Why there is more oil drilling

Times Article:

"And not just here. Across the country, the oil and gas industry is vastly increasing production, reversing two decades of decline. Using new technology and spurred by rising oil prices since the mid-2000s, the industry is extracting millions of barrels more a week, from the deepest waters of the Gulf of Mexico to the prairies of North Dakota."


"At the same time, Americans are pumping significantly less gasoline. While that is partly a result of the recession and higher gasoline prices, people are also driving fewer miles and replacing older cars with more fuel-efficient vehicles at a greater clip, federal data show."


"How the country made this turnabout is a story of industry-friendly policies started by President Bush and largely continued by President Obama — many over the objections of environmental advocates — as well as technological advances that have allowed the extraction of oil and gas once considered too difficult and too expensive to reach. But mainly it is a story of the complex economics of energy, which sometimes seems to operate by its own rules of supply and demand."


The higher the price of oil, and the more stable that price is, the more technology and investments will go find that oil that was either abandoned or perceived too expensive to recover.


ChrisZ

Peak oil or Peak Economy

After reviewing the statistics on oil reserves and prices, I want to put forth the the following observation:

If US oil production peaked in the 70's, that probably meant that our control over oil ended shortly after that - probably after the fall of the Shah of Iran.  With the loss of control over the price of oil, came the world economic competition we find ourselves in now.  Thus the US "Golden Age" might have passed with this event.

"But we are not out of oil - what about all the oil that is still in the ground?"  There is more oil in the ground, and technology will allow us to recover more and more of that - the question is at what price.  With many other countries having greater known reserves of conventional oil, it is hard to justify spending the money to drill or extract our own oil, unless there was a strategic reason like a world war or embargo (this is the reason for the Strategic Oil Reserve).

Right now energy costs are taking a greater toll of the middle class budget.  Energy cost affect everything from food, to transportation to wages.  The upper class has seen wages and other income climb faster than energy costs so they have not been as affected.  So you can add energy costs to the problems today, along with the decline in unions, technology changes and international competition.  All are related and inseparable.

We will of course attain a sense of balance.  That balance will be a new reality of what makes someone prosperous and economically comfortable.   The struggle will be between forces trying to decide if this balance is natural or has to be legislated.

ChrisZ

The lost art of communication

As technology gives us more ways to talk to each other, I wonder if it is having just the opposite. Instant messaging, e-mails, texting, Facebook - maybe the only technology that actually enhances communication is face to face conversation like Skype and Facetime.

Consider the other forms of communication - words with no sound, no meaning, no inflection.  No reading of the other person's facial expression or body language. How much misinterpretation comes from reading an e-mail and assuming you understand the person's intentions.

As we text and twitter, we are in such a hurry to get our message out, that we don't spend the time to choose the correct words, or write in complete sentences so that we can properly communicate.

How are you using the new tools to communicate?  Are they having the intended effect?