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Hold your horses there, Tex. You're counting chickens that haven't even been laid, much less hatched. The USGS report is for "undiscovered, technically recove
by jhayward 10y ago
Hold your horses there, Tex. You're counting chickens that haven't even been laid, much less hatched.
The USGS report is for "undiscovered, technically recoverable" resources. "Undiscovered" means they have a theory that there should be petroleum there, but it is very uncertain as to correctness and quantity. You can get excited when it becomes "proven" reserve.
"Technically recoverable" means that if the oil they think is there exists, and is situated the way they think, there exist technology to go get it. What it is not is "economically recoverable". It may be technically recoverable but need a $500/bbl price point to make money.
There are many, many technically recoverable resources that will never be economical. At some point it becomes cheaper to make oil synthetically rather than extract it from the ground. In fact, this is the observation that peak oil makes.
So don't get too far ahead of the facts in declaring the cornucopia days ahead.