Author Topic: Politics, Religion, etc. etc. 2/16/11 - 5/9/13  (Read 50833 times)

Dave23

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Politics, Religion, etc. etc. 2/16/11 - 5/9/13
« on: February 16, 2011, 11:55:09 am »
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« Last Edit: May 09, 2013, 12:55:36 pm by Dave23 »

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FITS

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Re: Politics, Religion, etc. etc.
« Reply #1 on: February 16, 2011, 02:00:20 pm »
Remind me to never come into this topic.

davep

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Re: Politics, Religion, etc. etc.
« Reply #2 on: April 15, 2011, 02:00:52 pm »
Liberals suck.

discuss.

JR

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Re: Politics, Religion, etc. etc.
« Reply #3 on: April 15, 2011, 02:01:39 pm »
Is BEERFAN going to make it over to this forum?

Scoop

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Re: Politics, Religion, etc. etc.
« Reply #4 on: April 15, 2011, 02:05:03 pm »
Tacx hikes on the rich NOBAMA wheres that hop and change?

(How was that for a Beer imitation?)

JR

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Re: Politics, Religion, etc. etc.
« Reply #5 on: April 15, 2011, 02:06:47 pm »
Hop and change . . . love it!

JeffH

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Re: Politics, Religion, etc. etc.
« Reply #6 on: April 15, 2011, 02:21:27 pm »
A community is missing its organizer!

Jes Beard

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Re: Politics, Religion, etc. etc.
« Reply #7 on: April 16, 2011, 01:39:20 pm »
For Dave, considering our earlier discussion:  http://www.exxonmobilperspectives.com/2011/03/17/lose-the-use-it-or-lose-it-rhetoric/

Let’s lose the “use it or lose it” rhetoric
March 17, 2011 | Posted by Ken Cohen

Every few years, it seems one politician or another tries to deflect attention from the importance of opening up access to new U.S. resources by incorrectly accusing the oil and gas industry of withholding commercial production in existing leases.

We’ve just seen this tactic used again. Yesterday, Senators Bill Nelson and Robert Menendez introduced what they’re calling the “use it or lose it” bill in the Senate. The premise of this bill is that oil companies are letting their oil and gas leases lay idle in the United States – and therefore the U.S. doesn’t need to grant more access to offshore and onshore energy resources, but rather just force oil companies to produce resources on tracts they already have leased.

If only it were that easy. The supporters of this legislation aren’t stating the facts correctly – and the truth is that a few important facts undermine their argument:

1. “Use it or lose it” is already the law. Oil and gas companies are already required to develop their properties within specific timeframes as set out in lease terms. Rents on the leases increase in later years to encourage faster development. In general, leases not producing by the end of their term are relinquished back to the government, which can then re-lease them.

And in addition to pointing out that this law is already on the books, I would also say what many in my industry are saying – companies like ExxonMobil cannot develop existing leases without drilling permits issued by the government. Given the delays on drilling permits we have seen recently, that is certainly a point worth noting.

2. Oil and gas companies have every motivation to develop leases because of the large up-front investments they require. Here’s how it works: First, companies pay a bonus bid – which can total millions of dollars – to the federal government to acquire a lease, which can last anywhere from five to 10 years. On top of that, we then make annual rent payments to the government to maintain the leases. And, it’s not like your apartment complex when you get your deposit back after you move out – if we don’t find oil or gas, we’ve lost that money.

After acquiring leases, we invest many millions more on seismic surveys, environmental studies, technology development and exploratory drilling to find the oil and gas, if we have reason to believe it exists. For example, one deepwater exploration well in the Gulf of Mexico can cost in excess of $125 million to complete. That’s a huge investment, especially when the chances of not finding oil or gas in an individual well are greater than the chances that we do find oil and gas. So, the only way to recoup the millions spent would be to produce oil or gas. In a highly competitive industry like ours, letting potentially productive leases lay idle would make no economic sense.

3. You can’t change geology. We spend a lot of fiscal and human capital to analyze and identify high-potential leases. But in some ways, it’s like buying raffle tickets at a school function – sure, you have a chance of winning the prize with one ticket, but your chances are greater the more tickets you buy.

For example, over a 10-year span starting in the late 1990s and continuing to the late 2000s, ExxonMobil evaluated more than 100 federal lease blocks in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico. By the end of that decade, only one of those leases was actually producing commercial quantities of oil and gas. I think the president of the National Ocean Industries Association said it best last week: “Political pressure cannot change simple geology. Not every lease actually yields oil.” 

