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Originally Posted by AKA_Monet
I don't know you well enough to suggest your reading style, but to let you know something about me, I am a lot older than you think and pretty well-traveled. So first, the US does not allow cartels in its country, it fails to promote "free-trade" and capitalism. So that means foreign countries and possible governments have cartels--pretty much like drug cartels--the same with crude oil/gas. As such, they (namely OPEC) can charge whatever they want for oil. That is what I read, heard and saw in all the latest media. Our oil companies are being held hostage to whatever prices these fools charge us--thus they are passing onto the consumer...
The other issue was read in Science Magazine last year sometime that all ACCESSIBLE oil within environmental treaties is low overall. Now there are inaccessible fields and then there is environmentally destructive fields. But, I dunno? Shouldn't our R&D money be spent on better energy production uses? Maybe our cars won't be able to go as fast as a hydrocarbon vehicle, but there will be plentiful fuel using something different. And steam was going somewhere at the turn of the 19th century--who says it cannot be revisited with newer technologies? Also there are other forms of carbon based fuels--coal and organics (CH4 and EtOH) and even H2/He gases that can be better contained.
R&D is different now, given enough money--like the Gates Grand Challenge--with Warren Buffet $$$ many things can be accomplished. The company that makes it happen first, MIGHT be the most successful... Whatever happen to the Ansari [sp?] Prize?
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I understand that you are older....definitely know that from being around here for a while. I thought you were referring to oil companies here as cartels...trying to be snarky or what have you. My mistake. You are right though. They are charging us whatever they want. Do you blame them? We are relying on them for 3/4 of our energy and are too stupid to do anything about it.
I'd like to read the article you are referring to, it sounds good. Hell, it's probably written by someone that is close to oil and gas...I dunno though. Some of the geologists hired by big oil are the best in the world at what they do. I tend to believe them. The last study that I have seen personally by the USGS estimates that the ultimate recoverable resources of conventional oil, including natural gas liquids is at more than 3.3 trillion barrels. Of these, less than 2/3 have been consumed to date, with around 2.4 trillion barrels yet to be produced. Now, there are also vast resources of what O&G companies like to call "non-conventional" oil - possibly as much as 7 trillion barrels. This, however, is what will require advanced technology to produce....largely because it is inaccessible with current drilling techniques and would require great changes to the environment.
Now, I am fairly "unlearned" when it comes to the financial side of oil and gas, especially money allocations for R&D and such (I'll leave that to analysts, finance guys, accountants, etc)....but I do know that, collectively, the largest companies will spend upwards of 20$ trillion dollars over the next 25 years, roughly 3000$ for every person on earth with the hopes of developing clean, affordable, and abundant energy sources. You can check those figures with the IEA I'm pretty sure, the International Energy Agency.