginary, and as a result it has rapidly became a world leader in solar power.

Amerada Hess Corp. will buy Triton Energy Limited for about $2.6 billion in cash, the companies said yesterday. Amerada Hess, based in New York, will pay $45 a share for Triton, of Dallas, and assume $500 million in Triton's debt. That price represented a premium of 50 percent over Triton's Monday closing stock price. The deal has the support of the buyout firm Hicks, Muse, Tate & Furst Inc., which owns 38 percent of Triton. Shares of Triton soared $14.53, or 48.6 percent, to close at $44.43 yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange.

While the news media concentrates on Japan's nuclear problems, we in the United States face a devastating financial "tsunami" of our own. We are currently looking at unbridled government deficits of at least $1 trillion per year as Congress haggles over extending the debt limit — now at about $14 trillion — and offers minuscule cost reductions. As we engage in military action in Libya, we cannot continue to add hundreds of billions of dollars per year to the deficit in unending Middle East wars.

No energy policy proposal has caused more acrimony or political gridlock preventing major progress toward energy security than domestic oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Outer Continental Shelf. Liberals and environmentalists who oppose tapping into America's oil reserves in Alaska and offshore invoke the need to protect America's pristine lands and coasts. Republicans - led by Sen. John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin - see nature conservation as a lower priority in the face of high gasoline prices and dangerous dependence on oil coming from some of the world's worst regimes.

East Sandwich, Mass.-- Mexico is not tottering on the brink of financial collapse, despite current reporting. In the words of former President Carlos Salinas de Gortari, Mexico is an ''oil . . . world power.''According to data published by the Bank of Mexico and the U.S. Department of the Interior, the Mexican government's proven oil reserves are the eighth-largest in the world. Mexico's oil reserves are 100 percent greater than those of the United States and more than 1,000 percent greater than those of the United Kingdom.

BUDGET DEFICITS explode. Inflation rules. Stock markets plunge. Houses foreclose. Great powers clash. This may be our future if we do not take more serious steps on energy than those offered in the energy bill that President Bush recently signed. With oil prices hitting all-time highs and war raging in Iraq, serious concerns about "peak oil" slowly have appeared on the public radar screen. Simply put, peak oil refers to a key turning point when global oil production peaks and then begins to decline, signaling a future of dwindling supplies.

Say no to fracking if you don't want flammable drinking water ("Say yes to LNG," Nov. 13). We shouldn't ruin our drinking water just to deliver liquid natural gas to China. Would they run their tankers on natural gas? The oil is running out, so the cost of transporting anything is rising dramatically. China is a long way away and won't be able to afford it if we don't buy their plastic junk. Germany recently acknowledged that 99 percent of its oil reserves were imaginary, and as a result it has rapidly became a world leader in solar power.

With all the instability in the Middle East, oil prices are headed above $100 a barrel. A spike to the $125-$150-a-barrel range could have disastrous effects on the U.S. economy. Now is the time when we needed to work on U.S. energy security and independence. And carpeting vast expanses of American soil with solar panels and wind turbines that do nothing when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow is not the answer. The Energy Information Administration said last month that 2011 offshore oil production would decline 13 percent over 2010 due to the effects of the offshore drilling moratorium and the snail's-pace permitting process.

For the moment, a supply-demand equilibrium has set in, moderating the price of a barrel of oil. From a recent high of $55.67 a barrel in late October, it has fallen almost 15 percent, flirting last week with $47 a barrel. Americans may not yet see savings at the pump -- and their heating bills still are set to soar -- but world production of oil for gasoline has recently picked up some and demand has decelerated a bit. Even U.S. motorists -- believed impervious to the cost of gas until it hits, say, $4 a gallon -- have been driving less in the past few weeks in apparent response to the persistence of $2-a-gallon gas. That's all for the better.

With all the instability in the Middle East, oil prices are headed above $100 a barrel. A spike to the $125-$150-a-barrel range could have disastrous effects on the U.S. economy. Now is the time when we needed to work on U.S. energy security and independence. And carpeting vast expanses of American soil with solar panels and wind turbines that do nothing when the sun doesn't shine and the wind doesn't blow is not the answer. The Energy Information Administration said last month that 2011 offshore oil production would decline 13 percent over 2010 due to the effects of the offshore drilling moratorium and the snail's-pace permitting process.

