Sunday, February 27, 2011

First Draft

        For decades amongst decades, politically the talk about oil and energy independence has been a significant topic for Americans, and a very heartfelt one at that. A lot of people in the U.S. find themselves asking this one particular question, "Why don't we take advantage of the oil resources we have in America and exclude ourselves from this middle east reliance, which will presumably hurt us with outrageously high prices of gas". It is a very good question but it generally is an uneducated one. Our society has obtained such an intolerance for patience, it has evolved to an "act now" attitude and we exclude ourselves from researching the facts and it causes us to end up making irrational decisions. So we leave out the pieces in which this controversy is created by, including: OPEC, volatility of oil, and the cost of retrieving domestic oil. When you finally have conception of these three topics it proposes that domestic oil might not be the best solution to obtain energy independence, but to look towards bio-fuels and better fuel economy. 

          OPEC is an acronym for Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is a coalition of 12 countries, which coordinates and unifies the petroleum policies of its Member Countries and ensures the stabilization of oil markets in order to benefit the supplier and consumer somewhat equally. It is control of 75% of the world's oil. Embargo: is the partial or complete prohibition of commerce and trade with a particular country, in order to isolate it, which in this case would be oil.

        When the first automotive vehicle was built in the early 20th century it had a great impact on mankind. It was an innovative and much quicker way of traveling but it did only give us these life changing accomodations but it caused petroleum to become the most eminent resource of resources. With time petroleum's importance and demand proliferated. Seemingly through history man is never able to control mediation their interests are fueled by envy of power and wealth. Thats why today fuel suppliers are more concerned about their profits other then the consumer's needs. This has driven this commodity to be corrupt and caused fuel wars. Beginning in the early stages of the oil market countrie's were in dispute constantly with their prices of fuel. One would lower the price so it would be more marketable then it's competitor would lower their price where virtually neither one would be making money. Subsequently in the 1960's Venezuela and Saudi Arabia came together and basically said "Whether then continually making little profit and being arch enemies, why dont we come together, form an organization so we can increase our prices of crude oil and create a stabilized market. This was the birth of OPEC which now controls 75% of the worlds oil and is a big reason for our high prices oil.

           Many people in America, mostly those who are both conservative and republican feel that the United States needs to take advantage of our domestic oil resources, including formations such as ANWR and Bakken in South Dakota and cut ties from the middle east. With global conflict and middle east corruption arise this idea makes a lot of sense. If we could export and utilize our own oil it seems our energy security would be much stronger and it would stimulate the economy. But they're are a few major bumps in which that path leads. A lot of our oil isn't as accessible as the oil in the middle east or the gulf coast. It is located much deeper and even though drilling technology is very advanced, retrieving this oil is so expensive it becomes unprofitable. In order for American Oil Companies to make even a measly profit they  would have to charge around $5 a gallon, which is obviously to high in today's market. In addition to the high cost to create output we have OPEC

        In an article titled "International Oil Security: Problems and Policies", from the website Resources For the Future, Michael A Toman states that In 2000, the United States imported almost 60% of its total petroleum consumption, though imports from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) were only about one-quarter of consumption (45% of total U.S. imports). So this shows almost 50% of our oil is imported from foreign countries which the U.S. goes through 7 billion barrels of oil a year. That is a good portion of fuel coming from unstable countries. But what is demoralizing is even if America could export oil and make a reasonable profit, OPEC is such a dominant force in the world market, being that it controls 75% of the world's oil they're capable of lowering their price of gas under ours. This would presumably cause a large shock in the world's oil market and possibly cause embargo, because countries wouldn't be making as much money as they want to, so they just restrict their output, creating a bigger problem.

         This is where we ask ourselves "Does domestic oil sound very appealing anymore or should we be innovators and alternatively resolve our high prices of energy by better fuel economy and bio fuels?" We should probably chose better fuel economy and bio fuels and stop looking at this solution as it being only liberal powered movement but the right solution. In a blog called "Gas Prices and Smart Policies" dicusses credible propositions that would substantially lower gas prices for us in a different manner. Their sourcesThe National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), show statistics for what the requirements will be in 2025 including emissions and fuel economy for American vehicles, which if automotive companies increase their efficiency jsut 3% each year, in 2025 every single car will be getting 42 mpg needless to say what will cars like diesel jetta's be getting miles per gallon if they are already getting 50. In an article "Proposal Pending on Mileage for Heavy-Duty Vehicles" by Mathew L. Wald proves that our government is already tightening down on mileage standards for all small vehicles, but it is now preparing to make heavy duty vehicles much more efficient.

