US may soon become world's top oil producer

[Zippyjuan]

http://enews.earthlink.net/article/t...d-8d1be56cf8a9

Since we are the biggest consumer, we are still a very long ways from energy independence- we import some 42% of what we use- consumption is 18.7 million barrels a day vs producing 10.9 million barrels.

JONATHAN FAHEY
From Associated Press
October 23, 2012 2:19 PM EDT
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. oil output is surging so fast that the United States could soon overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's biggest producer.

Driven by high prices and new drilling methods, U.S. production of crude and other liquid hydrocarbons is on track to rise 7 percent this year to an average of 10.9 million barrels per day. This will be the fourth straight year of crude increases and the biggest single-year gain since 1951.

The boom has surprised even the experts.

"Five years ago, if I or anyone had predicted today's production growth, people would have thought we were crazy," says Jim Burkhard, head of oil markets research at IHS CERA, an energy consulting firm.

The Energy Department forecasts that U.S. production of crude and other liquid hydrocarbons, which includes biofuels, will average 11.4 million barrels per day next year. That would be a record for the U.S. and just below Saudi Arabia's output of 11.6 million barrels. Citibank forecasts U.S. production could reach 13 million to 15 million barrels per day by 2020, helping to make North America "the new Middle East."

The last year the U.S. was the world's largest producer was 2002, after the Saudis drastically cut production because of low oil prices in the aftermath of 9/11. Since then, the Saudis and the Russians have been the world leaders.

The United States will still need to import lots of oil in the years ahead. Americans use 18.7 million barrels per day. But thanks to the growth in domestic production and the improving fuel efficiency of the nation's cars and trucks, imports could fall by half by the end of the decade.

The increase in production hasn't translated to cheaper gasoline at the pump, and prices are expected to stay relatively high for the next few years because of growing demand for oil in developing nations and political instability in the Middle East and North Africa.

More at link.

[acptulsa]

We used to import for strategic reasons--we wanted to hold our own oil in reserve, in case we needed it to defend ourselves, and use up everyone else's. Now we have to use our own because we've monkeyed so hard with everyone who has oil, we can't get at the oil fields because of our own minefields...

[Brian4Liberty]

Yippee! We can be like Iran! We can export our oil to make money, and then, well, we won't have any oil here, but we can build nuclear power plants! Oh wait, that's not good either.

[Seraphim]

Overseas oil has the primary objective of fueling the overseas military adventures. Nothing less, nothing more. As the US military is forced to collapse back inward towards mainland USA - the need for overseas oil lines will, with it, also retrace.

[Zippyjuan]

We would have to nearly double our current production before we become self- sufficient.

[Brian4Liberty]

We would have to nearly double our current production before we become self- sufficient.

That's only one variable in the equation. Our consumption could decrease.

[Zippyjuan]

Could happen but we have wrung quite a bit out of the system in terms of making things more efficient and using less. The most dramatic change in consumption occured after the Arab Oil Embargo in the 1970's. There was a serious drop in consumption and also a significant increase in mileage for automobiles (the #1 use for oil- gas was so cheap nobody cared about mileage until then). The US did not top our peak consumption from the 1970's until the last decade (and I am talking total consumption- not just per-capita- our population has grown by 30% since then too). We must also bear in mind that while we are currently the biggest user, we are certainly not the only users. China and India will demand more as they grow.


http://mobjectivist.blogspot.com/200...1_archive.html

What we use one barrel of oil for (total is 44 gallons from 42 gallon barrel due to additives to some products)- we use about 20 million a day:

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/PainA...4353789&page=1

A barrel of oil contains 42 gallons of crude. During the refining process, additives increase the "refined yield" of the barrel. In the end, about 44 gallons of various products are produced from each barrel.

Here is a breakdown of what that oil creates:

22.6 gallons of gasoline — enough to drive 622 miles in the average American car

6.7 gallons of diesel — enough to drive 41.7 miles in a tractor-trailer

5.5 gallons of jet fuel — not enough to fly a fully loaded 747 one mile. You'll get about 0.95 miles

2.4 gallons of "still gas," a mixture of gas produced in refineries


2.2 gallons of "marketable coke," a residue used in the production of aluminum anodes, furnace electrodes and liners and shaped graphite products

1.5 gallons of fuel oil, often used for heating or for fueling locomotives, ships and for power generation systems

1.2 gallons of liquefied gas, which is used in heating appliances and vehicles, and increasingly replacing chlorofluorocarbons as an aerosol propellant and a refrigerant

0.8 gallons of asphalt



0.4 gallons of lubricants, often placed in greases

0.7 gallons of other products

Real items made from the barrel:

4 pounds of charcoal briquettes

12 cylinders of propane

170 wax birthday candles

A quart of motor oil

Petrochemicals used in the productions of all kinds of pharmaceuticals, plastics, cosmetics and foodstuffs.

[Republicanguy]

World's top crude oil producer, are any of you actually oil geologists.

America imports petroleum because Texas is in decline of the cheap stuff for the past forty years. Try reading Richard Heinberg's The Party's over - Oil, war and the Fate of Industrial societies, or Micheal T Klaire's books, his most recent is "The race for what's left" published this year. Radio interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUFyShC0-20

You can alternatively watch some of his interviews, there are a number of them, some years old, a few this year or so. You should even give a watch of the Blood and Oil film. Watch it on youtube.

[Travlyr]

Fear mongering.

World's top crude oil producer, are any of you actually oil geologists.

America imports petroleum because Texas is in decline of the cheap stuff for the past forty years. Try reading Richard Heinberg's The Party's over - Oil, war and the Fate of Industrial societies, or Micheal T Klaire's books, his most recent is "The race for what's left" published this year. Radio interview https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUFyShC0-20

You can alternatively watch some of his interviews, there are a number of them, some years old, a few this year or so. You should even give a watch of the Blood and Oil film. Watch it on youtube.

The Earth has enough energy to supply all the needs of humanity for thousands of years.

The problem is not the amount of energy available; the problem is government interference in the energy industry.

The answer is to get government out of the way.

Art Robinson - Common Sense

For example, American coal, oil, natural gas, and methane clathrate resources are vast. These four forms of hydrocarbon energy are industrially inter-convertible, so we can use the least expensive to produce the more expensive. There are today industrial plants converting coal to oil as the Germans did during World War II, and plants converting natural gas into oil. Methane clathrates (natural gas in special forms of ice in the ocean) are so abundant that they exceed all oil, coal, and natural gas combined. Methods of recovering methane from clathrates are just being developed. Our hydrocarbon natural resources are essentially inexhaustible.

Likewise, our uranium and thorium reserves can fuel our nuclear power industry for thousands of years. Wind, sun, and hydroelectric resources are also extensive. We only need to use those technologies that are most practical and economical – a choice that can best and most wisely be made by free people competing and using their talents and abilities, and certainly not by Washington politicians.

The answer to food, farm, and water shortage is using wise technology. Aquaponics is just one of many promising technologies. Legalize industrial hemp is another.

[TonySutton]

production of crude and other liquid hydrocarbons

They are combining apples and oranges to cause a stir. As of 2011 the US was only producing about 5.6m barrels of crude per day. The other liquid hydrocarbons are propanes, butanes, pentanes and heavier products extracted from the gas flowstream. This is where the increase is occuring. Knowing exactly what these other liquid hydrocarbons are and how they can be used would tell the whole story.