[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Plantagenet', '
')I'm sure that way even the Kennedys would eventually come to support alternative energy.

[joewp]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Kingcoal', 'G')as 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.

[ROCKMAN]

obixman,

You are so BUSTED! I don't normally come down to hard on folks here. Everyone has the right to their own opinion. But you didn't express an opinion...you stated a bold and unqualified "fact". Regardless of whatever potential may or may not exist off the east coast you have never been so wrong as when you say seismic is not needed for exploration. Forget the fact that no oil company has ever drilled an exploration well offshore without the aid of seismic. No oil company has ever taken a lease offshore without the aid of seismic. I've been a petroleum geologist for 33 years. One of us is not telling the truth. I'll let the thread decide for themselves who's correct.

[TheDude]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Kingcoal', '"')What about the logging industry (telephone poles,) you'll put them under."

[obixman]

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

You are so BUSTED! I don't normally come down to hard on folks here. Everyone has the right to their own opinion. But you didn't express an opinion...you stated a bold and unqualified "fact". Regardless of whatever potential may or may not exist off the east coast you have never been so wrong as when you say seismic is not needed for exploration. Forget the fact that no oil company has ever drilled an exploration well offshore without the aid of seismic. No oil company has ever taken a lease offshore without the aid of seismic. I've been a petroleum geologist for 33 years. One of us is not telling the truth. I'll let the thread decide for themselves who's correct.

[Starvid]

Jesus... How come those people in New England even heat with oil? Didn't everyone switch heating fuels from oil like 25 years ago?!

[ROCKMAN]

obixman ,

You're correct about the old 2d data (which is always proprietary…never becomes public domain). But it could probably be bought real cheap these days. But, again, no one would lease or drill on this data even with current reprocessing efforts. It could be useful to define areas to concentrate new 3d efforts. Companies today demand 3d coverage in exploration plays. Many companies won’t even look at an outside generated oil prospect onshore if there’s no 3d coverage. Which is unfortunate because there are still good prospects to be drilled onshore without 3d coverage. It’s not just the areal coverage but the data content. New acquisition techniques deliver much more content then the old 2d. The new data can, in certain instances, allow the direct detection of oil/gas, commonly called “direct hydrocarbon indicators” (DHI’s). Not a 100% accurate by any means but can weigh heavily in decisions on lease bids and drilling locations.

I’m not completely poo-pooing the old data. It’s there and should be cheap and thus will be used. But that’s just a starting point. Another anecdote about the early evaluation efforts. A number of the “stratigraphic test wells” were drilled by industry consortiums and were located in the least likely place to find commercial hydrocarbons. That’s because no one owned these leases. The goal was to collect samples to test for the possibility of hydrocarbon generation. Before anyone would spend much effort drilling they would want to know if there was even a chance for oil/gas to exist in an area. I watched one of these wells being drilled. All the majors paid for a piece of the drilling operations. A drill company was in charge of the actual drilling operations. From day one the drilling company was putting about 2% diesel into the mud system used to drill this well. It’s a time honored method to help ease drilling. Unfortunate, the geochemical analysis aspect of the well was ruined. Looking for indications of hydrocarbons in samples which were intentionally contaminated with hydrocarbons sounds unbelievable. When all us partners complained the drillers essentially told us to shut up and sit down. It was their job to drill the well and they were going to do it as they saw fit. Needless to say it was a wasted effort and yielded no useful data. But it can be correctly said that this effort didn’t not find evidence of oil generation. True but misleading. They could have drilled through much naturally occurring oil and would have not known it. The “good ole ways” of doing things weren’t always that good.

Again, I’m not nearly as knowledgeable as some here on offshore east coast geology. But I’ll fall back on my basic position: you never know, with any great certainty, how much or little oil/gas is anywhere until you drill a lot of holes. If the industry spends $10 billion looking for hydrocarbons of the east coast and don’t find a single bbl of oil….so what? It’s their money and such a failure would be between them and the shareholders. Even if nothing is found the gov’t will receive 100’s of millions (if not billions) in lease revenue. And if there’s not a drop of oil to found then there’s zero pollution risk. So, even under the worse case scenario the public has nothing to loose and much to gain.

Again, sorry if you feel I jumped to hard. I'm just as susceptible to getting to full of myself as others out here.

[mos6507]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'J')esus... How come those people in New England even heat with oil? Didn't everyone switch heating fuels from oil like 25 years ago?!

[obixman]

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

....
Again, I’m not nearly as knowledgeable as some here on offshore east coast geology. But I’ll fall back on my basic position: you never know, with any great certainty, how much or little oil/gas is anywhere until you drill a lot of holes. If the industry spends $10 billion looking for hydrocarbons of the east coast and don’t find a single bbl of oil….so what? It’s their money and such a failure would be between them and the shareholders. Even if nothing is found the gov’t will receive 100’s of millions (if not billions) in lease revenue. And if there’s not a drop of oil to found then there’s zero pollution risk. So, even under the worse case scenario the public has nothing to loose and much to gain.

Again, sorry if you feel I jumped to hard. I'm just as susceptible to getting to full of myself as others out here.

[FoolYap]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'J')esus... How come those people in New England even heat with oil? Didn't everyone switch heating fuels from oil like 25 years ago?!

[MarkJ]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'J')esus... How come those people in New England even heat with oil? Didn't everyone switch heating fuels from oil like 25 years ago?!

[vtsnowedin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'J')esus... How come those people in New England even heat with oil? Didn't everyone switch heating fuels from oil like 25 years ago?!

[MarkJ]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TheDude', '[')In New Hampshire NG only serves 6.7k customers in a state of 1.3 million. The conversion to NG costs $4-8k, too, according to the WSJ article. Pick your poison. My understanding was that use of heating oil persisted due to inacessability of delivery for NG, and low incomes preventing the switchover.

[Starvid]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Homesteader', 's')orry, you've gone on the ignore list.

[Starvid]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('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.

[Starvid]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'J')esus... How come those people in New England even heat with oil? Didn't everyone switch heating fuels from oil like 25 years ago?!

[Starvid]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('FoolYap', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'J')esus... How come those people in New England even heat with oil? Didn't everyone switch heating fuels from oil like 25 years ago?!

[Starvid]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('MarkJ', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'J')esus... How come those people in New England even heat with oil? Didn't everyone switch heating fuels from oil like 25 years ago?!

[Starvid]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('vtsnowedin', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Starvid', 'J')esus... How come those people in New England even heat with oil? Didn't everyone switch heating fuels from oil like 25 years ago?!

[ROCKMAN]

So true Starvid. We Texans are big believers in personal freedom even if it kills you. That's why the most common phrase uttered before fatal car crashes here is "Hold my beer and watch this!".