[ROCKMAN]

That's great info there Dude. But I'll also throw out the fact that more than 90 wells were drilled in the North Sea before the first major field discovery was made. But, having said that, I doubt east coast productivity will ever be close to the GOM. But, having said that, 15 years ago no speculated that there could be multi billion bbl oil fields off the east coast of Brazil. One thing for sure: with the current quality of seismic data it won't take too many wells to proivide a hint as to how much or how little potential there is in those additional OCS areas.

[ROCKMAN]

cube -- an interesting side note about population density. Some months ago I stumbled across a surprising listing of pop density across the globe. Despite preconceived notions Africa, as a whole, is not over populated when measured in density terms. It actually has one of the lowest densities. I don't recall the details but New England had some of the highest density pops (statewide) in the world. Even many midwestern states had surprisingly high densities compared to other industrialized nations.

Whether they're packed tite in the cities or spread out in the burbs they are just a heck of a lot of us in the US.

[TheDude]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ROCKMAN', 'T')hat's great info there Dude. But I'll also throw out the fact that more than 90 wells were drilled in the North Sea before the first major field discovery was made. But, having said that, I doubt east coast productivity will ever be close to the GOM. But, having said that, 15 years ago no speculated that there could be multi billion bbl oil fields off the east coast of Brazil. One thing for sure: with the current quality of seismic data it won't take too many wells to proivide a hint as to how much or how little potential there is in those additional OCS areas.

[ROCKMAN]

Dude,

I still look back at the rig count during the 70's boom: over 4500 rigs drilling. In North america we're still only running half that number today. It was a true "gold rush" back then. And that eventually destroyed the majority of oil companies in the US. Most folks here don't know that the oil price spike back then (and the oil industries response to it) led to the worse financial period of oil/gas exploration in history. The young pups back then (as I was) are the CEO's and managers of today's oil companies. They've finally gotten more aggressive expanding activity but they never forget those good ole bad days back in the 80's.

[JoeW]

heating oil has dropped by about a dollar on the nymex since july 1. i hope a lot of people switch to other fuels so that i can afford heating oil this winter.

[obixman]

There has been a lease sale and there have been seismic surveys of New England - even a few wells drilled on structure - - I know because I worked them when I was just starting out in the industry. There may be some ->small<- deposits along the far outer continental shelf, but - based on actual drill results - the formations have not reached thermal maturity and - in general - are not rich enough in organics to have produced very much hydrocarbon.

Just because the exploration took place in the mid 70's don't reject the hard evidence of the drill bit.

[Homesteader]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Homesteader', ' ') Good, you conceded the point that New England doesn't have any oil fields. So where will the funds come from?

[ROCKMAN]

obixman,

I'm not an exploration geologist by any means. But I do wonder about the deep potential off the east coast. The relatively shallow tests already drilled out there may not have targeted a deep/mature enough section. Seismic and geochemical analysis has advanced so much since those days I'm sure we could quickly developed a fair understanding of the potential (or lack of potential) of significant reserves of the east coast. While it would take decades to put a significant amount of production n line (if it is actually there) I think it might only take 5 or 6 years to determine if the plays really has legs. If we were to approach PO as a potential national emergency I wouldn't oppose the feds doing the work themselves. They would have to subcontract to the oil industry,of course. But they could move twice as fast as any private effort. In reality, I'm sure we would just sit back and watch them screw the whole effort up. But, then again, hell would likely freeze over before the gov't would be that proactive.

[gnm]

I switched to large scale solar thermal and passive solar with a wood stove for backup. The solar is scaled to handle 100% of need but a few days of darkness/snow in a row could cool things off a bit. Why would anyone pay lots of money to shift to another fuel which you have to pay for?

-G

[MarkJ]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', 'S')ome colonials lived in small houses, but some colonial houses are very large, with 5-10 or more fireplaces scattered throughout the house. Visit Providence or Bristol or Boston or Nantucket or Charleston, SC and similar historic places on the east coast and you'll see some splendid old huge houses dating from the Colonial era .

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Homesteader', ' ') ....there are no New England oilfields that can produce royalties that can be distributed for heating assistance.

[ROCKMAN]

Mark.

Your story reminds me of a report I saw years ago. It was written by the man who developed the roadside equipment to measure auto pollution as each car went by. It even video taped the license plat. I forget the exact number but they discovered, in California, that the great majority (80 %?) of auto pollution was actually caused by just a small percentage (4% or 5%) of the cars on the road. But instead of going after just those cars the state used the info to mandate more vehicle pollution inspection. The same fellow estimated it would have cost far less to buy the bad polluters a new car then what was spent on the enhanced test program. But no one listened to him.

I doubt the trade off would be as good with a gov’t mandated (and funded) improvement of home energy usage. But it does make you wonder. I know there are programs out there to help folks with such efforts but, human nature being what it is, maybe having some gov’t home efficiency Nazis running around forcing improvements would have a handsome return on our tax dollar investment. Just a random thought.

[MarkJ]

When we perform an oil-to-gas burner, boiler or furnace conversion, we generally eliminate the electric hot water heater as well which increases natural gas demand.

