Myth: There is no oil supply problem in the United States
During the two oil supply crises of 1973 and 1979, in the U.S. the average citizen frequently stated the belief that no "real" oil shortage existed, and that the shortages were caused by the oil companies withholding oil from the market. But when the individual is asked two basic questions: How much oil does the United States produce each day, and how much oil does the United States consume each day, there usually is no reply. People are "experts" on the oil situation with no knowledge of the facts. This serves no useful purpose.
Reality:
The United States passed the point of oil self-sufficiency in 1970, and has been an importer of oil ever since then. In 1996, the United States produced about 6.4 million barrels of crude oil a day but imported more than 7 million barrels of crude oil plus 1.7 million barrels of refined oil products. The U.S. is now importing more oil than it produces.
The United States is the most thoroughly drilled area in the world and there is no possibility that this nation will ever again be self-sufficient in oil in the volumes and ways in which it is now being used. In what are reasonably prospective available oil areas in the United States, there are very few undrilled places left large enough for a major oil filed to be discovered onshore. Offshore there are some prospects, but offshore drilling has been banned in many areas.
A major oil field covers many square miles and almost all sizeable prospects have been drilled onshore U.S., except in a small comer of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which has been under environmental limitations. Some prospective areas do exist in more distant offshore areas open to exploration but these are generally in increasingly deeper waters, and are difficult and expensive to drill. The amount of oil which would make the United States again self-sufficient in petroleum cannot be found and produced in what areas remain to be explored, either onshore or offshore. As one petroleum geologist put it, "Exxon has run out of real estate." This is true of all the major companies who have now had to mostly go abroad to obtain acreage prospects of worthwhile size.
Copyright 1997, Walter L. Youngquist -- Posted with permission
from GeoDestinies, by Walter Youngquist PhD & Chair Emeritus,Department of Geology, University of Oregon;National Book Company, 1997; ISBN 0894202995
Reality:
The United States passed the point of oil self-sufficiency in 1970, and has been an importer of oil ever since then. In 1996, the United States produced about 6.4 million barrels of crude oil a day but imported more than 7 million barrels of crude oil plus 1.7 million barrels of refined oil products. The U.S. is now importing more oil than it produces.
The United States is the most thoroughly drilled area in the world and there is no possibility that this nation will ever again be self-sufficient in oil in the volumes and ways in which it is now being used. In what are reasonably prospective available oil areas in the United States, there are very few undrilled places left large enough for a major oil filed to be discovered onshore. Offshore there are some prospects, but offshore drilling has been banned in many areas.
A major oil field covers many square miles and almost all sizeable prospects have been drilled onshore U.S., except in a small comer of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, which has been under environmental limitations. Some prospective areas do exist in more distant offshore areas open to exploration but these are generally in increasingly deeper waters, and are difficult and expensive to drill. The amount of oil which would make the United States again self-sufficient in petroleum cannot be found and produced in what areas remain to be explored, either onshore or offshore. As one petroleum geologist put it, "Exxon has run out of real estate." This is true of all the major companies who have now had to mostly go abroad to obtain acreage prospects of worthwhile size.
Copyright 1997, Walter L. Youngquist -- Posted with permission
from GeoDestinies, by Walter Youngquist PhD & Chair Emeritus,Department of Geology, University of Oregon;National Book Company, 1997; ISBN 0894202995
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