JamesCurran wrote:
Nonsense. The only relevant energy policy is denying new oil field leases. BUT, the oil companies aren't using all the fields they've already leased.
Biden also canceled a pipeline, but it was years away from being complete, and the oil that would have flowed thru it neither came from nor was going to the US. It would have had no effect on the US oil supply even if it was complete.
I cry “bovine excrement” on this nonsensical post by Curran. People should actually know somethingy about a subject prior expressing a faulty uninformed or hearsay opinion!I may not be conversant with all details of oil exploration and production operations. I did spend twenty two years as a Field Geologist, Logging-While-Drilling (LWD) and Measured-While-Drilling (MWD) Engineer / Geologist.
And as a Staff Geologist and Log Analyst for the BLM (three years).
A good article of basic oilfield operation and leasing written for laypeople is here:
https://www.ndsu.edu/pubweb/~saxowsky/aglawtextbk/ref_topics/Oilgasproductionprocess.htm…………………………
The only relevant energy policy by the current administration is that there IS NO “ENERGY POLICY”, there is only “ENERGY DENIAL” and “ENERGY MISDIRECTION”.
Instead of proposing a coherent gradual transition from hydrocarbon dependence, FJ-Biden imposed, essentially by decree (executive order), immediate changes in policies that have disrupted the entire energy-exploration and supply sector.……………………
Comments on Curran’s post:
A. Firstly, leases are not for “oil fields”.
i. Lease sales are for acreage and production-rights to offshore and onshore areas managed by the government where oil may be located.
ii. Individual wells are not “fields”, and Exploration or “wildcat” wells are not in “fields”.
iii. Lease sales (auctions) are conducted by the Department of the Interior (DOI) and sub-agencies (BLM, FS,&c).
B. Biden directed Interior (DOI) to halt lease sales, but the administration was sued and had to resume sales.
(
https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/environmental-groups-sue-block-biden-administration-oil-gas-auctions-2022-06-29/)
”Biden's Interior Department had attempted to suspend the federal oil and gas leasing program to study its environmental and climate impacts but was blocked by a federal judge.
The Biden administration's first sale of oil and gas drilling rights on federal land garnered thin industry interest . . . [The sales] were viewed as a test of oil industry demand for federal acreage amid soaring fuel prices and calls from President Joe Biden to increase domestic output.
A drilling industry group blamed the limited interest on policies that have made oil and gas development on federal lands more difficult, such as higher royalties on production and Biden administration efforts to stop new leasing.”C. The Keystone XL Pipeline — Phase 4 was the ONLY portion of the pipeline that was cancelled.
Phases 1 —> 3 are completed and are moving product, and have boosted current output levels to the distribution hub in Oklahoma. (See D. below).
D. Currans comment:
”. . . the oil that would have flowed thru it neither came from nor was going to the US.” Is an out-and-out falsehood. A BLATANT LIE.
1. The pipeline (XL Pipeline phase 4) would have transported Canadian upgraded synthetic-crude (SYNCRUDE) and Diluted Bitumin-crude (DILBIT), Southward, and be joined at Baker, Montana, by output from the Bakken Formation oil shale (Williston Basin) production. Therefore, is not true.
2. The pipeline terminus of the phase-4 section was to be at Cushing, OK, where the current (Phase 1 through Phase 3) pipeline delivers oil for distribution. From Cushing, crude oil is “pipelined” to refineries in Eastern and Southern states (
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keystone_Pipeline and
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-energy-oil-cushing-factbox/factbox-infrastructure-in-and-around-cushing-oklahoma-oil-hub )
REFINERIES DIRECTLY CONNECTED TO CUSHING
Refinery Name, …State, …………...Refinery Operator, ……Capacity bpd
Tulsa East, …………Oklahoma, …….HollyFrontier Corp, .…70,300
Tulsa West, ………..Oklahoma, …….HollyFrontier Corp, ...85,000
Ardmore, ……………Oklahoma, …….Valero, …………………..…85,000
Coffeyville, ………..Kansas, ………….CVR Refining, …………..115,700
El Dorado, ………….Kansas, ………….HollyFrontier, ……………138,000
Borger, ……………….Texas, …………….Phillips 66, ……………….146,000
Ponca City, …………Oklahoma, ……..Phillips 66, ……………….198,400
Wood River, ………..Illinois, ………….Phillips 66, ………………..333,000
Whiting, ………………Indiana, ………..BP Plc., ……………………..405,000
Total 1,584,400 barrels of oil per day (BOPD).
3. From:
https://www.cer-rec.gc.ca/en/data-analysis/energy-markets/market-snapshots/2019/market-snapshot-canadian-crude-oil-is-mainly-exported-two-regions-in-united-states.html“Figure 2 shows refineries in the U.S. lower-48 by operating capacity and by Petroleum Administration for Defense District (PADD). Over three quarters of Canada’s crude oil exports go to PADDs II and III (the U.S. Midwest and Gulf Coast) (Figure 1).
[Footnote: PADD II has 25 refineries, as well as access to multiple pipelines transporting crude oil from the Western Canada Sedimentary Basin (WCSB). Canadian exports to PADD III–which has 53 refineries–have continued to grow despite lack of available pipeline capacity from the WCSB.]
PADD V mainly receives Canadian crude oil that is transported from British Columbia to Washington refineries. PADD I is further away from western Canada. It has limited access to Canadian crude oil, except by tankers from offshore Newfoundland and Labrador. PADD IV has less refining capacity and is partially supplied by some small pipelines exporting crude oil from western Canada.”E.
https://www.oilsandsmagazine.com/market-insights/american-appetite-canadian-crude-usage-us-refineries#:~:text=Total%20refining%20capacity%20in%20the,currently%20sits%20at%20about%2022%25.
https://www.synapse-energy.com/sites/default/files/SynapseReport.2012-09.CSI_.Hidden-Costs.12-013.pdf