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ANWR

Discussion in 'Sports and News' started by Smallpotatoes, Jun 27, 2008.

  1. Smallpotatoes

    Smallpotatoes Well-Known Member

    Many people think that drilling in ANWR is a way to increase our supply of oil and eventually lower the prices.
    A few weeks ago on CNN, somebody pointed out that it would take 10 years for the oil from ANWR to get to the consumers and that there's only enough oil up their to get through two years or so.
    That hardly seems like it's worth the effort to me.
    Is what that guy said on CNN true? If it is, why is it still worth drilling at ANWR?
     
  2. DisembodiedOwlHead

    DisembodiedOwlHead Active Member

    Innovate, or die.
     
  3. old_tony

    old_tony Well-Known Member

    The left's argument that it would take 10 years for the oil to get to consumers means that it would have been in consumers' tanks already had Clinton not vetoed ANWR drilling in 1995. How much is there is a matter up for debate. All I know is we would be better off with it than without it.
     
  4. deskslave

    deskslave Active Member

    How, exactly, do you KNOW that?
     
  5. In Exile

    In Exile Member

    One of the big problems with ANWR oil is that scientists belive apparently, it is not very high quaility, as in the light sweet crude the oil companies prefer to turn into gasoline. Drill ANWR, and you'll get a lot of oil but comparatively little gasoline.

    From the Energy Information Administration, a government site:

    ANWR Production Uncertainties

    There is much uncertainty regarding the impact of opening ANWR on U.S. oil production and imports, due to several factors:

    * The size of the underlying resource base. There is little direct knowledge regarding the petroleum geology of the ANWR region. The USGS oil resource estimates are based largely on the oil productivity of geologic formations that exist in the neighboring State lands and which continue into ANWR. Consequently, there is considerable uncertainty regarding both the size and quality of the oil resources that exist in ANWR. Thus, the potential ultimate oil recovery and potential yearly production are highly uncertain. [poster note: some adjacent fields have already been assessed and are generally useless, some are poor, some are okay. It's a crap shoot.]

    * Oil field sizes. The size of the oil fields found in ANWR is one factor that will determine the rate at which ANWR oil resources are developed and produced. If the reservoirs are larger than expected, then production would be greater in the 2018 through 2025 timeframe. Similarly, if the reservoirs are smaller than expected, then production would be less.

    * The quality of the oil and the characteristics of the oil reservoirs. Oil field production rates are also determined by the quality of oil found, e.g., viscosity and paraffin content, and the field’s reservoir characteristics, i.e., its depth, permeability, faulting, and water saturation. This analysis assumes oil quality and reservoir characteristics similar to those associated with the Prudhoe Bay field. If, for example, the oil discovered in ANWR has a considerably higher viscosity than the Prudhoe Bay field oil, e.g., over 10,000 centipoise, then oil production rates would be lower than projected in this analysis.
     
  6. TheSportsPredictor

    TheSportsPredictor Well-Known Member

    It is true.
     
  7. zagoshe

    zagoshe Well-Known Member

    Fixed.
     
  8. Dickens Cider

    Dickens Cider New Member

    Are you sure?
     
  9. Simon_Cowbell

    Simon_Cowbell Active Member

    Not at the price of destroying one of the truly must-sees of any lifetime.

    Honestly.... fucking puhhhhlease.
     
  10. Armchair_QB

    Armchair_QB Well-Known Member

    An area smaller than DFW airport in an area the size of New Jersey.
     
  11. jgmacg

    jgmacg Guest

    Or we could reduce consumption by 5% - just by cutting out waste and inefficiency - and never have to drill ANWR at all. But that would be hard, and thus unAmerican.
     
  12. Batman

    Batman Well-Known Member

    Not to sound like an asshole (or maybe I am), but how many people actually trek up there to see it? It ain't exactly Yellowstone in terms of accessibility or comfort.
    One of the best moments of this whole debate came a few years ago during one of the Senate hearings. The environmentalists broke out the pictures of ANWR in spring, with polar bears frolicking and some tundra plants blooming. Ted Stevens, senator from Alaska, countered with a picture of the bleak ANWR tundra in winter.
     
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