We should be happy to hear that Chevron struck “black gold” last month in the Gulf of Mexico. The company reported success in drilling for oil in the highly anticipated Wilson formation, about 175 miles from the Louisiana coast. But there’s bad news in the discovery, too.

Analysts tell us that anywhere from 3 to 15 billion barrels of oil may be extracted from this new deepwater drilling site. By 2013, there may be 800,000 barrels per day coming from this find, which could account for 11% of the U.S. oil production.

So what’s the bad news? The bad news is that the way this discovery has been reported, with headlines such as, “New oil find boosts U.S. reserves by 50 percent.” While this headline is accurate, it’s not as dramatic as it sounds to the lay person. My concern is that this will add to the “everything will work itself out” attitude that many people have concerning the coming energy crisis.

Let’s face it. The U.S. has been addicted to an oil habit for many years, and the problems with this drug are numerous:
* the biggest pushers (Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq) are acting in their best interests, not ours
*some fast-growing kids are also getting addicted (China and India, to name a couple)
* we have to buy most of what we use of it, and
* the supply of this drug is not unlimited.

If you were counseling a young person with a habit like this, you’d certainly impress upon him or her that they needed to get help, and to think about their future. Similarly, we need to keep looking ahead.

Individually, wind, solar, or nuclear power is not the answer to our energy needs. But each has a part to play, however small. And as improvements are made in these technologies, the picture may change. Who knows what these alternative technologies will look like in 2020?

We need to keep investing in different energy sources for the same reason that engineering companies have R&D departments, for the same reason that pharmaceutical companies are testing new treatments, for the same reason that quality sporting teams have good scouting or farm systems. We have to stop grasping backward and start planning for the future. Recent reports on hydraulic and other types of hybrid vehicles, as well as E85-accepting cars (controversial as they are), certainly show the kind of innovate solutions that the U.S. is known for.

There are advances in oil production, too. People bring up the huge tar sand reserves in Canada. Although driven more by economics than by new technology ($70 barrels of oil finally makes oil extraction from tar sands competitive), there is certainly oil to be had from these sources. But it’s not cheap oil, and it, too has a limit.

This country made the same mistake with our space program in the last few decades. Putting all our eggs in the space shuttle “basket” didn’t look so smart once the Challenger and Columbia disasters left us grounded for years at a time.

Doesn’t it makes sense to work toward a more balanced energy economy, instead of hoping that we’ll discover more oil right when it’s about to run out? I’m not giving up on oil, I just think it’s less black gold and more like black cocaine.

Paul J. Heney
senior editor
pheney@penton.com

Paul wrote:

"Doesn’t it makes sense to work toward a more balanced energy economy, instead of hoping that we’ll discover more oil right when it’s about to run out?"

All you have to do is take a look at History to know that Nothing has Changed. Oil is not the problem it is just a symptom.

In the 30's Prime Minister Chamberlain wanted to stop Hitler but was voted down and we all know something about WW2. I was 9 when Pearl Harbor was bombed and remember a lot about that conflagration.

Saddam Hussein started doing the same thing in his Neck of the Woods and was put down but the Naysayer's have had a Field Day with that decision.

Have you noticed how the Iranian and Iraqui troops march when you see them on TV News?

Looks like DejaVu to me. Where have I witnesed that type of marching before?

A wise person said something to the effect of: "History repeats itself" and this is what I see happening with the exception of the technology changes that come with time. We can just kill a lot more a lot faster now.

I said all that to say, "Don't hold your breath while waiting for something different to happen." We are a lot more greedy and thing's oriented now than we were in 1941.

Well considering the current management in DC, this does not surprise me. I agree with Paul more oil is not the key, it is a drug and there are pushers, all over the place. For the first time in many years here in Nebraska I have heard corn is over $3.00 a bushel and most of that is going into ethanol production, then when the alcohol is made there is something like 90% of the food value, left which cattle producers are feeding their herds with, and from what I am told the gluten is cheaper to buy than whole corn, this sounds like a win-win situation to me.
My car is old enough that the E85 will not work but in the winter I do use E10. We all know the automakers have the capability to make 50-70 mpg vehicles, but of course they won't because I have also heard the oil companies "help them out". I used to work in the irrigation industry and there were those installations that used the tried and true diesel engine driven wells most of which were real old and leaked oil like crazy, and the exhaust, well 'nuf said, I ran across a website that talked about about micro-turbine generators this article pretty much stated that one companies products will run on just about anything including ethanol, and is more efficient that ICE units, and quieter too.
So to sum up this entry we grow corn, make ethanol out of it and feed the remaining by product to the cattle for people to eat, and use the ethanol to run our irrigation systems to grow more and better corn, all without the oil companies involvement. I like this concept opinions?