Why do Gas companies import oil?

[monochan]

Prettz3003

We import oil because the green party and the Democrats won't let us drill in the oil fields of Alaska.

They say it will hurt the environment.

it would disturb the migration pattern of the caribou, which are a major food source for some tribes

[mohawkpax]

Well, one of the reasons is that not all gas companies in the U.S. are U.S. companies.

Second, it is the same price. Oil is a global comodity. If we drilled anwr it would lower the global price a little but we'd still pay the global price. Essentially, yes it's the same price no matter where you buy it.

The government doesn't really have any control over where the oil comes from.

We have no reason to fear our oil supply being cut off, so there's no reason to stop buying it.


Yes, there is a massive amount of oil under the southeast U.S., but it is in Shale form, and the technology we have to retrieve that is no where near cost effective at the current price.

Europe has high gas taxes to discourage driving partially because it is a mass transit based culture. We are not a mass transit based culture, a gas tax of that size would be detrimental to us.

[APMEX]

Quote:

According to the Oil and Gas Journal, the United States had 22.7 billion barrels of proved oil reserves as of January 1, 2004, eleventh highest in the world. These reserves are concentrated overwhelmingly (over 80%) in four states -- Texas (24% including the state's reserves in the Gulf of Mexico), Alaska (22%), Louisiana (20% including the state's reserves in the Gulf of Mexico), and California (19%, including the state's Federal Offshore reserves). U.S. proven oil reserves have declined by around 20% since 1990, with the largest single-year decline (1.6 billion barrels) occurring in 1991.
...
During 2003, the United States produced around 7.9 million barrels per day (MMBD) of oil, of which 5.7 MMBD was crude oil, and the rest natural gas liquids and other liquids.
...
The United States consumed an average of about 20.0 MMBD of oil in 2003, up from 19.8 MMBD in 2002.

Source

It doesn't take a mathemetician to figure out that the US simply does not have enough proven oil reserves to support our current rate of consumption. Even importing large amounts of oil, our reserves shrank by 20% in 20 years. What would happen to those reserves were they not supplemented by foreign oil?

[stalebsicuit]

Zander Rashid

stalebsicuit

Dakai

Considering that the current US Reserves would last a relatively short amount of time, it's in the US's own best national interest to import what we can now. Should there ever be an international crisis to interrupt the flow of oil from abroad, we'd have to rely on what little oil we have at home. Even with Alaska, US oil reserves would be depleted in a relatively short amount of time if we continued at our current rate of consumption.

Plus, we have all these nifty trade deals with oil exporters that allow me to pay $2.09 a gallon here in LA rather than near $5 that they pay in London.

im going to agree with dakai here


lets import as much as cheap as we can, then when they run out and decide they ******** up, we sell our oil to them, at a jacked up price...........truly american

Again, America doesn't have the kind of reserves necessary to export oil. We did it for a long time and now our wells are running low. What oil that's left here should remain American oil. A last resort until we can find a better fuel source.

where are you getting this from?

there is alot of oil under our plains of the midwest(at leastbthats what i heard)

here in atlanta we ahve somehting called stone mountain, now im not sure if this is all accurate, but this is what i htink i remmeber


stone mountain is the largest single rock in the world, but in fact its just the tip and stone mountian continues under ground for several states as sheet rock under the soil

therefor we have a hard underground floor thats hard to drill through and most of the oil in under that, and every now and then a well will from in cracks from it

same with siberia, except they got permafrost

so right now its easier to dtrill through it

[Oblivious Sage]

Dakai

Considering that the current US Reserves would last a relatively short amount of time, it's in the US's own best national interest to import what we can now. Should there ever be an international crisis to interrupt the flow of oil from abroad, we'd have to rely on what little oil we have at home. Even with Alaska, US oil reserves would be depleted in a relatively short amount of time if we continued at our current rate of consumption.

Plus, we have all these nifty trade deals with oil exporters that allow me to pay $2.09 a gallon here in LA rather than near $5 that they pay in London.

Actually, most European countries tax gas heavily, to encourage fuel efficiency. Something our country could use more of, really, even if its political suicide. Why do so many Americans think they have a right to $1.50/gallon for gas?

[Zander Rashid]

stalebsicuit

Dakai

Considering that the current US Reserves would last a relatively short amount of time, it's in the US's own best national interest to import what we can now. Should there ever be an international crisis to interrupt the flow of oil from abroad, we'd have to rely on what little oil we have at home. Even with Alaska, US oil reserves would be depleted in a relatively short amount of time if we continued at our current rate of consumption.

