by Joe Snyder
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Since we import 70 percent of our oil at a cost of $700 billion a year (four times the cost of the Iraq war) I must share with you some good news I ran across on my computer (the internet) that simply astonished me. So this week I share with you the good news.
Ever heard of the Bakken Formation? I finally found it on my computer and it blew my mind. The U.S. Geological Service issued a report in April that only scientists and oilmen/women knew was coming. It is BIG news. It was a revised report (hadn’t been updated since 1995) on how much oil was in an area of North Dakota and extreme Montana…. think about this!
The Bakken is the largest domestic oil discovery since Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay, and has the potential to eliminate all dependence on foreign oil. The Energy Information estimates it at 503 billion barrels. Even if just 10 percent of this oil is recoverable at $107 a barrel, we’re looking at a resource base worth more than $5.3 trillion.
"When I first briefed legislators on this, you could practically see their jaws hit the floor. They had no idea," says Terry Johnson, the Montana Legislator’s financial analyst. "This sizable find is now the highest producing onshore field found in the past 56 years," reports The Pittsburgh Post Gazette. It’s a formation known as the Williston Basin, but more commonly referred to as the "Bakken." It stretches from Northern Montana through North Dakota and into Canada.
For years U.S exploration has been considered at a dead end. Even the big oil companies gave up searching for major oil wells decades ago. However, a major technological breakthrough has opened up the Bakken’s massive reserves and we now have access up of up to 500 billion barrels. And because this is light, sweet oil, those billions of oil will cost Americans just $16 per barrel!
That’s enough crude to fully fuel the U.S. Economy for 51 years! Here’s the facts. We have more oil inside our borders than all the other proven reserves on earth. Here are the estimates: eight times as much oil as Saudi Arabia, 18 times as much oil as Iraq, 21 times as much oil as Kuwait, 22 times as much as Iran and 500 times as much oil as Yeman and its all right here in the Western U.S.
James Bartis, lead researcher with the study says we’ve got more oil in this compact area than in the entire Middle East – more than 2 trillion barrels. Untapped! That’s more than all the proven oil reserves of crude oil in the world today, reports The Denver Post.
Don’t think Big Oil will drop its price – even with this find? Think again! It’s all about the competitive marketplace, and if they can extract it here for less, they can afford to sell it for less and if they don’t, others will. It will come down – it has to.
Write your favorite congressman and demand an energy plan that calls for us to tap into our oil reserves as well as allowing off-shore drilling for OUR oil as well as our intercontinental shelf – not to mention Alaska. Technology isn’t what it used to be folks. Ever had arthroscopic surgery? They can surgically extract our soil and get us on the way to at least some measure of energy independence.
The next time you complain about energy prices, think about how much time you’ve spent complaining about gas prices because by doing NOTHING you’ve forfeited your right to complain.