Results tagged “domestic access”

As we approach the end of year, it's time to take stock of 2009 and pause long enough in our holiday preparations to look forward to 2010. While none of us can predict the future--my snow globe doesn't double as a crystal ball--there are three organizations that have made projections of oil demand in the coming year.

• The Energy Information Administration (EIA), a division of the U.S. Department of Energy, projects that oil demand will rise by 1.1 million barrels a day in 2010. 
• The Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) similarly predicts that demand will increase 0.8 million barrels a day. 
• The International Energy Agency (IEA) has stated that world oil demand will rise by 1.5 million barrels a day to a total of 86.3 million barrels a day.

As I've discussed on this blog, I recently traveled with a group of bloggers to visit man-made islands where drilling for oil and natural gas occurs in coastal waters--the THUMS Islands in Long Beach, CA.

In this episode, Jane Van Ryan interviews the Heritage Foundation's Ben Lieberman, senior policy analyst on energy and the environment, on his recent paper, "Five Things Congress and the President Are Doing to Bring Back Sky-High Gas Prices."

This week's episode focuses on a recent tour of the THUMS Islands, a group of four manmade islands in California's Long Beach Harbor, where oil and natural gas are produced. The episode also features sound bites from Frank Komin, president of Occidental Petroleum, and Charlie Plant, production manager of White Island.

Thank you to my friend and fellow blogger James for allowing us to feature his commentary here. This was originally posted at his own blog, Observations.

Our government still has not figured out what to do about the dependence on foreign oil that everybody agrees is an unacceptable situation.

One year ago, the 30-year old ban on offshore drilling along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts expired, opening the opportunity for the United States to drill for more of its own oil and natural gas. What has happened since then to make America more energy self-sufficient?

Architect Joesph Linesch (1924-1996) had a vision for Long Beach, California--to become the Riviera of the West, a nearly fantasy-like harbor rivaling the buildings and landscapes he designed for Disneyland and Epcot Center. Between 1965 and 1968, he created structures and landscaping that make the oil production facilities here look like a high-end condominium complex.

Thursday was another gorgeous day in Long Beach, with blue skies and a pleasant breeze blowing along the harbor. At Lighthouse Point, children picnicked with their families while fishermen on a nearby pier caught croakers for supper. At the docks, you could hear seals barking at the Aquarium of the Pacific as tourists returned to shore on boats offering whale watching tours.

Long Beach has many attributes, among them a moderate climate, one of the busiest seaports in the United States and facilities that lure tourists to the area, including a massive convention center. But most residents here aren't aware of the hidden resources that have contributed so much to the City of Long Beach.

"A lot of residents don't know there is oil and natural gas development going on here," explained Curtis Henderson, the city's manager of oil operations.

No one likes to watch sausage being made, but most of us enjoy sausage. That seems to be the case with oil and natural gas, too. The vast majority of Americans enjoy the benefits afforded by these energy-rich fuels, but some Americans would prefer not to see how they are produced.

The City of Long Beach successfully addressed the "sausage-making issue" back in the 1960s when it passed a resolution allowing several oil companies to produce energy in its harbor. It said the companies could create man-made islands to drill for oil and natural gas in the coastal waters, but in return the companies had to disguise their activities. The companies agreed, and the THUMS Islands were born.

Today is your last chance to write to the government to support the Five-Year offshore drilling plan. At the close of business today, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) will end the public comment period, tally the emails and letters, write a report on its findings, and help the Secretary of the Interior decide whether to implement the government's offshore drilling plan.

The Committee on Natural Resources in the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing today on a proposal called the Consolidated Land, Energy and Aquatic Resources Act of 2009. While it's often referred to as an energy bill, it's actually an Un-Energy bill.

If passed, this bill would consolidate the leasing functions of the Minerals Management Service (MMS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) into a single office at the Interior Department. At present, the MMS manages the leasing of offshore land for energy development, and the BLM manages a similar process for onshore leasing.

Back in February, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that he was extending the public comment period for the Draft Proposed Program on Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) energy development. The comment period ends right around the corner--September 21, 2009--and at this time the Minerals Management Service (MMS) will analyze comments and make recommendations.

A new PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) study released today found that the U.S. oil and natural gas industry supports more than 9 million American jobs and makes significant economic contributions as an employer and purchaser of American goods and services.

The study--"The Economic Impacts of the Oil and Natural Gas Industry on the U.S. Economy: Employment, Labor Income and Value Added"--notes that the industry's total value-added economic contribution in 2007 was more than $1 trillion, or 7.5 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product.

In the heat of the gubernatorial campaign in Virginia, the Commonwealth's Speaker of the House is pushing the federal government to open the coastline to oil and natural gas development. Speaker William Howell has sent a letter to the Obama administration urging the leasing of 2.9 million acres of the Outer Continental Shelf along Virginia's coast by 2011.

By today's estimates, there are about two trillion barrels of recoverable conventional oil resources worldwide, and as much as twice that in additional frontier resources like extra-heavy oil, oil sands, and oil shale and shale gas. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) conservatively estimates oil shale formations in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming contain 800 billion barrels of recoverable oil--more than three times the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia. 

Yesterday, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) suspended the sale of all 31 oil and natural gas drilling tracts in Utah that had been purchased earlier in the day during a regularly scheduled lease sale, after the bureau accepted last-minute protests about the sale from two environmental groups. BLM has put all the leases on hold to conduct an environmental assessment.

Yesterday's Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial, "Energy: Drill, Baby" discussed the nation's current and potential energy reserves and stressed the importance of increased access to oil and natural gas:

"...The country needs a broad spectrum of reliable and abundant energy sources. But fossil fuels will continue to make up a major part of the equation for years, if not decades. Start drilling--now."

Today, the American Petroleum Institute (API) and labor unions announced the historic creation of the Oil and Natural Gas Industry Labor-Management Committee, which will work to preserve and create jobs by promoting domestic oil and natural gas production. Currently, the industry employs more than 1.8 million American workers and supports another 4 million workers.

Gasoline prices have risen to an average of $2.67 a gallon, the highest price in the past eight months. API's Chief Economist John Felmy and Statistics Manager Ron Planting attribute the price rise largely to what they call "market fundamentals"--the basic law of supply and demand.

A new public opinion poll indicates that Americans living in mid-Atlantic coastal areas support offshore drilling. In the survey conducted in April, Monmouth University researchers found 46 percent of coastal residents from Virginia to New York favor offshore energy exploration; 37 percent were opposed and 12 percent offered no opinion.