http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/38223.html
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Here're the savings from Arctic drilling — 75 cents a barrel
By Erika Bolstad | McClatchy Newspapers
WA****NGTON — If Congress were to open up the Arctic National Wildlife
Refuge
to drilling, crude oil prices would probably drop by an average of only 75
cents a barrel, according to Department of Energy projections issued
Thursday.
The re****t, which was requested in December by Sen. Ted Stevens, R-Alaska,
found that oil production in the refuge "is not projected to have a large
impact on world oil prices."
But the re****t also finds that opening ANWR could have other benefits,
particularly in Alaska, where tapping the resources in the Arctic refuge
could
extend the lifespan of the trans-Alaska pipeline. It estimates that if
Congress agreed to open ANWR this year, Alaskan oil could hit the market
in
about 10 years.
"I'm coming away from it saying that this is yet another an indicator that
opening ANWR is im****tant to this country and to our energy future," said
Sen.
Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska.
The re****t was unveiled Thursday by the Department of Energy's research
arm,
the Energy Information Administration and came a day after the Department
of
Interior said that 60 percent of federal lands that hold potential sources
of
natural gas and oil are closed to leasing.
It also comes in the midst of a renewed push by Alaska's congressional
delegation to persuade their congressional colleagues to open a ****tion of
ANWR to oil exploration. Opening the wildlife refuge is the centerpiece of
recently unveiled House and Senate Republican energy plans, which focus on
increasing domestic oil production in the face of record oil prices that,
this
week, exceeded $135 a barrel.
Stevens had no comment about the re****t, but did speak on the floor of the
Senate Thursday in sup****t of opening ANWR to drilling.
Wednesday, his House colleague, Rep. Don Young, R-Alaska, introduced
legislation to open the refuge; it was co-sponsored by a former drilling
opponent, Rep. Roscoe Bartlett, R-Md. The Senate last week rejected a
Republican energy plan that included opening up ANWR.
Even as Republicans have renewed their push, Democrats have warned that
there
just aren't the votes to open the wildlife refuge to drilling. Congress
couldn't muster enough votes to open up the refuge when Republicans
controlled
the House and Senate. Democrats say it simply won't happen while they're
in
charge.
The next four years are likely to offer grim prospects, too. All three of
the
presidential candidates oppose drilling in ANWR, said Athan Manuel,
director
of lands protection for the Sierra Club.
"Their moment in time has passed," Manuel said of the renewed GOP push.
"You
look at Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi, and they're very proud — and
justifiably
— of holding the line on the Arctic, and not losing that fight while they
were
in the minority. I don't think they're going to give that up easily."
Pro-conservation groups such as the Sierra Club have braced for a backlash
as
prices at the pump have continued to rise, Manuel said. But they've found
that
high gas prices haven't led to a public clamor to open up ANWR or other
off-limits and sensitive areas such as the Gulf Coast of Florida.
"The thing that high gas prices has done is make people mad at the oil
companies, and not mad at environmentalists for protecting places like the
Arctic Refuge," Manuel said.
However, even if drilling has a negligible effect on prices at the pump,
opening ANWR to production has other positive effects for Alaska, said
Philip
Budzik, one of the authors of the re****t.
For one, it keeps the Alaska pipeline operational past 2030, Budzik said,
which means that oil producers might continue to explore smaller, less
lucrative North Slope prospects simply because they have a way of getting
their oil out of the state. That means oil production will continue to be
a
mainstay of the Alaska economy.
And if ANWR oil replaces foreign oil barrel-for-barrel, that means the
U.S. is
im****ting less oil, Budzik said, and fewer oil im****ts mean a stronger
U.S.
dollar.
Also, the Department of Energy found that unlike previous re****ts on ANWR,
U.S. oil consumption is projected to decline, in part because of recently
enacted fuel efficiency standards. High oil prices are expected to slacken
demand, too.
Still, the Wall Street Journal re****ted Thursday that the Paris-based
International Energy Agency is projecting that worldwide oil supplies will
struggle to keep up with demand.
The Journal re****ted that the IEA is expected to release a re****t this
fall
that says worldwide demand for oil will exceed 116 million barrels a day,
up
from the current 87 million. Some analysts suggest that the IEA re****t
will
spur more interest in previously off-limits domestic prospects.
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02:05:15 05/25/2008
James_Macdonald
Congress controls the purse not the Executive branch-sheesh!
The Republicans controlled both branches, and put party ahead of branch
and
ahead of country.
12:05:00 05/25/2008
midnightson
borisjimski- weekness of the dollar is the administrations fault- Congress
controls the purse not the Executive branch-sheesh!
09:05:06 05/23/2008
journeyer58
Why is it such a secret, that the US has more oil than all the other
countries? In the city of Tulsa, Ok, there is a large deposit of crude oil
just waiting to be tapped. But I was told that the oil companies had a law
put
on the books, way back in the early 1900's that made it illegal to drill
for
oil in or near the city limits of Tulsa, Ok. I was told this by someone
who
had personal knowledge of this fact and the verification of this fact, was
proven out by the US Geological Survey. Can we now, try to overturn this
silly
and stupid law and work for the greater good, lessening our dependence on
foreign oil and giving the rights to the commodities taken from the ground
of
public land back to the public, which rightfully owns the land. Surely by
now
someone from the US Geological Survey can let the facts be known and make
life
easier for the people of the United States, and not totally enrich the
cabal
of the oil companies and our "beloved" shrub.
09:05:56 05/23/2008
ypochris
Most of the wells on the north slope have never been pumped- my brother in
law
drilled there for decades and he says no wells he drilled were pumped-
they
would hit oil and then cap it. The theory is, why use our oil when we can
use
theirs?
In any case, the real problem here is the weak dollar- while drilling in
ANWR
might lower the cost of gasoline a couple cents per gallon ten years from
now,
even a 1% improvement in the value of the dollar would do more, and the
effect
would be immediate. Not approving just one of the supplemental budget
requests
for the war in Iraq (that we "won" years ago) would do more to reduce the
price of gasoline than opening all of our public lands to drilling.
Not that the price of gas should go down- high energy prices are the only
hope
for this planet. Since no one has the political spine to mandate energy
effeciency, nothing but high energy prices will cause the world to reduce
consumption enough to prevent catastrophic climate change.
Here's to $10 a gallon gasoline, like in England!
09:05:52 05/23/2008
Mark701
Wow. I can't think of a better reason to rape ANWR than to keep the
Alaskan
pipeline in service.
07:05:12 05/23/2008
edsahara
Why should we do the oil companies any favors? The US should create its
own
oil company and the profits from ANWR should go to our own treasury. Other
countries are doing the same thing.
07:05:46 05/23/2008
GreatMalenko
What does 75 cents/barrel mean for the pump price of gasoline? The story
seems
to have omitted this.
11:05:22 05/22/2008
borisjimski
If it weren't for resource extraction Alaska wouldn't even be a state
since it
has nothing else in terms of an economic base. In fact, ditto with Nevada,
Wyoming, and likely Arizona too. If the Republicans want to strengthen the
dollar, they can submit honest, balanced budgets instead of these
debt-ridden
do***ents they've submitted every year they were in power during Dubya's
maladministration.
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