President Lifts Executive Ban on Offshore Drilling

**PatrizioD** · 07-14-2008, 11:32 AM

Today at 1:30pm Eastern Time, President George W. Bush lifted the executive ban on offshore drilling that was imposed in the early 1980's. What does this mean? Well, now the Democrat-controlled Congress has to go along with the President and consent to having the ban lifted. Illinois Junior Senator Barack Obama has sided with Harry Reid and other Democrats in opposition to lifting the ban. Senator John McCain has sided with the President. If the ban is lifted by Congress, we will be allowed access to a portion of the estimated 170 BILLION barrels of oil currently under US Territory (Outer continental shelf, interior drilling, ANWR). That is more oil than all of Saudi Arabia...

Why am I posting this on LS1.com? Because I felt I should share the good news with my brothers and sisters that gas will likely start to drop in price. Its only my opinion, but its shared by a great deal of people in the industry. If Congress goes along and the drilling is allowed, we may be seeing oil prices below $100/barrel before the winter season hits. How this translates to gas prices is unknown to me, but we should start to see a drop.

If you're religious, pray that Congress wakes up and listens to the people. If you're politically motivated, write them a letter or call them. If you're a lazy, computer-bound internet geek, post this info wherever you go. Its time to hold our government responsible. If the Democrats in Congress cant get the job done, lets get them out of there as soon as possible. Im sure we're all sick of paying over $4/gal for Premium.

<--Congress if they uphold the band
Us if they repeal it-->

rapter34 · 07-14-2008, 11:36 AM

this could be as major debate topic for the coming election when Mccain can say "see i want to help lower gas prices and gives us independance from OPEC." all the while Barack can say " I ahh like to save the whales."

**PatrizioD** · 07-14-2008, 11:53 AM

There is NO DOUBT this will be the number one debate point. Obama has already said he wont withdraw troops immediately from Iraq, both have similar health-care goals (although I think McCain's pandering to the idiots who wants socialized health-care). Energy policy will be number 1 for political debate for quite some time. McCain '08 I say.

**Mustang Killa** · 07-14-2008, 01:41 PM

Why would it matter if the oil companies drilled the 38,317,322 acres ALREADY leased with permits to drill with oil already there....the oil companies are having record breaking profit margins already...anyone else find this a little suspicious?..Ohh yea because if they drilled our own oil they would have no excuse to rape us on it...along with the republicans..Lifting the ban is simply a change of hands to get you to look at something else...

**PatrizioD** · 07-14-2008, 06:51 PM

There is no proof that there is oil anywhere underneath the 68 million acres that oil companies already have leases on. There is proven oil in the OCS; Mexico and Venezuela are drilling it. The oil companies dont have as much impact on the price as you think, its mostly the speculators. They think oil will be scarce in the future (mostly because of India and China, other times from crazy Arabs launching missiles) so they jack the prices up.

Yeah, blame Republicans. Ten years ago Bill Clinton upheld an order to ban drilling, because the effect wouldnt be seen until ten years down the road. Well, here we are...Thanks, Bill. Oil companies want to drill off the coast because it would turn a profit. If they explore the land already leased, they'll spend more money than they could recoup in ten years. OCS oil is easily accessible, and we KNOW its there. You think they want to drill in the ocean for the scenery? No. Because it'll be easier and faster, so we'll see price drops a lot quicker. Its America though... your opinion is worth as much as mine or anyone else's.

rednari · 07-14-2008, 07:45 PM

It is good thing, but will take many years before the price of oil drops signuficantly. Strengthening the dollar will bring down the price of oil sooner.

**slims00ls1z28** · 07-14-2008, 07:57 PM

Originally Posted by Mustang Killa

the oil companies are having record breaking profit margins already.

Given the actual production cost of a barrel of oil is about 68-75$ depending on region, and the market price driven up by speculators of 140+ it's no wonder they have a large profit. Blame wall street not the oil companies. The biggest thing I can say about them is they are not taking their money and using it to build more refineries.

Take the Iranian missile test hike. Did Iran testing a missile stop oil production anywhere? Did it make it harder to produce or sell the oil? Nope. Then why did the price of a barrel jump upon news of it? Speculators and oil futures.

**mark21742** · 07-15-2008, 08:42 AM

Originally Posted by Mustang Killa

Why would it matter if the oil companies drilled the 38,317,322 acres ALREADY leased with permits to drill with oil already there....the oil companies are having record breaking profit margins already...anyone else find this a little suspicious?..Ohh yea because if they drilled our own oil they would have no excuse to rape us on it...along with the republicans..Lifting the ban is simply a change of hands to get you to look at something else...

it's not really what you think, you probably havent heard this part.
for example: 1981 Chevron leased a large area off the cotf Florida with the drilling rights. By 1986 they had found enough natural gas deposits to heat 100 million homes for 30 years and said they would need to drill as few as 12 and as many as 21 spots in this area they had leased to get the natural gas out of the ground, but.... they only had the right to drill for exploration, they were not allowed to pump anything out of the ground under the lease terms.
In 86 the oil company filled for the rights to drill and pump and Florida put an injunction on any further drilling. Chevron then went to the federal government to try and get it overturned, after sitting on it for two more years the fed would not overturn it but offered $115 million to buy back the leases.
In 1991 (I think it was the year) Chevron took the money and went to Angolia to setup an operation there where they would not held up by politics

Oil profits average $.07 on the dollar, cokecola profits average $.40 on the dollar and I don't see congress dragging the CEO's of cokecola up to the hills to defend their (windfall) profits

**mark21742** · 07-15-2008, 08:45 AM

Originally Posted by PatrizioD

There is no proof that there is oil anywhere underneath the 68 million acres that oil companies already have leases on. There is proven oil in the OCS; Mexico and Venezuela are drilling it. The oil companies dont have as much impact on the price as you think, its mostly the speculators. They think oil will be scarce in the future (mostly because of India and China, other times from crazy Arabs launching missiles) so they jack the prices up.

dont forget oil isnt going up as much as we think, our dollar is plumiting and that is the biggest problem