We perform quite a few electric baseboard to natural gas conversions as well. Once people hook up to the natural gas main, they often use gas ranges, cook-tops, dryers, water heaters, pool heaters or heat additional zones like garages as well.

Since natural gas is relatively cheap, people tend to keep thermostat settings higher, hot water temperatures higher, take longer showers and they're not as concerned about building envelope improvements and net system efficiency as our heating oil, kerosene and propane customers.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ROCKMAN', 'I') know there are programs out there to help folks with such efforts but, human nature being what it is, maybe having some gov’t home efficiency Nazis running around forcing improvements would have a handsome return on our tax dollar investment. Just a random thought.

[ROCKMAN]

I know what you mean P. But I've seen so many examples in my life of folks not taking advantage of free programs for what ever silly reason. You would think sky high enrgy bills would be otivation enough...but not always. Either way, adding those folks into a program probably would gain a whole lot. But I just liked the image of black shirted gov't goons kicking in doors while pointing thermal scanners at frightened homeowners.

[dirthoser]

Anyone using heating oil to heat their house has a screw loose.

Electricity is much cheaper in most places, it is made from COAL.

If you buy a heat pump you can heat your house for a third of the cost of electricty

exampl 1 gallon propane costs $2.77 for 100,000 Btu
electricity for that would cost $1.77
and heat pump for that would cost 60 cents.

We bought three heat pumps at home depot ro 600 dollars each, can heat a 2000 square foot house easily for a third of the electric bbill.

if you live in apartment just always leave your lights on.
lights make 100% heat, and it saves a lot on oil heat.

just turn all your lights on, you will save way more on oil or propane heat that way. you have to be less than 14 cents KWH to do this.

no matter what your electric costs are, even if they are 30 cents a kilowatt hour, heat pump is the cheapest.

[Kingcoal]

Gas is a better alternative to oil for the time being, IMO, but it isn't a "final solution," though I doubt any rational person here would think it is.

IMO, I feel that ultimately, the electric powered home is the future, though for now, we have our intern choices. If you have done investigation on how the PTB want you to go, it is always with something that uses a consumable; preferably a material consumable because it's distribution can be finely controlled. This is the hoopla over the "hydrogen powered economy." The PTB are always trying to construct an "economy" out of anything and everything. The simplest form of economy is simply one on one contracts. The PTB want their take in every single contract formed, trying to turn every single contract into a public contract and subject to public regulation. That in a nutshell is the traditional view of of what an economy "has to be." This traditional paradigm is one of centralized control, one where a control grid is established and implemented for the benefit ultimately of those at the top of the pyramid. Purhaps they feel that this is the way things need to be done because the people can't be trusted and any other system would degenerate into anarchy.

So yes, currently, NG is a better alternative than oil. Like I said, electricity holds the promise of the power of the future. The PTB have never liked that however. According to several sources, just before his "death," Nicola Tesla displayed a discovery to JP Morgan which demonstrated a way to transmit electricity wirelessly using Maxwell's largely unpublished equations for Scalar Fields. Purportedly, Morgan scoffed at the technology saying; "How do you meter it? What about the copper wire industry? You'll put them under. What about the logging industry (telephone poles,) you'll put them under." What Morgan was saying to Tesla is "fogetaboutit" and bury it for your own good. After Tesla "died," government agents came to his home and confiscated all his papers. That is a fact, it has been verified long ago. It makes you wonder about what things otherwise would have been like if Tesla's discovery would have been brought into the mainstream. We'd be in a completely different and better world now assuming that we wouldn't have destroyed ourselves. Instead, the technology was taken by the government and what they've done with it, if anything, is open to fascinating speculation because they haven't shared anything with the public.

[obixman]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('ROCKMAN', 'o')bixman,

I'm not an exploration geologist by any means. But I do wonder about the deep potential off the east coast. The relatively shallow tests already drilled out there may not have targeted a deep/mature enough section. Seismic and geochemical analysis has advanced so much since those days I'm sure we could quickly developed a fair understanding of the potential (or lack of potential) of significant reserves of the east coast. While it would take decades to put a significant amount of production n line (if it is actually there) I think it might only take 5 or 6 years to determine if the plays really has legs. If we were to approach PO as a potential national emergency I wouldn't oppose the feds doing the work themselves. They would have to subcontract to the oil industry,of course. But they could move twice as fast as any private effort. In reality, I'm sure we would just sit back and watch them screw the whole effort up. But, then again, hell would likely freeze over before the gov't would be that proactive.

[Homesteader]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '
')
Of course. I'm just pointing out that it isn't very useful to lament about the absence of oilfields producing royalties that might be used for heating assistance in New England without facing the reality that liberal politicians from New England are blocking offshore oil exploration in New England.

Your ignorance of this political reality is surprising....I wonder if lots of people in New England don't understand this simple political reality.

[Plantagenet]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('obixman', '
')While it is true that the whole stratigraphic column wasn't drilled - in fact most of the traps were looked at..