Budget Proves Obama LIED About Drilling For Oil In SOTU

We might not always agree on ways to reduce dependency on foreign oil, but at least we request our leaders to be honest with us about what they are going to do. Obama promised more transparency and he has become the public relations president = A chronic liar

During his State of the Union Address President Obama gave us hope that the US would finally tap its own resources to make us energy independent:

But to create more of these clean energy jobs, we need more production, more efficiency, more incentives. That means building a new generation of safe, clean nuclear power plants in this country. It means making tough decisions about opening new offshore areas for oil and gas development. It means continued investment in advanced biofuels and clean coal technologies

Sadly like most of the promises coming from this President this pledge came with an expiration date. Only this expiration had a short window, only five days. When President Obama sent out his budget, it showed a decline in revenue from oil land leases, meaning he planned to be more restrictive in allowing off-shore-drilling than before.
Congressman Hastings issue this press release with the facts from the budget:

In the Presidents’ budget proposal released yesterday, the Administration is anticipating that revenue from new Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) leasing will decline over the next five years. The only way revenue would decline is if less of the OCS is offered for leasing for energy production.


“Despite what the President lead the country to believe in his State of the Union address, this budget proves that the Obama Administration has no intention of opening up new areas for offshore drilling,” said House Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Doc Hastings. “In the summer of 2008 when gas prices were skyrocketing, the public demanded that both Congress and the President lift the decades-long ban on offshore drilling. Although there are now 500 million more acres available for offshore energy production, this Administration has deliberately decided to do even less than when the ban was in place. In fact, just days after taking office, this Administration went against the will of the people and reinstituted a defacto moratorium on offshore energy production by delaying the development of a new five-year OCS plan. As this budget shows, the decision not to develop our nation’s energy resources will cost millions of dollars in lost revenue and prevent the creation of a million new jobs throughout the country.”


The table below, included in the President’s FY 2011 budget, shows rents and bonuses from offshore energy production in the OCS falling from $1.5 billion in 2009, to only $413 million in FY2015. Bonuses are paid when a company obtains a new lease; rents are paid when a company holds the lease while conducting exploration.


The President’s 2013 estimate of $409 million is $123 million below the FY09 Bush Administration budget estimate for the same year – even though there was a Congressional moratorium in place at the time. This means that the Obama Administration’s current policies are more restrictive on offshore energy development than the previous moratorium.

(Source: White House FY 2011 Budget, pg. 198) 

via yidwithlid.blogspot.com

Colombia sees reserves rise

Colombia could add as much as 6 billion barrels of oil to its reserves over the next decade if exploration holds at the current pace and state-controlled Ecopetrol boosts recovery rates, a top energy official said today.

News wires Wednesday, 03 February, 2010, 23:27 GMT

Colombia's National Hydrocarbons Agency will auction nearly 200 oil and gas exploration blocks in June as part of a programme that began in 2004.

The sales are likely to boost proven oil and gas reserves from a current 1.5 billion barrels of oil equivalent as investment picks up into one of Latin America's fastest growing energy sectors.

"The optimistic scenario would be that we'd go to in excess of 6 billion barrels of oil between now and 2020 and that would bring us to a very comfortable position," agency director Armando Zamora said in Toronto during the first leg of a road trip to present the auction to Canadian investors.

He said the official goal was to add 4 billion barrels in the decade.

THE FALKLANDS:

Drilling set to get under way off Falklands

By David Telfer

Published: 03/02/2010

Desire Petroleum, the Aim-listed oil and gas explorer focused on the North Falkland Basin, said yesterday that two drilling slots using the Ocean Guardian rig had been assigned to Rockhopper Exploration.

The rig will be used on an upcoming exploration programme in the Falklands, and is expected to be in position mid-February after a two-month journey from the Cromarty Firth to drill the first well of the campaign on Desire’s Liz prospect, which has been mooted to contain up to 660million barrels of oil equivalent.

Following the Liz well the Ocean Guardian – a unit of Aberdeen-based Diamond Offshore Drilling (UK) – will go to Rockhopper to drill its Sea Lion and Ernest oil prospects.

Desire said advanced discussions continued with BHP Billiton which may lead to the group taking an early drilling slot, and so it was likely that Desire's second well would be the fourth or fifth well in the drilling campaign.

The timing of later Desire wells will depend upon results from Liz, Sea Lion and Ernest.

The Ocean Guardian is to drill a minimum of four wells for Desire.

Desire has said that independent analysis had concluded that it had more than 3billion barrels of oil equivalent of recoverable resources in its top 10 prospects.

The British Geological Survey has estimated more than 60billion barrels of oil may be in the Falklands area.

PAPUA:

BP is eying a new oil and gas exploration area in Indonesia's West Papua province near Tangguh to boost reserves, an official at the Indonesia energy ministry said on Wednesday.
"BP has an intention to explore oil and gas in a new area in Western Papua and it has submitted its request. We welcome their intention and we are now studying their proposal," Edy Hermantoro, a director at the ministry, told Reuters.
An official of BP's Indonesia unit confirmed the company intended to expand its area in West Papua but gave no further details.
BP Indonesia is the operator of the Wiriagar, Muturi and Berau blocks in West Papua, which together have combined reserves of 14.4 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of gas.
Another Indonesian energy ministry official, who declined to be identified, said proven plus probable and possible reserves in West Papua's Tangguh were estimated at around 23 trillion cubic feet of gas.

THE EARTH HAS NO SHORTAGE OF OIL - OR GAS.
PEAK OIL IS BS - A SCAM LIKE AGW.
OIL SHOULD BE $54/BARREL AND IT WILL BE SOONER THAN YOU THINK.

via astuteblogger.blogspot.com