Oil is making millionaires in North Dakota

[Guest]

Oscar Stohler was raised in a sod house in western North Dakota and ranched there for nearly seven decades. He never gave much thought to what lay below the grass that fattened his cattle.When oilmen wanted to drill there last year, Stohler, 83, doubted oil would be found two miles underground on his property. He even joked about it.

"I told them if they hit oil, I was going to buy a Cadillac convertible and put those big horns on the front and wear a 10-gallon hat," Stohler recalled.

where does this oil go? who own the riggers and refineries?

Edited July 2, 2008 by vacguy

[jack10562 414]

Here's a link to the article:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080630/ap_on_...ht_millionaires

The oil companies own the drilling and refining equipment, they pay the land owners a nice royalty on the oil they pump out.

[Goose 188]

The oil goes into your gas pump. People forget that we get ~41% of our oil from our own country, 9% from Canada, 7% from Mexico. So, that's ~57% from North America alone. Of course we get like ~8% from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. And lower percents from various other countries. This entire thing is all speculation, from top to bottom.

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

Why cant they find oil in my backyard!!! :)

Edited July 2, 2008 by bvfdjc316

[Future Fireman 4]

Why cant they find oil in my backyard!!!

The drilling rig's too big for it!

Want a shovel?

Mike

[ajsbear 11]

You want to see gas come down? Drop 25% of the federal oil reserves into production. Watch the speculators who have been driving the price panic. Very few will go broke but they'll take some hit. 25% is just enough not to throw the economy into a tail spin.

[JetPhoto 626]

Want to see oil prices go down? Well if you add up the amount of jet fuel not being used due to dropped flights, the thousands of people now unemployed and not using gas because they can't afford it and I'm sure there are other things it will go down.

Speculation, Speculation, Speculation well, I'm speculating that some of those speculating are gonna end up unemployed because they are putting the stock markets to the test.

[pjreilly 6]

The oil goes into your gas pump. People forget that we get ~41% of our oil from our own country, 9% from Canada, 7% from Mexico. So, that's ~57% from North America alone. Of course we get like ~8% from Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. And lower percents from various other countries. This entire thing is all speculation, from top to bottom.

Goose, are you sure about those numbers? We get very little oil from our shores, because drilling has been prohibited by Democrats. I say drill here and flood the oil market with product. It will drop the prices of gasoline quicker than a lead balloon. And who will be left holding their @#$%$#@? SPECULATORS They are bleeding this country dry, and it is time we take a stand and take our country back.

[ex-commish 490]

Goose, are you sure about those numbers? We get very little oil from our shores, because drilling has been prohibited by Democrats. I say drill here and flood the oil market with product. It will drop the prices of gasoline quicker than a lead balloon. And who will be left holding their @#$%$#@? SPECULATORS They are bleeding this country dry, and it is time we take a stand and take our country back.

I agree we need to drill and be self sufficient but we have to stop the blame game as I feel both parties have sold us out. I believe Mccain is against drilling in Alaska.

[firefighter36 52]

Oil prices are very reactive to the value of the US Dollar, and right now, our money doesn't stand up to the rest of the world like it has before. Strengthen our economy, and encourage people to be a bit more responsible in their travels and with vehicles purchases, and I think you'll see things rebound. Inflation, gas prices, etc. are all cyclical. Lets not forget that for years people have been economically irresponsible getting themselves into HUGE debt that they may not be able to get themselves out of. Now we are paying for it a bit.

[ny10570 745]

Goose is close. According to the CIA world Factbook in 2007 we were consuming 20.7 million barrels a day and we produce 7.6.

Democrats and republicans are not to blame for the lack of production. The bigger kink in the system is refinery capacity. In the US we are shockingly short on it. Refineries are huge, ugly, and stink. They also have poop for public image. No one whether they be republican or democrat wants them built in their community. At a recent refinery fire in Texas last year the people from the company they interviewed were almost happy about the fire since it was going to enable them in increase capacity and efficiency. They were not allowed to build a new facility anywhere in the area and couldn't afford to shut down production before the fire.

[TL2L31 8]

I love the polar bears , but PLEASE DRILL HERE!

[CAM502 6]

Um isn't the oil in ND shale oil wich is different and more costly to refine?

[ny10570 745]

There have been changes in oil extraction technology that had made some shale deposits profitable. Now with the exploding price of oil shale is an extremely attractive alternative. Now throw in that the US has the vast majority of shale deposits in the world and the picture just gets better. Before shale had to be mined and then cooked to extract the hydrocarbons. The newer technique I had seen involves drilling and pumping the hydrocarbons out. First they freeze the ground water around the area and then heat the shale. This should allow them access to deeper deposits without strip mining.

[CAM502 6]

Yeah like Shell or one a the big companies is running a "test well"...I heard it wouldn't make an ipoact for years with the current technology.

[ny10570 745]

Nothing being done with oil right now will make an impact in the next 10 years. Offshore drilling, anwar, shale, etc. Neither will ethanol, fuel cells, electric, they list goes on and on. Only way to fix prices in the near term is to stop selling oil futures and drive out speculation.