          These are they types of steps we need to be taking towards energy independence. They might be part of a very minute movement but they are afforable and with time they become incredibly efficient. And while steps like these are progressing our countries drilling technology will be advancing, so amidst the fuel economy we will be able to drill very cheap oil.

Blog on research

 Doing research on energy independence has really broadened my knowledge in general because it has made me delve into things including oil markets, energy, and the world economy. Prior to this paper I really didn’t have any conception of the entities I stated above, along with always hearing people talk about OPEC and why gas prices were going up because of this organization. So before recent research I had never gotten into stocks and commodities as far as how they work and who controls them, so hearing about this organization having this unprecedented power was kind of perplexing.  But through research I feel I have a much better grasp on things that concern oil markets and energy. OPEC which is an acronym for Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is essentially a coalition of 12 countries, which coordinates and unifies the petroleum policies of its Member Countries and ensures the stabilization of oil markets in order to benefit the supplier and consumer somewhat equally.  This is why OPEC has such a great power because they control a vast majority of the world's oil and are able to provide somewhat stable prices when global conflicts arise, much more successfully than a macroeconomic economy. Ends up being an efficient and regular supply of petroleum to consuming nations, and a fair return on their capital to those investing in the petroleum industry. Another thing I didn’t know is that OPEC was instituted by Dwight Eisenhower in 1960 to provide security and access to our oil during war regarding Mexico and Canada interests as well.  


The deeper I got into my research and obtained conception of OPEC and the world market for oil, I eventually came to the decision that utilizing domestic oil might not be the best alternative for cheap gas prices. Domestic Oil that is being drilled in America currently is unprofitable. Our technology isnt advanced enough for certain deep oil wells, so price of retrieving it is too expensive in order to make even a measly profit. We would  be charging much more then 4 dollars to break even, which is obviously way to high in today’s market. And with the dominance of OPEC even if we could drill for cheaper, they are such a large operation they could lower their prices where it wouldn’t worth it for American Oil companies. This is why I have found we should turn to bio fuels and better fuel economy in current vehicles and stop looking at it as a liberal movement but as a great solution. I learned from a blog called "Gas Prices and Smart Policies" that their are actually requirements for automotive companies and fuel economy for vehicles in the future are projected to be much more efficient.sThe National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), showed statistics for what the requirements will be in 2025 including emissions and fuel economy for American vehicles, which if automotive companies increase their efficiency jsut 3% each year, in 2025 every single car will be getting 42 mpg. These are the types of steps we need to be taking towards the future. Cost effective movements

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Summary of Energy Independence

       For decades amongst decades, politically the talk about oil and energy independence has been a significant topic for Americans, and a very heartfelt one at that. A lot of people in the U.S. find themselves asking this one particular question, "Why don't we take advantage of the oil resources we have in America and exclude ourselves from this middle east reliance, which will presumably hurt us with outrageously high prices of gas". It is a very good question but it generally is an uneducated one. Our society has obtain such an intolerance for patience, it has evolved to an "act now" attitude and we exclude ourselves from researching the facts and we end up making an irrational decision. So we leave out the pieces in which this controversy is created by, including: OPEC, volatility of oil, and the cost of retrieving domestic oil. In an article I read titled "International Oil Security: Problems and Policies" the Author Michael Toman talks statistics and shows that 60% of the United States oil is imported and 45% of it comes from OPEC." Many Americans have of OPEC but really don't have a solid understanding. OPEC is essentially a collusion of several countries, which coordinates and unifies the petroleum policies of its Member Countries and ensures the stabilization of oil markets  in order to benefit the supplier and consumer somewhat equally. Before OPEC, countries would duke it out with fuel prices. They would continually lower their price until they were almost making zilch profit, so finally  they were like "Hey, enough is enough, lets cometogether". This is why OPEC has such a great power because they control the majority of the world's oil and are able to sustain a relatively low price compareably to an indvidual market. Another problem with energy independence is the cost retrieving of domestic oil. Let's say america had an unlimited amount of oil it wouldnt have any value becasue right now we're seeing in ANWR and the Bakken formation, that for these deep wells of oil our technology isnt advanced enough yet for domestic oil to be profitable. Primarily for the U.S. to make any money on it our prices would have to be around $4.50. A price which is obviously to high for today's market and even if we could sale for a much more reasonable price, OPEC has such a dominance in the oil market that they will just lower their price and push us away from production. So a lot people think that if we just rigorously drilled our oil reserves it would create cheaper gas prices, but they don't take the other components into consideration, they just toil. So the question is if we cant do that then what do we do. We definitely need to pursue fuel economy and alternative fuels and not at it as a transcendental or liberal movement, but for the best of interests for our country and our financial needs. Really try to be an innovator in the sense of utilizing bio fuels, hybrid vehichles, but also making vehicles in general more economic. In a blog called "Gas Prices and Smart Policies" dicusses credible propositions that would substantially lower gas prices for us in a different manner. Their sourcesThe National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), show statistics for what the requirements will be in 2025 including emissions and fuel economy for American vehicles, which if automotive companies increase their efficiency jsut 3% each year, in 2025 every single car will be getting 42 mpg. These are the types of steps we need to be taking towards the future.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Thesis Statement