The fact is that the oil and natural gas exploration and production process cannot be turned on and off in a matter of days or even months. It can take a decade or more to evaluate and produce just one well – so what may appear to be an “idle” lease may actually be under development but not yet ready to produce. Or, the geology may be such that it may not contain oil and gas at all.

The reality is that, while the U.S. is endowed with substantial oil and natural gas resources, not every lease that the government provides results in new energy production. Justifying bans on accessing new areas simply because existing leases may not yield energy production is no way to secure America’s energy needs.

JR

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Re: Politics, Religion, etc. etc.
« Reply #8 on: April 16, 2011, 02:33:36 pm »
jes, what's your opinion on this? 

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/poker/news/story?id=6362238

I've cut back on my online poker a lot over the past year, but still like playing on there from time to time.  Still I'm not very happy about this.

Jes Beard

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Re: Politics, Religion, etc. etc.
« Reply #9 on: April 16, 2011, 04:29:33 pm »
JR, my guess is that those operations will likely work out a deal where none of them do any jail time in exchange for agreeing to shut down their operations, and identifying all of the private individuals who have broken the laws of their states by using the internet to gamble, and thereby violated federal law since those internet communications crossed state lines.....  There are probably a couple of FBI agents preparing the warrant for your arrest right now.

JR

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Re: Politics, Religion, etc. etc.
« Reply #10 on: April 16, 2011, 05:35:30 pm »
. . . identifying all of the private individuals who have broken the laws of their states by using the internet to ****, and thereby violated federal law since those internet communications crossed state lines.....  There are probably a couple of FBI agents preparing the warrant for your arrest right now.

Wow, that's not good.  Well at least I know jes that you would believe in my case so much that you'd probably work for me pro bono to take on those FBI thugs. 

And if things went to trial, I'm lucky enough to have friends like DaveP, CurtOne, Scoop, etc. who would jump at the chance to be character witnesses for me and would vouch for my high level of integrity and character. 

Doesn't sound like I have much to worry about. 

JeffH

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Re: Politics, Religion, etc. etc.
« Reply #11 on: April 16, 2011, 05:40:05 pm »
"Your Honor, I would like to point out that Mr. Riddick is a fan of the Chicago Cubs.  As such, at this time, we notify the court of our intention to pursue a defense of 'mental disease or defect'."

"Case dismissed!"

davep

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Re: Politics, Religion, etc. etc.
« Reply #12 on: April 17, 2011, 02:29:04 pm »
The article doesn't quite address what I advocated.

I do not recommend that we should change the current leases.  I am recommending that we change the perameters of new leases.

With current leases, once oil is found on a particular lease, there is little incentive to drill "lots" of oil quickly.  There are requirements for necessary production, but there is little incentives for large amounts of production.  companies always have to balance the desire for immediate profits with the need for long term benefits.  In a time of rising oil prices, there is a strong incentive to restrict production in order to be able to produce in the future at a higher price.  Why produce more than necessary today, merely reducing prices without increasing profits.

What I recommended was that at the end of a period of time, the lease ends, and the land, now with proven oil reserves, is put up for bid.  This gives the company a very strong immediate incentive to drill quickly, and to produce massive amounts of oil from that land before they either lose it or have to pay a much increased lease cost for the land.

The author also ommitted one important point.  It is true that current leases are for a period of time, usually 5 years but as long as ten year.  But he doesn't mention that the lease has an automatic renewal clause that prevents land that shows good promise to go back on the open market.

It is certainly true that this administration has put in quite a few obsticles to production, limiting or banning new drilling and overregulating current drilling.  Even the theoretically pro-oil Bush administration banned all drilling off the coast of Florida.  Extremely important issues, but irrelivant to the question we were discussing.

davep

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Re: Politics, Religion, etc. etc.
« Reply #13 on: April 17, 2011, 02:30:26 pm »
JR - I would be happy to appear in court to testify to your character.  But wouldn't you be better off with someone that didn't know you all that well?

Scoop

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Re: Politics, Religion, etc. etc.
« Reply #14 on: April 17, 2011, 03:53:43 pm »
And if things went to trial, I'm lucky enough to have friends like DaveP, CurtOne, Scoop, etc. who would jump at the chance to be character witnesses for me and would vouch for my high level of integrity and character. 


Who's JR?