Why dont we drill our own oil?

Question

Why dont we drill our own oil?

Answer 1

a lot of places in the U.S. are protected from  being exploited for resources

most protected areas are parks and other environmentally protected areas, which keep us from using the resources

Answer 2

Politics.  Too many people don't want an oil rig where it can be seen, or where it might (horrors!) be visible to a passing caribou.  The effect of this fussiness is to cost the US economy about a billion dollars a day.

Answer 3

Well actually we do drill, pump, refine and sell our own oil, we just have been artificially restricted as to where we can look and pump it out. Companies have been actively exploring and successfully finding new oil in the USA since the beginning! Its insane that we are prohibited by congress to pump oil from the Alaskan Wildlife Refuge and off the coast of Florida where we have plentiful reserves, but oddly Communist China is off the Florida coast pumping the oil like there is no tomorrow!

Answer 4

It's generally called the NIMBY Syndrome--meaning Not In My Backyard.  Everyone thinks it is a good idea but nobody wants there to be drilling near where they live.  Soo, if there is an area of interest the residents and politicians of that area usually fight tooth and nail to ensure that no drilling takes place.

Answer 5

Big Oil wants BIG OIL fields with lots of oil. Today the money people do not want to drill marginal wells in old areas of discovery. They have sold their production there in the past to get out. There is still oil and, therefore money to be made, but most have not the resources to drill for it and those that do would not be satisfied with what they could find. FOr example where I live in to the eastern side of the Permian Basin oil can be found in limestone formations of the Mississippi and Caddo formations.  Years ago siesmograph was used to locate highs where the oil could be drilled for with some assurance of success. Above these oil zones lies the Strawn sand zone and others also containing oil but not easy to find with siesmograph. These small oil pays were found by wildcat drillers and accident while drilling to the limestone oil zones (pays). Today untold pockets of oil embedded in sand are still yet to be found but its not a sure thing and the pay off is small. Many areas are held by old leases with a marginal well preventing drilling by others. Sure some independants still drill for it at times but the BIG OIL people could care less. Its all about driving profit margins higher to yield higher stock prices and more lucrative payoffs for the company executives. They don't care about just finding some oil. Better to drill for BIG OIL in a forgien land with cheap labor and low cost mineral rights than to risk money finding and producing America's remaining oil.

Answer 6

Things would look clearer if you toke an Econ. class... sometimes it is just more cheep and officiant to export oil from out side, you might think that oil prices are to expensive but producers in the US think it is not profitable for them yet? you see it is not all in consumers benefit the way they profit it is all about money even if some people are not doing well because of their decisions!?

Answer 7

Because all of the easy oil has been sucked out of the ground and burned already.

Continental USA has already hit the point where it cost more barrels of oil to extract the oil than they get by extracting it.

Answer 8

This question has many answers none of which is very simple.  First there are political issues which places some areas off limits.  There are some technological issues to drilling in very deep water or in cold climates.  There are issues with native populations and their culture in Alaska.  And of course there is the best issue which is cost.  We have a lot of "shale oil" that could be used, but at a very large cost in both money and other resources.  In addition many of our best oil fields have been used up (mostly) in the past!

Answer 9

Because of the radical environmentalists that have the Clintons in their pockets and caused restrictive laws to be passed that keep us from drilling in anwar and offshore and building new refineries.

Answer 10

.Good answers.. all!!  

No one mentions that we CHOSE to drill oil in foreign lands for % of production over time, and deminish that % as time pased..  ..  .. 45, 50 years ago!!!

  THAT was a political advantgous move [then] to insure our reservs would remain unstrained over the long run...  and it has worked well............{ for us.}     [..this is not the first time we have had a panic over the amount oil left in the ground!!!]

  The consequences have been acceptable so far... no nuk war, no global resistance, no out-rite conflicts that have been directly attributed to our long-term plans of self preservation of that resorce.  [..altho... we have been forced to build the biggest war-machean the earth has or will ever ever know, in order to ensure the functionality of that political and industrial mentality]