U.S. Has More Oil Than Middle East
Posted: Tue Sep 27, 2005 1:25 pmU.S. Has More Oil Than Middle East ; But Tapping Vast Shale Deposits Poses Big Environmental Risks <br><br>WASHINGTON - The United States has an oil reserve at least three times that of Saudi Arabia locked in oil shale deposits beneath federal land in Colorado, Utah and Wyoming, according to a study released this week. <br><br> <br>But the researchers at the RAND think tank caution the federal government to go carefully, balancing the environmental and economic impacts with development pressure to prevent an oil shale bust later. <br><br>"We've got more oil in this very compact area than the entire Middle East," said James Bartis, RAND senior policy researcher and the report's lead author. However, he added, "if we go faster, there's a good chance we're going to end up at a dead end. You could end up bogged down." <br><br>For years, the industry and the government considered oil shale - a rock that produces petroleum when heated - too expensive to be a feasible source of oil. <br><br>However, oil prices, which spiked above $70 a barrel this week, combined with advances in technology could soon make it possible to tap the estimated 500 billion to 1.1 trillion recoverable barrels, the report found. <br><br>That could meet a quarter of the nation's current oil needs for the next 400 years. <br><br>But the risks are high. It's unclear how new technologies will affect the land, air and the Colorado River, Bartis said. <br><br>The study, sponsored in part by the U.S. Department of Energy, comes in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, which disrupted gulf oil production and sent crude oil prices surging.<br><br>========<br><br>But even this is a red herring, as we know they have been shutting down the refining capacity for decades. It's quite simple, control the resources, control the people! <!--EZCODE EMOTICON START :b --><img src=http://www.ezboard.com/images/emoticons/tongue.gif ALT=":b"><!--EZCODE EMOTICON END--> <p></p><i></i>