         Amidst the global conflict and the dominance of OPEC, energy alternatives and oil seem to  be a problem for everyone. So much of our world is powered by greed anymore, which never use to be a bad thing because self interest and motivation fuels capitalism but we have now reached the extent where it is corrupting the entire world. These corruptions all tie into oil, seemingly the most powerful and precious resource of our time and unfortunately these resources lie in the heart of the middle east and the instability of these countries eventually affects our welfare tremendously. So we find ourselves trying to resolve these high gas prices by becoming energy independent and people have a lot of different ideas about it. Some believe we should delve deep into drilling oil out of ANWAR and the Bakken formation others feel we should seek efficient fuel economy systems such as; biofuels and hybrid.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

8 Sources cited and precis

  • In his article "Proposal Pending on Mileage for Heavy-Duty Vehicles", (2010) Matthew L. Wald asserts that in the past 3 decades our Federal government has tightened mileage standards for all small vehicles, but it is now preparing to make heavy duty vehicles much more efficient. Matthew L. Wald supports his article by including studies done by Scientist's on fuel consumption and emissions, along with Obama's Administration aggressive interests o make a proposal by the end of this week. His purpose is to inform readers about our Government's valiant efforts to make heavy duty vehicles more efficient, in order to show American's it is in the Governments best of interest to cut down our countries fuel consumption and gas emissions. His tone is serious and informative, targeting an audience of people that in an industry that use heavy duty vehicles ad people who are concerned of consumption and high gas prices.
Citation:  Wald, Matthew L. "Proposal Pending on Mileage for Heavy-Duty Vehicles." www.nytimes.com. N.p., 29 Sept. 2010. Web. 19 Jan. 2011.

  •      In the blog "Gas Prices and Smart Policies", (2011) Energy Independence Now asserts that with the price of oil going up this week it goes to show how susceptible the United States really is to the instability of corrupt foreign countries that import our oil and how greatly affects our wallet, therefore we need to be innovators and start a new trend: hybrid, bio fuel transportation. The site supports its claims by using credible sources such as; The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), showing statistics what the requirements will be in 2025 including emissions and fuel economy for American vehicles, which if automotive companies increase their efficiency jsut 3% each year, in 2025 every single car will be getting 42 mpg. Their purpose is to show that even if gas goes up 5 dollars a gallon we won't fret because our cars will be so efficient it will be compareable to $2.50 a gallon in order to cause fellow americans to think about other things then ANWAR but to be supportive of hybrid and biofuel cars because thats what the future foreholds. The tone of the blog is passionate and is directed towards anyone who is willing to think of ways to be energy independent rather then onshore drilling.
  • Citation:Energy Indepedence Now. "Gas Prices and Smart Policy." www.einnow.org. N.p., 17 Feb. 2011. Web. 18 Feb. 2011. <http://www.einow.org/index.php?option=com_wordpress&p=357&Itemid=5>.


  • In the article "Improved Horizontal Well Stimulation in The Bakken Formation", (2004) Charles Wiley and Bob Barree et al assert that certain basins in the formation have been rejuvenated through an improvement with horizontal drilling versus hydraulic drilling, which horizontal has been in evolving in the past years but has now finally reached optimum productivity. They support their claims through describing the dimensions of various basins, along with the basin's density's and the amount of hydrocarbon they bear. Their purpose is to give researchers and people who are interested in this specific topic an in depth analysis of each basin in order to provide specifics of what is acutally going scientifically versus just stating how many barrels each basin could produce. The Authors' tone's are serious and very informational.

Citation: Wiley, Charles , Bob Barree, Eberhard Mike , and Tom Lantz."Improved Horizontal Well Stimulation in The Bakken Formation." Google Scholar. Society of Petroleum Engineers, 2004. Web. 11 Feb. 2011. <http://www.onepetro.org/mslib/app/Preview.do?paperNumber=00090697&societyCode=SPE>.