GOP is indulging our oil addiction I cringed when I heard that "Drill, baby, drill" chant at the Republican National Convention ("Drill now, pay later," Commentary, Sept. 7). Our nation is addicted to oil. We are utterly dependent on it for our economic survival, and most people agree that this dangerous condition threatens our nation's stability, prosperity and security. Our addiction was even bravely confessed by the president in one of his State of the Union addresses. This confession could have been answered with a commitment to a full-scale push to recover from the addiction.

No energy policy proposal has caused more acrimony or political gridlock preventing major progress toward energy security than domestic oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Outer Continental Shelf. Liberals and environmentalists who oppose tapping into America's oil reserves in Alaska and offshore invoke the need to protect America's pristine lands and coasts. Republicans - led by Sen. John McCain and his running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin - see nature conservation as a lower priority in the face of high gasoline prices and dangerous dependence on oil coming from some of the world's worst regimes.

WASHINGTON - As gasoline prices soar to new records, America's president - and the two men who hope to succeed him - are offering only partial or long-term solutions and ignoring three steps that many experts say could bring some relief now. Americans began this workweek by crossing a dismal threshold, paying a once-unthinkable nationwide record average of $4.02 per gallon for unleaded gasoline and the prospect of even higher prices in months ahead....

WASHINGTON -- Jittery about a political backlash over gasoline costs as prices set yet another record yesterday, Congress voted to halt deliveries to the Strategic Petroleum Reserve in defiance of President Bush. The action was expected to have a modest impact on pump prices, saving motorists an estimated 2 cents to 5 cents a gallon, backers said. But its overwhelming support, including from Bush's usual GOP allies, underscored the potency of fuel costs as a campaign issue this year. The measure is likely to be one of the few Congress approves this year in response to public angst at the pump as Democrats and Republicans agreed on little else yesterday to bring down prices.

Near-record prices at gas pumps and record earnings for oil companies prompted calls at congressional hearings this month for the companies to pay extra taxes, to find more oil supplies and to invest in alternative energy. Lawmakers suggested that the industry is failing the American consumer, and its tax breaks should be revoked. Oil executives, meanwhile, insist the companies are doing all they can to alleviate the crisis. They note that although their profits are high in absolute terms, such returns are consistent with other businesses.

The most efficient short-term prescription for America's dependence on foreign oil is breathtaking both in its simplicity and in the odds against its being adopted: Replace the diesel-guzzling large trucks that carry 70 percent of domestic freight with expanded rail and barge service. Yet for all the political and economic uproar the demise of long-haul trucking would generate, such stringent conservation of transportation fuel would only postpone a potentially catastrophic oil shortage in the U.S. by three decades, says Matthew Simmons, an investment banker who specializes in the energy industry.

There was a time when pundits liked to argue that only lunatic conspiracy theorists could imagine that the war in Iraq was about the oil. Yesterday, Australia's defense minister said it was about the oil. And he said it was because of that oil that Australian soldiers would have to stay on in Iraq and keep fighting. "Energy security is extremely important to all nations throughout the world, and of course, in protecting and securing Australia's interests," said Brendan Nelson. "The Middle East itself, not only Iraq but the entire region, is an important supplier of energy oil, in particular, to the rest of the world."

There was a time when pundits liked to argue that only lunatic conspiracy theorists could imagine that the war in Iraq was about the oil. Yesterday, Australia's defense minister said it was about the oil. And he said it was because of that oil that Australian soldiers would have to stay on in Iraq and keep fighting. "Energy security is extremely important to all nations throughout the world, and of course, in protecting and securing Australia's interests," said Brendan Nelson. "The Middle East itself, not only Iraq but the entire region, is an important supplier of energy oil, in particular, to the rest of the world."

The world has a big problem: It's running out of oil. According to a recent Government Accountability Office report, the long-awaited "peak oil" crisis will certainly happen by 2040 - and may be happening right now. Fortunately, President Bush has a strong energy plan in place that can be easily augmented to respond to concerns in both the oil industry and the global warming community. According to the GAO, "Many studies indicate that oil production will peak between now and 2040." Eleven of the 20 studies referred to in the report show peak oil production occurring now. Further, it says, "more than 60 percent of the world oil reserves are in countries where relatively unstable political conditions could constrain oil exploration and production."