Right; So, There's Oil...

And we're about to talk about it.

First, let me say off the bat that this is an opinion piece; this doesn't come from a particular news story, but rather from an opinion based on lots and lots of research consisting of my reading the news - particularly about oil - for years now, looking for some element to cling to as "the right course." Also, there might be a mini-rant; brace yourselves.

So, without further ado:

Initially, I had thought - as many of you no doubt do - that our dependence on foreign oil must be reduced, by pushing domestic oil production.

I no longer think that way. You see, I am learning to think to the next level; I'm not, perhaps, the smartest guy on the block, but ideas do sink in if you pound them against my rock-like skull long enough. This idea is a national security issue, and as such near and dear to my heart.

Right.

Has anyone noticed that Sweden and Norway pay like $9/gallon for gasoline at the pump?

Anyone wonder why the price of oil is so very, very high for them, while we're comfortably bitching about $3?

I will explain. Most of the oil produced in the world comes from nations in the Middle East and South America, commonly known as "OPEC," for Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. Around 41.6% of the world's petroleum production comes from those nations - Algeria, Angola, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, and Ecuador - and they thus have a large effect on the global price of oil, currently around $100 a barrel.

To give you an idea, for contrast, the entire 30-nation membership of the OECD - including the USA - produces only 23.8% of global production, while the former Soviet republics produce about 14.8%.

So, OPEC carries big weight. It also hates the USA, pretty much; with the exception of Kuwait, ALL of those countries have engaged in frequent, vehement anti-America rhetoric, as well as threatening actions of various kinds, including embargoes.

Right, well, this is a perfect reason we should try to minimize our dependence on them for oil, right? EXACTLY; but this DOES NOT MEAN we should stop buying from them.

Wait for it, I'll get there.

In the USA, we have several sources of potential - as in as-yet untapped - oil production, largest among them being the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and the Green River shale formation. Drilling in ANWR, in particular, has been a political hot potato for years; innumerable bills have gotten torpedoed in House-Senate reconciliations by filibusters and other such tactics due to ANWR drilling being attached as a rider.

But, we're paying too much at the pump, so, it's back in the news again; we should clearly open it up for drilling, so that we can reduce our dependence on the crazies in the Middle East, right?

Not so fast, slick.

What we ought to do is put the infrastructure and facilities to DO the drilling in place, and leave them there. Pipelines, the whole shebang. Just leave them.

See, OPEC nations' economies depend in toto on their sales of millions and millions of barrels of oil a year to countries like us; our economy depends in toto upon a steady, reliable flow of oil to our power plants, manufacturers, transportation companies, and - most obvious and in public awareness - the gas stations.

But there's a catch; since we have so little domestic oil production, anymore, OPEC has us - so to speak - over a barrel, in terms of price. They can raise prices to give themselves huge profits, and we just have to TAKE it. This is why our prices are lower than those in Sweden, Norway, Switzerland... Because they have NO native petroleum reserves, at all. No production capacity; no reserves; nothing. If they DON'T pay OPEC's inflated prices, OPEC can simply turn off the faucet that keeps their economies alive, and *poof* instant economic collapse for those nations.

Our price is much lower because we DO have domestic oil reserves, and we DO have native production capacity; OPEC can't squeeze us nearly as hard, because if they do, we simply lower our purchases, and increase production, and *poof* instant economic distress for OPEC.

So, here's the thing; as long as we DO have petroleum reserves, and production capacity, no-one has a loaded gun to the head of our economy; they can't blackmail us into compliance with the threat of financial catastrophe, they can't - for example - stop our military cold by turning off the gas pumps; nothing.

And the sooner we use up our domestic reserves, the sooner they DO; they CAN, and they CAN.

So, what's the solution? I think the solution is to reverse the intended - and attempted, in the 70's - blackmail. The reserves at ANWR alone would supply the USA's needs - using that as our sole source of oil - for between 8 months and 1.4 years. Green River brings that up to 2 years. Anyone want to place bets on how long OPEC would take to cave? Their economies could NEVER survive 2 years without their single largest customer; they would be in utter, total economic collapse in months. Maybe weeks, due to the panic factor on behalf of their banking community.

So, we get the USGS - the geologists - to find all the oil they can in our country. Identify it. Build facilities; drill for it until we tap in; then shut those facilities down and lock 'em up.

At that point, we are no longer at their mercy. We can set global prices, at least to a degree, simply by virtue of the fact that we can tell them "we're prepared to go into full production at need; all it will take is a single PHONE CALL from this negotiating table. The price comes down. $100/barrel is not acceptable; try again."

But this only works while we can actually do what we claim.

As such, I think we should reverse most people's position completely; we should immediately, and essentially for good, shut down all domestic oil production completely, retaining the facilities, but not draining the reserves any more, and convert to take ALL our supplies from abroad.

This also has the added benefit of letting us, in later years - once we've converted to alternate energy sources, during our time riding on OPEC oil - pull the same trick on the rest of the world as OPEC has on us, because sooner or later, everyone else will run out - and we'll still have ours. Those untold billions of dollars pouring in from desperate nations sound nice, if a little "evil genius," don't they?

Now, that said, I do have a couple of issues.

In 2005, Exxon-Mobil posted a net profit of $46 billion, U.S. That's net; people screeched when they found out how much it was, but that's AFTER-TAX dollars, folks. EM paid $30 billion in taxes in '05; that is more than the aggregate total paid into the public coffers by the bottom 50% of American wage earners combined - in other words, that one single company paid for more crap in this country than 165, 000, 000 of us all together.

So quit bitching, seriously. It makes you look either retarded - if you didn't think of that - or communist, if you did.

The More You Know.

That said, however:
HEY EXXON!! WANNA TELL ME WHY YOU STILL HAVEN'T PAID PUNITIVE DAMAGES FOR THE FUCKING VALDEZ YET? IT WAS 19 GODDAMN YEARS AGO, YOU FUCKIN' CLOWNS! DID THE THOUGHT OF LIGHTING CIGARS WITH FIFTIES, RATHER THAN HUNDREDS, GIVE YOU NIGHTMARES? PAY THEM OFF, YOU RAMPAGING COCK-MONKEYS, AND HIRE SOBER BOAT CAPTAINS!

Cockbites.