Drill where the oil is!

The American public is finally demanding that the restrictions on drilling for our own oil be lifted. This demand is being ignored by some politicians. They argue that the oil companies have thousands of acres under lease on which they are not drilling. Why lease them more?

This argument shows that the politician is either ignorant ... or he/she thinks we are. For a quick analogy, let's say that a family member needs a kidney transplant. Your kidneys have been found to be compatible and you have decided to give up one for a transplant. The doctor performing the transplant needs your whole body on the operating table. But there is only one of two places on your body where he will be able to locate and remove a kidney.

Oil is found in pools. These pools get trapped within specific geological structures under ground. Over the years, oil companies have developed ways to identify the most likely places to find oil. When they lease land for exploration, it is for the purpose of trying to find geological formations which are most likely to have trapped oil. These formations normally represent a very small percentage of the total land mass of the lease. Once potential sites are located, the oil company must determine that the oil, if present, can be economically removed. There are many oil deposits that are known but are too expensive to recover.

The oil fields off the continental shelves and in the Arctic (which are currently the center of debate) are much more likely to produce large quantities of oil, and can be drilled for substantially lower cost than much of the land currently under lease. The bottom line is this - oil prices will come down as we produce more from our domestic supply. The cheapest and fastest way to achieve this result is to allow oil companies to drill where the oil is .. not where it is not! Any politician that tells you the oil companies have enough leases is just trying to get you to jump thru hoops!