  •        In his article "International Oil Security: Problems and Policies", (2002) Michael A. Toman asserts that energy independence for the United States considering oil might not be perhaps the best solution to lower our high gas prices and potentially higher ones. He supports his claims through a great knowledge of understanding how the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries operates and past history of the United States trying this independent method use of energy subsequently raising prices even higher. His purpose is to make his reader's understand how OPEC uses supply and demand to its favor and that Oil companies in America are all about the money not the interests of Americans, in order to show that we need to pursue other options such as fuel economy because energy independence will just lead to extremely high gas prices. Toman uses a serious tone and directs his article to anyone that pays for their own gas or is quizzical why we don't use our own oil.

    • Quotes:
       "Since the release of the administration's energy policy plan, the terrorist attacks, and heightened international tensions in the Middle East and elsewhere during the fall of 2001, rarely has a week gone by without a statement in the press by some pundit for increased energy security – and even "energy independence" or freedom from imported oil."

      "World oil prices rose from about $10/barrel in 1998 to over $30/barrel in late 2000, though they have since eroded to below $20/barrel. In 2000, the United States imported almost 60% of its total petroleum consumption, though imports from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) were only about one-quarter of consumption (45% of total U.S. imports)."

      "If one wants to accelerate the pace of energy diversification, then what is needed are more public expenditure on a much more concerted effort to overcome technical hurdles and a change in the current economic condition of energy markets wherein low fossil fuel prices make advanced technology development and diffusion unprofitable."

      "Even if we could magically and costlessly raise domestic output tomorrow to eliminate our imports, a shock in world oil markets would still affect domestic prices and threaten macroeconomic distress. This is because U.S. petroleum suppliers would charge the same price as other suppliers charge internationally."
       

      Citation:
       Toman, Michael A. "International Oil Security: Problems and Policies." www.rff.org. Resources For The Future, Jan. 2002. Web. 15 Feb. 2011. <http://www.rff.org/Search/Results.aspx?k=michael%20a%20toman>.
       
  •         In his article "Journey to Energy Independence", (        ) Steven Chu asserts that the most effective way to reduce our dependency on foreign oil is to simply use less of it and seek potential bio fuels in the meantime. He supports his claims statistically through showing how many barrels of oil Americans use daily and what percentages with personal or commercial use. His purpose is to tell Americans that oil will not be obsolete for a long time to come but we need to continue to research and study different types of bio fuels and methods of energy in order to create energy security for use and stop depending on foreign countries. His tone is serioua and his article is primarily directed towards anyone because in general any business is affected by the ebb and flow prices of oil.                      

Citation:
 Chu, Steven . "Journey to Energy Independence." www.americanenergyindependence.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Feb. 2011.

    Monday, February 14, 2011

    Precis on Video

              In her video “The Political Chemistry of Oil”, (2010) Lisa Margonelli first asserts the importance of oil’s actual chemistry and later on links it to the political chemistry of oil and states how important the molecules of oil are relatively to the economics of it. She supports her claims through great research and physically being a apart of the topic, traveling all over the World to get to the bottom of this problematic issue. Her purpose is to make Americans aware of the fact that the rising prices of fuel isn’t all linked to the feeder and OPEC but to the actual molecules of oil in order to make Americans willingly reduce their usage of oil because in the end it will cost them more. Her tone is serious but with a burning passion about her topic.


    Link: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/lisa_margonelli_the_political_chemistry_of_oil.html

    Citation:
    Margonelli, Lisa. "The Political Chemistry of Oil." Ted.com. Ted.com, Aug. 2010. Web. 9 Feb. 2011.

    Tuesday, February 8, 2011

    Here are some questions that I think will be prudent to completely understand my topic and create a good argument.

    1. How certain is it that there are actually 530 Billions barrels of oil in the formation?

    2. What is OPEC?

    3. What is stopping us from becoming independent from world oil and producing our own?

    4. When was the formation found?

    5. How much power would the United States gain from having this vast amount of oil?

    6. Would it create problems globally?

    7. Is this project stimulating the economy?

    8. How big are the cities that are being built around the formation?

    9. How many barrels could be produced daily?

    10. Who is running the operation?

    11. Is OPEC funding envirormentalist to keep our country from onshore drilling in order to make more money?

    12. How many years could this formation supply the United States with oil?

    13. How many jobs has this formation created?

    14. Is this formation larger than ANWAR?

    15. How many drilling sites are their?