Oil Companies Holding Out For Cheaper Land & Large Profits

We read something that pretty much kills the ANWR drilling debate. CNN Money has a blurb about Democrats and oil industry insiders busting open an oil drilling secret-- they have 70 million acres of land not being drilled!

 

Looking at it logically, the reason given for not drilling the 70 million acres of the total 90 million acres (which amounts to over 3/4) that oil companies currently lease, are mainly due to high cost of exploration and the cost of laying infrastructure such as pipelines. Ok, makes sense to us.

 

But then how can oil companies, and especially Republicans, justify opening up more offshore drilling and drilling in Alaska? The oil companies admit it takes a long time to explore, lay infrastructure, and then drill to even begin to produce more supply. If we opened up ANWR tomorrow, they wouldn't be able to drill for years!

 

This quote from the article explains it all: "...But fearing oil prices will eventually fall, the industry is leery about making too many investments in the fields it has - many of which are in deepwater areas that can be pricey to develop. Instead, they're holding out, hoping the government will open areas closer to shore that would be cheaper to work on."

 

So it isn't really about producing more supply to make it cheaper for the average consumer. It's all about the oil companies profit margin (which we would admit any corporation would be looking at). Exxon Mobil, Shell, and so forth aren't looking out for the little guy. And neither are Republicans, no matter how many closed grocery store back drops that Joe Barton, Pete Sessions, Michael Burgess, or Kay Granger visit. They are looking out for the big corporations, their profit margins, and their ability to donate PAC funds to their campaigns.

 

They can drill on top of every seagull and polar bear from Florida to Alaska, but we'll still be paying an arm and a leg for gas!