United States Oil Reserves have the Potential to be Massive but OPEC-Backed Environmentalists Help to Keep Prices High.

There is a lot of nonsense floating around about the decline in oil reserves around the world, and how reliant we all are on the Middle East.

The U.S Department of Energy is very keen to promote this notion, whilst actually covering up the fact that the United States oil reserves are plentiful.

In 2008 a US Geological Survey (USGS) assessment shows a 25-fold increase in the amount of oil that can be recovered, compared to the agency’s 1995 estimate of 151 million barrels of oil.

An area known as the Bakken Formation lying in North Dakota and Montana has an estimated 3.0 to 4.3 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable oil.

The term technically recoverable oil means resources are producible using the technology and practices already employed by the oil industry.

No-one but the USGS provides publicly available estimates of undiscovered technically recoverable oil and gas resources.

The Pittsburgh Post Gazette reported the find as “now the highest producing onshore oil field found in the past 56 years.”

The potential of this find could mean United States oil reserves far out-scoring the numbers found in the Middle East.

Oil exploration on United States land has for many years now been given up for dead as the major players in oil exploration went in search elsewhere.

In fact in 1985 20 percent of America’s oil came from overseas, whereas nearly 25 years later that number has soared to almost 60 percent.

Advances in technology mean this commodity could be extracted and hugely bolster United States oil reserves so their dependency on other resources would be eliminated, whilst also lowering fuel prices.

Well so one would think, and in spite of the find and the capability to extract such a huge resource, it hasn’t been taken advantage of.

In the last few years of fluctuating oil prices, mainly to the detriment of consumers, a potential huge pool of oil more than adequately meeting demand would surely have dragged the price down.

Tapping in to this unused resource has been prevented by environmental concerns including the usual arguments about air pollution, damaging the land and its wildlife.

These are arguments that have most likely been given strong support financially by none other than OPEC.

Seeing a huge increase in United States oil reserves is the last thing OPEC would want as it would significantly lower the price.

Preventing these large quantities of oil from being produced only serves to make oil scarcer and more expensive.

Enriching OPEC

Preventing oil production in countries like the United States is of course in the best interests of OPEC, as it only serves to increase their stake hold in world supply, and enrich its members.

That said, if the United States Government had the will to do so, they could easily defeat the environmentalists and start producing billions of barrel loads of oil.

The fact that they choose not to do so is that most probably they have a deal with OPEC, and the environmental concerns are just a front.

The U.S doesn’t want to cut in to its own resources with the potential dangers and damage to the environment when they have a slice of the Middle East action already.

US Company Profits

U.S companies are thriving in most OPEC countries. The US Government has huge influence over Middle Eastern Governments and their oil reserves.

The other problem is the greedy Oil Companies are only interested in making huge profits, and are therefore reluctant to invest in exploring the untapped potential.

Legal battles with the environmentalists, exploration costs and converting certain types of potential reserves in to usable oil drive these companies away.

The benefit of more United States oil reserves is of no interest to the likes of Exxon and Shell as they are serving only to provide large dividends to shareholders.

America Funding Terrorism

The sad irony of all this is that the United States, whilst it purportedly fights terrorism is also funding it through oil consumption.

For example, Saudi Arabia is a huge breeding ground for Islamic extremists. Iran is using its oil revenues to fund a nuclear program.

The United States has been happy to get back in to bed with old foes such as Libya.

The bottom line is that the U.S Government, OPEC, huge oil companies are all conspiring to make oil prices much higher than they need be.

The losers are the consumers, who are paying ridiculous prices in a time when the world is suffering economically.