Just a Thought on Oil

I know that we all dislike high gas prices, which is directly influenced by the price of oil at any given time. Here are my thoughts. Read with an open mind.

Iraq is home to the second largest conventional oil reserve. It is second to only Saudi Arabia. However, the Middle East, in general, is a distant second to the Oil rich redgion of South America. The "unconventional" oil reserve of South America is the Venezuelan Orinoco heavy oil belt with one to four TRILLION (with a "T") barrels of oil. This is compared to the mere 900 billion (approximately) barrels of oil found in the Middle East.

You be asking yourself, "What is an 'unconventional' oil reserve?" "Unconventional" petroleum reserves include:

• Heavy oils, which can be pumped and refined just like conventional petroleum except that they are thicker and have more sulfur and heavy metal contamination, necessitating more extensive refining. Venezuela's Orinoco heavy oil belt is the best known example of this kind of unconventional reserve. Estimated reserves: 1.2 trillion barrels.

• Tar Sands, which can be recovered via surface mining or in-situ collection techniques. Again, this is more expensive than lifting conventional petroleum but not prohibitively so. Canada's Athabasca Tar Sands is the best known example of this kind of unconventional reserve. Estimated reserves: 1.8 trillion barrels.

• Oil Shale requires extensive processing and consumes large amounts of water. Still, reserves far exceed supplies of conventional oil.

You may ask yourself, how does this even come close to translating into lower oil prices in America...Well, here goes…and I will admit, this will sound probably both cold hearted and frightening…

• Alaska: There is a ton of Conventional Oil that has been protected for many years because of the dangers that drilling would pose to wildlife and the surrounding environment. This oil should all be drilled, processed, and kept in reserve for a rainy day. I mean, let's get it, but why use it if we don't have to.

• Canada: A deal can be made with Canada for drilling rights in their country (whether we make them an offer they “can’t refuse,” or a deal is struck to the effect of We Drill, We Process, We Save you lots of money on the cost of the aforementioned.

• Latin America…The proverbial Cash Cow of the oil industry…Oil laying in reserves ripe for the taking. In America, we have been lax on border patrol for decades. The Center for Immigration Studies estimated in 2000 that there were over 8 million illegal immigrants living in the united states. This number grew by 500,000 every year in the 1990s, and I suspect that this is still the case. These illegal immigrants are a drain on our health care facilities, as well as social need based programs, costing American taxpayers billions of dollars a year. I give you this information to assert my claim that the United States is the rightful owner of approximately 500,000 billion barrels of oil (this = 1 Barrel of Oil for every $1 that the American Taxpayer has spent to take care of illegal immigrants over the past 40 years). This would = approximately 27 years of free oil from Latin America as payment for the past 40 years. This is quite economical, and I would imagine gas prices would fall close to 75% after processing and refining costs are actualized.

Fairly good deal if you ask me.

I fear the day that our gas prices are the likes of Europe. At first glance, a little over one euro doesn't sound bad, but remember, they purchase by the liter, and there are 4 of those in every gallon.