by threadbear » Sat 10 May 2008, 15:43:24
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('threadbear', '
')My own personal feeling, fwiw, is, exploration and refinery expansion aren't more feverish, because it is hellishly expensive.
Actually, refinery expansion IS going on at a feverish pace, just not in the United States. The oil majors have plenty of money for expensive projects---they've committed 600 million for exploration and pipeline work in Alaska this summer, but no one will risk building a refinery in the US now because of the environmental regulations and the ability of environmental groups to tie up construction projects for years to decades in the courts. Whats the point in even trying to build a refinery in the US?
Overseas the story is different.
The most recent FORTUNE magazine had a nice article about the construction of a huge new refinery city on the west coast of India---the total complex will be the size of Manhattan and will have the capacity to process 6% of all the oil in the world. The plan is to refine the crude there, and then to ship gas throughout India, with leftovers going to the US, Japan etc. as demand warrents. Another giant refinery is also built elsewhere in Asia, where labor is cheap and demand is growing rapidly.
Expansion going on at a feverish pace--just not in the US, the biggest consumer of gasoline on the planet. Just because India is building refineries, doesn't imply that the developed nations also expect to rely on gasoline as a major energy source, in the future.
Doesn't look like the Chinese are planning to run their autos on much other than electrical, generated from hydro, and nukes, too.