Obama blames Oil companies for not Drilling

Obama Blames Oil Companies for Lack of Drilling


In his Friday press conference to discuss gas prices, President Obama was rather defensive, straining to counter the notion that his administration has been unfriendly to oil drilling, something most people would like to see a lot more of these days.

Where do people get that notion? Perhaps his Interior Department appealing a judge’s ruling that it act on several pending deepwater permits had something to with it.

Obama claimed repeatedly that he is not against drilling, then made the following comments:

There is more we can do, however. For example, right now, the (oil) industry holds leases on tens of millions of acres — both offshore and on land — where they aren’t producing a thing. So I’ve directed the Interior Department to determine just how many of these leases are going undeveloped and report back to me within two weeks so that we can encourage companies to develop the leases they hold and produce American energy. People deserve to know that the energy they depend on is being developed in a timely manner.

In other words, Obama is arguing that the oil companies themselves may be to blame for the fact that there isn’t more drilling. For some reason they’re ignoring making a profit. It’s a bizarro-world inversion of the usual complaint against oil companies — that they are reckless and all-too eager to despoil pristine lands in search of black gold.

Nevertheless, it is a familiar talking point that Democrats have been throwing out there for years now. The Interior report Obama mentioned will probably come in the coming weeks or months and “prove” this point. Obama clearly hopes it will take the pressure off of his administration for high gas prices and throw it on the oil companies.

But is any of this true? Technically yes, says the oil industry, but the claim is extremely misleading. As Richard Ranger, a policy analyst with the American Petroleum Institute, has explained:

“The process of looking at an area that might have oil and gas potential and narrowing your search over time and over a sequence of steps to actually producing oil and gas involves kind of casting a big net first and over time through geologic work,” Ranger said. “[Y] You prioritize some over others, you may be lucky on those first ones you drill, you may not — then you drill prospects further down your priority list.”

Ranger also explained it’s not always a cut-and-dried situation. Some areas will have oil and gas, some won’t and some might have it, but it may not be economically feasible to pump it out of the ground.

“When you drill, you have results that are either sufficient oil or gas to allow production or a dry hole or somewhere in between where you think we may have production but we may need some further work to determine whether this formation, this target, is economic to produce. Those steps consume several years from the point of leasing to a point of decision.”

I remember a few years ago the pres. said he wouldn't OK any development on public lands which was pushed by the tree huggers. Now it's a 180.

Bill Clinton: Drilling delays 'ridiculous'

Bill Clinton: Drilling delays 'ridiculous' - Darren Goode - POLITICO.com

Drill Baby Drill...................

YouTube - Rep Don Young Urges Producing American Energy & Opening ANWR

I am still a big advocate of reopening existing capped wells. yes I understand that they may not produce a lot, but some is better than none, something to take the bite off of the current trend of prices.

As far as the article goes, it nice to hear that there is an Ex-Democratic president slamming a current one because the current president does not have the foresight to fix the problem. This is the thing that pisses me off about government the most, hear they are knowing what the right thing to do is, but the bureaucracy is so bad that they make the American people suffer until it is too late. Start drilling for domestic use and then lets sell it so we can make so money at some point by selling it too other nations.

Many good points taken here. Little "O" is is a proven liar, and the Big "O" a.k.a. the Black Widow, could probably run several countries at the same time--and she'd make a great dictator like Big Daddy Mugabe.

Obama cancelled ALL the oil companies Gulf leases after the Deepwater Horizon fiasco, and still won't let them drill there. The ace this country holds is the immense oil field in northern Alaska, and another one in North Dakota--bigger than all the Arab countries combined.

I don't trust the oil companies either, though. Most of our past AND current oil "shortages" have been manipulated by them to drive up the price for bigger profits, as if they needed more. They are truly the biggest crooks in the world. Politicians are merely criminals with a nice office, who never have to pay for anything with their own money--why would they care what gas costs?