The Oil Drum takes a close look at the Bakken Formation.
The Bakken Formation, in Montana and North Dakota, is supposed to be the answer to our prayers: a great new domestic source of oil. Horizontal well technology has resulted in increases to production for wells in the region. There are estimates of billions of barrels of oil there. But it’s hard to get, and according to The Oil Drum, it may only provide a small bit of relief to our thirst for oil.
If we could actually produce 3.6 billion barrels of undiscovered oil forecast at the P50 level by USGS, how much would this equate to? The US uses about 7.6 billion barrels of oil products a year, according to EIA data. This is equivalent to just under six month’s US oil use, spread over a very long period, probably 20 years or more. If total production amounts to only 500 million barrels, as I have suggested, this would equate to about 23 days worth of United States oil usage, spread over many, many years.
Being fed up myself with what is happening around me in my world, the world, I came across a book (Where Did All The Leaders Go?) It’s by Lee Iacocca and it sounded very interesting. Here are some excerpts:
Lee Iacocca says:
“Am I the only guy in this country who’s fed up with what’s happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder. We’ve got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we’ve got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can’t even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car.
I hardly recognize this country anymore. The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we’re fiddling in Iraq, the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving ‘pompoms’ instead of asking hard questions. That’s not the promise of the “America” my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for. I’ve had enough.
Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It’s easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else’s kids off to war when you’ve never seen a battlefield yourself. It’s another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.
So here’s where we stand. We’re immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We’re running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We’re losing the manufacturing edge to Asia, while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way. These are times that cry out for leadership.
But when you look around, you’ve got to ask: “Where have all the leaders gone?” Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense?
Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?
Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debit, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.
I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn’t elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity.
I’ll let you know how it is.
Sensing everyones outrage with our leadership, I’m sending a link to sequel 2 “The Empire Strikes Barack”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8lvc-azCXY
Hoping this brings laughter and enlightenment to all, I’m off to sew up my hemp clothing (JOKE!! please no troopers tonight)
Sorry what I really mean is I’m off to read Britain’s Glorious Revolution of 1688, ending with the French Revolution of 1789.