4 ms·
The value of 900B is wrong, apparently. Value of oil in the ground != value of oil in a barrel. http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/11/18/the-midland-
by f_allwein 10y ago
The value of 900B is wrong, apparently. Value of oil in the ground != value of oil in a barrel.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/11/18/the-midland-basin-wolfcamp-shale-is-not-worth-900-billion-thats-not-how-resource-economics-works/#42ec45442197 http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2016/11/18/the-midla...
Plus, we're at a stage where we really need to leave a lot of oil in the ground:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/07/much-worlds-fossil-fuel-reserve-must-stay-buried-prevent-climate-change-study-says https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/jan/07/much-wor...
- matt_wulfeck 10y agoAlso it provides security if we burn up everyone else's oil but keep large reserves for ourselves.
- saryant 10y agoThis was official US policy for much of the post-war era and a large part of the reason the US encouraged the development of oil fields in the Gulf. In WWII the Allies deeply learned the benefits of having vast, safe oil resources in lands untouchable by the enemy. US policy after the war called for encouraging foreign development, especially by the US majors, in order to keep our reserves in tact for the next war.
- paulddraper 10y agoCan't speak to the second part, but I came here to post the first part. tl;dr There's nearly a trillion dollars of oil to sell at today's prices, but it's not "worth" anywhere that much in net because drilling it is not nothing.