Sunday, November 04, 2007

Booms and Busts


A classic oil story- the fields of West Texas are booming again- sort of.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Texas was able to drill up more oil with the little amount it has left. I consider a “boom” to occur when production has increased due to technology or surplus. Technology is better but surplus is definitely out of the mix due to the drilling in the 70’s and 80’s. You can hardly call it a boom because oil production is at its lowest since 1949.

Anonymous said...

I wonder what would happen if all the countries ran out of oil. I hope I am not there when that happens.

It cool that we still have some oil left in the US to supply 1/3 of us. That still has to be a big number.

Anonymous said...

it might be just me...but I thought it was PRETTY obvious that we aren't exactly an OPEC candidate. So why the big deal that we don't have alot of oil?? Wasn't that kinda clear to everyone....that's why we buy it from other countries!
And also this article should have been titled "The most boring history of oil, EVER."

But i kinda get the economics of it...there wasnt alot of oil. And they exceeded the long range capacity so now there isnt any. Correct me if Im wrong. And we could have mined it earlier, but it wasn't economically beneficially until prices rose as high as they are now.

Anonymous said...

This article doesn't make our future sound too good. The only thing it seems to promise in the long run is just more over priced oil. Why are these companies spending so much money to suck up the remains of a couple oil fields. With the money they spend searching for more oil in America, they could be drilling for oil over in Europe and Asia. If they want to start driving around in their rolls royce and limos again, they should get out of America and find a large deposit of oil somewhere else and make a fortune.

Anonymous said...

this area of Texas is experiencing a boom due to the increasing oil prices. this shows how as prices go up, supplies will try to produce more oil. there is a limit, though, because wells run out and it is difficult to find new sources.

Anonymous said...

oh snap! the B-word

so is this like a fake boom going on or something? people think the money is in the ground but it's really not...at least not much anymore. if people are sqeezing the little bit left, then we must be really screwed.

oh boy, the supply is going down so the price level is going up!! it ALL MAKES SENSE!

hahaha that guy bought a hummer with his oil money. americans and their irony

Anonymous said...

I think this boom will in fact help slow the decline of the amount of oil we produce. And I believe it will help lower oil prices but it won't last so long. As the article said, the oil reserves they starting to use again are almost depleted which means its just a matter of time before we have to rely even more on oil from the middle east an canada and having to pay much higher prices as opposed to getting a bunch of it from within our own borders.

Anonymous said...

So are they saying there should be more oil production? people complain about the prices of oil, but at the same time they complain about using it. use alternatives for oil. we've figure out ways to do that, but most people just dont have the time and energy to care.

Anonymous said...

this just shows me that my biodiesel production company is a very good idea: no foreign dependancy, cheaper, way cleaner, and highly sought after.

it was pretty interesting though. i really never thought much about the oil industry in america. i wonder what happens when this boom goes bust.

Anonymous said...

Something obviously needs to be done. Everyone sees what is wrong, how oil prices are rising and the amount of oil that is available in the United States is decreasing. We have alternatives to oil, yet they are not efficient enough for everyone to use. Somehow, the nation has to come together and find a solution and use less oil. As the amount of oil available decreases, Americans need to find a better substitute for oil.

Anonymous said...

Unless some serious changes are made in the near future regarding our oil consumption, there is definitely not a positive outlook for American oil users. Americans consume way too much oil each day. If we keep this up we're going to deplete the world of oil very quickly. We need to try to find alternative resources. However, they tend to be more expensive, so many people don't choose to try them.

Anonymous said...

the atricle leaves readers with a far from promising outlook on future life.

it just goes to show that if people are using every last bit of oil we have, we must really be up for disaster.. i'm glad i read this article though becuase i never really put that much thought into the economic aspect of oil.

Anonymous said...

I wouldn't really call it a boom..It's just a desperate way to try and bring the oil prices down, for a short period of time. In the long run it's actually going to be worse because it is only using up the last bit of oil in america, and the dependency in oil from other countries will increase, and probably bring the prices up even higher.

Anonymous said...

If the price of oil increases in the future then we will have to pay more money for oil. there is a lot of oil that is used everyday. I understand that companies are getting the oil because since there is not much left they can increase the price and get more money. But at the end of the day, people will be paying more money for oil, which sucks. i hate high gas prices.

Anonymous said...

certainly oil is declining. as we live in a society that seems to rely on oil we must find alternate routes to servicing our needs. we seem to still be making oil discoveries around the world but still they can not hold up. and as the oil levels decrease the prices continue to rise, so using oil will become continually tougher for us as well.

Anonymous said...

The oil prices today are unbelievably high, people are complaining but no one is really making a difference. If we drill up all the oil we do still have left, we will have to rely on other countries even more and pay even higher prices. Everyone will just complain even more, but they are really so concerned they should do something about it.

Anonymous said...

yea, we should really start using alternative energy sources. there really are no cons except that guys that drive hybrids are usually pompous losers.

Anonymous said...

OIL. One of the things most americans rely on daily is high priced and going to rapily increase to be expensive. I don't understand why people are complaining about gas prices being too high. We don't have enough oil. Its the 2000's and people have came up with various ideas to save money and resources.

J said...

Although we americans aren't quick to admit it, the world is running out of oil. It seems that the drilling in texas is a last ditch-get rich scheme that everybody knows will only last for a short time...and then it's over. That is why nobody is "drinking champagne out of cowboy boots" as they did back in the day. People turn to that image of the past as justification for revisiting the fields-but the fact that nobody dares to call it an oil "boom" implies that they know it's time is limited, and they dont want to get tehir hopes up... Anyway, don't we see yet that we need to find an alternative source of energy? Oil isn't going to be around forever, especially not the way they are sucking it out of the ground...

J said...

Although we americans aren't quick to admit it, the world is running out of oil. It seems that the drilling in texas is a last ditch-get rich scheme that everybody knows will only last for a short time...and then it's over. That is why nobody is "drinking champagne out of cowboy boots" as they did back in the day. People turn to that image of the past as justification for revisiting the fields-but the fact that nobody dares to call it an oil "boom" implies that they know it's time is limited, and they dont want to get tehir hopes up... Anyway, don't we see yet that we need to find an alternative source of energy? Oil isn't going to be around forever, especially not the way they are sucking it out of the ground...

Anonymous said...

Everyone knows that oil is going up significantly in the past couple of years so we should look for other alternatives. Since oil is limited prices are going to keep rising. Sooner or later we are going to run out of oil and then what are we going to do?