Even if they started "exploring" tomorrow, it would take anywhere from 3-5 YEARS for that to affect prices.

And even if this is something that does provide a solution for a few decades, what about after that? And what about the other ramifications this causes?

Considering you have told us on more than one occasion that you are in the oil industry, that doesn't exactly make you an unbiased person.... how much was it Exxon made in profits last year? 92-Billionish?

I agree with you Texas*Princess.
And as I posted, add on at least 10-20 years for equipment and tools needed to work on, work with, and distribute product.

So this week I drove to California from AZ and I was completely shocked :eek:at the prices of gas just crossing the state line. AZ $4.07 CA $4.69. I even think i saw one place in CA with gas was $4.9something

What?? Why would it take 10-20 years to find "equipment" needed to drill and produce oil? That doesn't make much sense to me. Maybe I missed your other post but that is somewhat puzzling.

Ehh, not so juch "exploring" as it is producing. We pretty much know where every drop of oil is on the planet. Immediately flooding our market with more product will start affecting things far sooner than you think. We can drill a well and have it producing in two weeks.

Again, I didn't say provide a solution. I said provide assistance to our current problems. We wouldn't start drilling for more oil and completely stop our other areas of concentration.......especially natural gas and wind. I would hope that in 75-100 years we have the means to provide viable forms of energy not associated with petroleum. Oil will be relevant for much longer than just a few decades.

What other ramifications are you speaking of? Environmental issues? What.....?

And you can save the comments about me being in oil and gas and only caring about making money, being biased, etc.. I provide a service to everyone who, day in and day out, enjoys the things that are made possible by oil and gas. I work my ass off everyday to do that. The money is great, but it is secondary to the drive I have to make things better for everyone. I'm sure the rapidly growing number of people that we deliver royalty and ROW checks to worth hundreds of thousands of dollars aren't complaining. Neither are the areas around the country that are booming and rapidly growing because of the positive affects we have on them.

If you don't think producing more crude for our own country is worth it......then you need to get a clue. It wouldn't be as big of an issue as it is if that was the case.

Brother;
You may have missed it either in this thread or another gas related one.
It would be kind of difficult to start looking for and drilling for oil off shore with out the deep sea boats used for that correct?!

Well, unless I heard incorrectly, those that do currently exist are fully committed and in use.

Rest are somewhere between design work and shipyards in China.

Add to that no up updates, expansion or new building of refineries and that is where the time frame comes into play.

Along with the fact, as I know it or understand it, that even if product is drilled off US shoreline, it could go anywhere.

Which then adds into mix problems with distribution and use by other counties.

Unlike wind or solar power.

I don't deal at all with off-shore drilling so I can't really comment on any of that.

Sure, there is a time frame associated with when oil would make a noticeable impact due to the lack of refineries. That doesn't mean that opening up drilling and immediately producing oil won't affect the speculation markets.....which, as you probably know, is a huge determinant of oil and gas prices. I mean, Bush did nothing more than lift the ban of offshore drilling and oil fell 6$.

Oil and natural gas that is produced can go anywhere, yes. I can't imagine that would take place considering we import 75% of our energy. That all depends on who is doing the drilling, who has pipeline contracts, where the product is flowing to via pipelines, gas marketers, etc. etc. etc.

gas prices here down to about $3.94/reg

Gas prices locally have not topped $4.00 per gallon at all that I'm aware of, with the exception of the station at Denver International Airport where they were $4.40/gal when I flew in on Tuesday.

I don't suppose that has anything to do with people having to fill up rental cars when they return them, and that I've heard that the rental car companies base their really outrageous ($7.00/gal in St. Louis) fee to refuel a car when it's not returned full on prices at the closest gas station(s). This station is surrounded by the rental car lots.

Prices have dropped here some. We're looking at $3.79 for cash at the one up the street from me now. That's down from a high of $4.25 over 4th of July weekend.

I'm in the Bay Area and prices dropped from 4.49 to 4.23 up here!!!! In just a week! :D

We're down to $3.62 here this weekend. Don't know how long it will last, but it's nice!

Prices going down here, too, but not a quickly as they went up.

$3.89 at closeby Safeway.

I like that we are all now thinking that anything under $4 is nice. :) It's definitely a reprieve but I won't be completely happy until it's under $2 again (I doubt it'll ever happen though....).

$3.62? I'm so jealous :p