"Floyd L. Davidson" wrote:

"Pete C." wrote:
"Floyd L. Davidson" wrote:

"Pete C." wrote:

Directional drilling technology is where it is now because it meets the
current need.

"a few small sites along the perimeter using current
directional drilling technology could tap ANWR with
essentially no impact."

That is what you said to start with. It is purely a
fabrication from your imagination. Now you are changing
what you say, admitting that this statement was false.

But what you are saying *now* is false too.

Same basic technology just needs to be scaled / adapted to the task.

Wrong. If that were true, as pointed out they would
*currently* be drilling horizontally into ANWR. They
aren't. The reason is because what you are suggesting
is simply ridiculous blather from your over active
imagination.

BS, pure BS. The cost to drill from the perimeter would be vastly higher
and the value of the oil is still too low to profit from it yet.


Do you honestly think that the necessary upgrades to the
technology would not be made in short order if clearance to drill from
selected sites around ANWR were given?

Nobody in their right mind thinks that is technically
feasible. There are *no* wells being drilled those
kinds of distances, nor anywhere even close, using *any*
kind of technology, much less being drilled
horizontally!

They can most certainly manage the ANWR drilling given the goal and the
funding. The underlying technology certainly exists. There have already
been non oil well scientific drilling projects reaching the depths
necessary.

If that were true, they'd be doing it. Nobody is!
Basic fact: it ain't true.

1) The "underlying technology" does not exist.

Absolutely it does, whether your blinder let you see it or not.


2) There are hundreds of wells on the North Slope
"reaching the depths necessary", which has no
significance at all.

I specified non oil well projects, which have been drilling vastly
deeper than normal oil wells, depth comparable to the distances that
would be needed.


3) There are no wells *anywhere* that reach the
necessary *length* (7 to 25 miles).

No wells, but there are indeed drilled holes in that depth range.


Lots of things weren't possible
until there was motivation and funding to actually get them done.

If what you say were true... There would currently be
oil production from ANWR. The entire eastern edge has
been offered for lease, and in fact there are many dry
holes within 5 miles of ANWR.

It certainly is true. The investment necessary to to do it just hasn't
been made yet.

Oh, now you just say all it needs is the money...

Given that some people have been going bonkers about
drilling in ANWR for over 25 years, if it was true...
why isn't the money available?

There is only one reason: what you say is false.

Simply the price of oil. You go bonkers and try to get approval to drill
the cheap way while the value of the oil isn't enough to justify the
cost of the unconventional drilling. As the oil prices go up you get
closer to the point where the more expensive route can be profitable.


And recently the State of Alaska offered 26 offshore
tracts along the northern shore of ANWR for lease. Even
though that particular lease sale resulted in the
largest sale ever in the Beaufort Sea east of Prudhoe
Bay, not one single bid was even placed for any of the
tracts on the edge of ANWR.

Everyone is holding off, expecting to either eventually be allowed to
drill in ANWR using cheaper conventional methods, or for oil prices to
get high enough to justify the investment necessary to drill from the
perimeter.

Ha ha. Now you're getting silly. They were supposedly
chomping at the bit to get at it when oil was selling
for less that $15 a barrel, and now with peaks hitting 6
times higher, and every oil company has had record
profits for months, and you claim somebody is waiting
for favorable financial conditions???

Yep, chomping for what they can get from tried and true conventional
drilling. Oil prices need to be higher to generate interest in accessing
the oil through more difficult methods.


You are a joke.

You are the joke with your tunnel vision.


Please cease posting fabricated facts that you imagine
would support your cause. Nobody needs to hear it...

Nothing fabricated about it,

You can't support a word of it with references or cites
to credible sources. Logically what you have said is
simply silly.

Nothing at all silly about having the sense to look at what could be
done vs. keep the blinders on looking only at what is currently being
done.


it most certainly is possible. No new
technology needs to be developed,

The technology is not there. It isn't even close, and
nobody is headed in that direction.

What mystery technology do you believe would need to exist? Holes of
comparable depths have already been drilled for research.


it's just a matter of the cost to put
together the existing technologies necessary for the job.

If that were true, those lease sales just offshore of ANWR
would have gone for big dollars. Nobody even bid on one of
them.

If that were true, the leases on the eastern side of ANWR
would be merrily drilling away as we speak. They aren't.

They go for the low hanging fruit first. when that is exhausted they'll
look at the harder to reach spots.


The effort and
expense expended to reach the oil is directly tied to the market value
of the oil, and that value will only increase.

Right now the cost for production of a barrel of oil on
the North Slope is less that 20% of the market value for
that barrel of oil. If what you are saying were true,
every producer on the Slope would be trying to extract
oil from ANWR *now*.

That's the most moronic thing you've said so far. Why would they clamor
to try something new and untested, when the process could end up costing
120% of the value of what they extract? When prices go up enough it will
start to look attractive.


In fact, no oil company has shown any interest at all in
ANWR for years. Nothing close to ANWR has attracted any
attention either. Moreover the State of Alaska is
actually taking back some leases close to ANWR because
of no activity!

Again, everything you claim is just a matter of the economics, not
technological feasibility.


Pete, you just simply need to stop making up what you'd
like things to be, do a little research or don't post at
all.

I'm not making up anything.