An article that illustrates perfectly the stupidity of reporters when it comes to oil

[Dogmeat]

http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/13/news/economy/offshore_drilling/index.htm?cnn=yes

Here's a few choice quotes ... what's hilarious is, this article contradicts itself a few times and illustrates PERFECTLY the typical stupidity of the people reporting on this, and the fact that the american public buys it hook, line, and sinker.

Here we go:

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Support for more U.S. oil drilling is on the rise, despite the opinions of many analysts who say the potential supply is too small to significantly lower the price.

After 40 years of this mentality, he's right! 40 years of this mentality got us to where we are today, so "technically", this is true ... however, just because we've been sticking our heads in the sand for 40 years, we still need to continue this process? I've said this a thousand times, the best we can hope for now is to keep prices stable and stop importing as much oil. Get the idea of cheap gas out of your head, it's never going to happen, and I don't care how much gas has gone down in the last several days. Remember a year ago when $3.00 a gallon gas meant the end of the world? Doesn't seem so bad now does it.

Government estimates assume that drilling off the eastern and western coasts offers just over 1 million barrels a day. Even John McCain - who has made offshore drilling a cornerstone of his energy platform - doesn't dispute that figure, which is dwarfed by worldwide production. Currently world production stands at about 73 million barrels of oil each day.

This number changes from month to month to quarter to quarter, it it varies from season to season ... I track this every month with the Journal of Petroleum Technology publication I receive for my membership in the SPE ... but, what's funny to me, .... this "1 million bbl/day" number ... for the last god only knows how many months I can remember, world demand has exceeded world supply by exactly that.

Hmmmmmmmmmm....................................

And let us not overlook this little gem:

"A drop in the bucket" ....

Wow, by my calculations, the same calculations any 7th grader can make, 2.8 million barrels per day is approximatley 300,000 barrels a day MORE than half of what we currently produce domestically ...

This pretty well shows you what ****ing idiots reporters are...this guy apparently can't even pass 6th grade algebra ...

Drop in the bucket ... wow

Given the seeming futility of expanded drilling to lower prices, how do drilling's boosters support their argument?

Don't know, that 7th grade algebra is pretty damned tough ....

Hoping for more oil
For starters, they think there could be more oil than the government says.

Well, lookey here! THE GOVERNMENT! They are the worlds foremost experts on petroleum exploration and production! They know ALL ABOUT the latest and greatest technology that Exxon and Connoco keep to recover oil from the ground, so they know how much is there! They have like, GeoSpy and can spy on the ground and **** I bet! WOW!

Nobody has ANY IDEA how much oil is ANYWHERE until you drill for it, then drill a lot for it, and gain understanding of various areas and the reservoirs contained within. Given the number of wildcat wells you need to drill to validate your geologic hypthothesis about where oil is have been greatly reduced, you don't know all you need to know until you start producing an area and evaluating the results. People expect this **** to be an exact science. It's pretty difficult to figure out what's going on 5 miles below the earth's surface here people, it's not like the TV shows want you to believe where you jsut drill a hole in the ground and oil comes shooting out ...

Spare production capacity is currently about 1.5 million barrels a day, most of which is held by Saudi Arabia. But just a few years ago, spare production capacity was 4 or 5 million barrels a day. That tight margin today is one reason why oil prices are so high - there is less surplus crude available to cover a disruption in supplies.

But I thought Donald Trump, the world's foremost expert on the oil industry, said we had too much oil? He's famous, so he MUST be right

People against more drilling cite the estimates from the government - the EIA says opening Alaska's wildlife re***e would cause gasoline prices to fall by 2 or 3 cents a gallon by 2020 - and say Republicans are keeping the issue alive simply to use against the Democrats in the November election.

Wow, amazing, in 10 years at the rate we're inflating it will actually DROP the price by a couple cents ... so are those few cents adjusted for inflationary cents or whatever, or is this like, just straight cents ... hahaha That must be like $0.25 in today's dollars

Wayland, channeling similar sentiments from many Democrats and citing numbers showing the oil industry already has access to nearly 80% of the oil reserves in North America, called the whole debate about expanding offshore drilling "a distraction from the real solutions."

If only it were so easy. I don't have any numbers off the top of my head, but I think it has something to do with how the BLM allocates surface area to drill on ... yeah, technically, you have this access, but when you are only allowed so much acerage you can prepare pads on, roads, whatever ... ya know, realistically it probably cuts that number in half.

But wait, that's a distraction ... the democrats apparently have the solution to energy policy .... Look at all the wonderful things Jimmy Carter did!



Sorry for ranting folks, but the more and more I work in this industry it becomes even more and more readily apparent to me that the entire left-half of Washington is bought off by the Communist Chineese ...

I guess this means I need one of those bumper stickers that says "Vast Right Wing Conspiracy - Proud Member" or something.

But no, seriously, I read article after article after article from some dumbass reporter who can't possibly understand something as complex as global energy needs and sources and all it takes to power a planet, try to put all this into a 30 second sound bite built for the masses that are equally as clueless, and it just makes me shake my head and get frustrated.

blah.

 

[SAWYER]

the media is frustrating

 

[Burndown1]

When I see ( CNN) the first thing I think of is Liberal Lies. ( NY) then I think of the NY times, More Liberal Lies.