Plus, we have all these nifty trade deals with oil exporters that allow me to pay $2.09 a gallon here in LA rather than near $5 that they pay in London.

im going to agree with dakai here


lets import as much as cheap as we can, then when they run out and decide they ******** up, we sell our oil to them, at a jacked up price...........truly american

Again, America doesn't have the kind of reserves necessary to export oil. We did it for a long time and now our wells are running low. What oil that's left here should remain American oil. A last resort until we can find a better fuel source.

[stalebsicuit]

Dakai

Considering that the current US Reserves would last a relatively short amount of time, it's in the US's own best national interest to import what we can now. Should there ever be an international crisis to interrupt the flow of oil from abroad, we'd have to rely on what little oil we have at home. Even with Alaska, US oil reserves would be depleted in a relatively short amount of time if we continued at our current rate of consumption.

Plus, we have all these nifty trade deals with oil exporters that allow me to pay $2.09 a gallon here in LA rather than near $5 that they pay in London.

im going to agree with dakai here


lets import as much as cheap as we can, then when they run out and decide they ******** up, we sell our oil to them, at a jacked up price...........truly american

[APMEX]

Considering that the current US Reserves would last a relatively short amount of time, it's in the US's own best national interest to import what we can now. Should there ever be an international crisis to interrupt the flow of oil from abroad, we'd have to rely on what little oil we have at home. Even with Alaska, US oil reserves would be depleted in a relatively short amount of time if we continued at our current rate of consumption.

Plus, we have all these nifty trade deals with oil exporters that allow me to pay $2.09 a gallon here in LA rather than near $5 that they pay in London.

[Omnileech]

Prettz3003

We import oil because the green party and the Democrats won't let us drill in the oil fields of Alaska.

They say it will hurt the environment.

Yeah, whatever you say Micheal Savage Jr. drilling for oil does disrupt the environment especially when the inevitable oil spill comes along.

[Oblivious Sage]

Prettz3003

We import oil because the green party and the Democrats won't let us drill in the oil fields of Alaska.

They say it will hurt the environment.

Pfft, Alaska wouldn't even dent the amount we import. It would drop gas prices a little, after we got the drilling and pipelines completed (at least a year to have any effect on prices at the pump).

We can't meet our own needs without a major investment in drilling, which would probably only last us 50 to 100 years after we get desperate enough to tap into it.

[Colonel Bundy]

Prettz3003

We import oil because the green party and the Democrats won't let us drill in the oil fields of Alaska.

They say it will hurt the environment.

That was the first thing that came to my mind. But the first thing that comes to my mind is ussually a joking answer.

[Prettz3003]

We import oil because the green party and the Democrats won't let us drill in the oil fields of Alaska.

They say it will hurt the environment.

[Chap_fu]

wow! Thank you for the very informative reply. This is just what I was looking for.

[stalebsicuit]

because the oil companiesw find it cheaper to import it from countries like russia and venezuala and canada


first you have to take into the account of labor costs, if your out of the US minimum wage(if it exists) is pretty low

next you have to take into account the ease of pumping it out of the ground, in some places like saudia arabia and russia(around caspian sea region pretty much only) you can stick a straw in the ground and it will come up(not realy but its an analogy) where in the US and canada we have higher wage costs and the fact that all of our oil is under a thick layer of sheet rock that covers the east coast to the rocky mountains, and we would ahve to drill through that, and many of the oil rich places in siberia and canada have thick permefrost that needs to be drilled through as well, so its easier essentialy

now the most important factor above all..........shipping costs, has to go by boat and so forth, so shipping it half way around the world isnt the best idea, most of our oil comes from russia and south america rather than the middle east, most of our middle east oil goes to our naval bases and military bases around that region

so essentialy its cheaper, thats the main reason


but when the other nations oil reserves become exhausted i think we will satrt pumping out our oil under the sheet rock, we have more il realy, us and russia and canada, but its harder to get to

also when oil exceeds 75 dollars a barrel we can actualy melt coal and use it as gas

interesting stuff ehre this site helps

http://www.gravmag.com/oil.html

[Chap_fu]

I was having an arguement with my coworker today about oil production in the US, and it led me to wonder, why do we import oil.

Is it because we can't produce enough oil for all of america, or is it because its cheaper to import it, or is there some other reason still?

Also, shouldn't oil that is drilled here in america be cheaper per barrel then importing it?

Please don't post your oppinions. I'm just looking for actual facts on the matter. Thank you.