Peak oil cult another Malthusian bust

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4/1/13, "Peak Oil Cult Is Proved Spectacularly Wrong," IBD Editorial, Robert Bryce

"These are lousy times to be in the peak oil cult.

In December, U.S. oil exports hit a record of 3.6 million barrels per day, thanks in part to soaring domestic petroleum production.

Last year, domestic natural gas production averaged 69 billion cubic feet per day, a record, and a 33% increase over the levels achieved back in 2005. That year, Lee Raymond, the famously combative former CEO of ExxonMobil, declared that "gas production has peaked in North America."

Why has the U.S. oil and gas sector recovered? How is it that last year, U.S. oil production rose by 790,000 barrels per day, the biggest annual increase since U.S. oil production began in 1859? How could Raymond, the leader of one of the world's most sophisticated companies, be so wrong?

The answer: innovation. Over the past century or so, oil and gas drilling has been transformed from an industry dominated by hunches and wildcatters to one that is more akin to the precision manufacturing that dominates aerospace and automobiles....

A bit of history: In 1947, the oil industry drilled its first offshore oil well out of the sight of land. The Kermac 16 well, located off the Louisiana coast, was drilled in 20 feet of water.

Back in 1947, the billions of barrels of oil in the Lower Tertiary may as well have been located on the dark side of the moon. The industry simply did not have the technical ability to tap all that energy.
Today, companies like Anadarko, Chevron, Petrobras, and yes, BP, are routinely drilling in water depths of 6,000 feet or more.

They are leasing drill ships costing $600,000 or more per day because the global economy demands the super-high-density transport fuels that can be refined from crude and the super-clean heating and electricity that can be derived from natural gas....

The advances in knowledge that are occurring in the oil and gas sector are allowing us to keep energy cheap and abundant."...via Lucianne


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