Reaction To The Massive ExxonMobil Oil Find
From a variety of sources.
First, U.S. Rep. Steve Scalise…
“This latest find by Exxon in the Gulf of Mexico is great news that reinforces what many of us have said all along: by exploring for our natural resources here at home we can create thousands of good jobs and reduce our dependence on Middle Eastern oil,” Scalise said. “It’s time that President Obama ends his permitorium on domestic drilling and allows people to go back to work drilling safely for energy in America. More than 13,000 people have lost their jobs as a result this Administration’s failure to understand how critical it is to let people get back to work, and discoveries like this further emphasize the devastating impact of the recent moratorium and permitorium. In order to lower the price of gas at the pump and decrease our dependence on Middle Eastern oil, it is vital that we are allowed to explore safely for our own domestic resources, while creating thousands of high paying jobs in the process.”
U.S. Rep. Jeff Landry…
“I’m not surprised Exxon found oil where it said it would find oil. If BOEMRE would be more proactive in removing barriers rather than impeding the permitting process – especially when it involves companies who have proven to drill safely in the Gulf of Mexico like Exxon, then we would be further down the road in weaning America off foreign oil and reducing our energy prices.”
U.S. Rep. Charles Boustany…
“This is further proof we have an abundance of natural resources right here at home,” Boustany said. “The Administration must speed up the permitting process and put our energy producers back to work. These discoveries resulted from the long-delayed first permits issued by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) and reiterate yet again further delays in permitting must end. These and other discoveries will lower the cost of gas at the pump and lessen our dependence on foreign oil.”
Louisiana Secretary of Natural Resources…
“This is a great day for the Gulf of Mexico offshore energy industry and a great day for America,” said Angelle. “One year since our fight to lift the moratorium on deepwater drilling began, ExxonMobil has made one of the largest Gulf of Mexico discoveries in ten years. This discovery proves that the Gulf of Mexico offshore industry is capable of finding the fuel that energizes America in a safe and responsible manner. The presence of this activity also impacts Louisiana’s businesses and communities in a positive way.”
The Hayride New Post – Reaction To The Massive ExxonMobil Oil Find. Read it now at http://tinyurl.com/3h35jfx
But of course Louisiana, like Saudi Arabia or Kuwait, has been and will continue to be joined at the hip with the oil and gas business. Nature’s bounty cannot remain buried in the deep forever so long as the world’s economic development runs on hydrocarbons. The long term future belongs to alternative energy, but near and intermediate future remains in the massive reserves of the Dakotas, the EagleFord in Texas, the Haynesville Shale and the Tuscaloosa Marine Shale in Louisiana, and the still to be developed Zones 181 N and 181 S in the Gulf. Each of those “elephant” reserves are now proven. Each rivals most Middle East sources in size and quality. More importantly, most of the depleted fields that once flowed huge quantities of oil and gas in Louisiana still contain most of their original reserves to be harvested as technology advances. Freeport-McMoran has been reworking a field in Vermillion Parish that has rejuvenated a worked-over field and found significant more oil. That is but the beginning. Gordon Atwater, one of the kings of petroleum geology, told me (in 1958) that my granddaughter (I had no kids until 18 years later) would have grandkids watching more oil and gas come from Louisiana and the Gulf than had been harvested at that time. Now I believe him!
Oil company strategy has been to “land bank” domestic reserves for as long as possible so long as foreign sources could be bought cheaply and so long as those sources remained reliable. The advent of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and the middle east uprisings has not rendered the latter much in doubt.
The price of domesic harvesting of hydrocarbons is right and the smell of domestic independence of energy is getting better. In 2017, federal offshore royalties will begin flowing in much larger denominations into Louisiana (estimated $17 Billion a year). As the Saudi-sized Zone 181 develops a whole new fleet of larger support ships is being built, bigger and safer deep water drill ships are being built at hundreds of millions per copy, and land-based plants are being expanded to service the vast increase in offshore development.
Louisiana is, blessed by nature, the hub of all of it. Wake up and be preparing for this future for the economy of the state is not in chicken plucking, Yam canning, and game developing or moving making. While they have a very important role to play, they pale by comparison to energy.
Too little creativity is being focused on planning for this decade’s oil and gas boom. In 18 months Haynesville’s Shale development, now in its infancy, has pumped $3.1 billion into the state economy. The Barnett Shale, near Ft. Worth, Texas, has been producing for over 10 years and contributes over 5% of the entire Texas Gross State Product. It is significantly smaller than the Haynesville.
Smart thinking can bring much more efficiency to our economic development and it seems to be absent without leave.