Brazil Oil Finds May End Reliance on Middle East

[cwjerome]

Interesting article off Drudge

From the article:

"Brazil may be pumping ``several million'' barrels of crude daily by 2020, vaulting the nation into the ranks of the world's seven biggest producers, Zeihan said in a telephone interview. The U.S. Navy's presence in the Persian Gulf and adjacent waters would be reduced, leaving the region exposed to more conflict, he said.

We could see that world becoming a very violent one,'' said Zeihan, former chief of Middle East and East Asia analysis for Strategic Forecasting. ``If the United States isn't getting any crude from the Gulf, what benefit does it have in policing the Gulf anymore? All of the geopolitical flux that wracks that region regularly suddenly isn't our problem.''


It's nice not to be dependent on the ME for oil, yet would be the effects if that area does in fact "blow up" without our presence? Or will it?

And what does news like this mean to all the Peak Oil fanatics who talk about the end of the world? Find another armageddon?

Does something like this just add to our unsustainable and irresponsible habits?

 

[Aimster]

Reliance on Middle East? LOL

Not all oil comes from the M.E.

Russia is pumping out the same amount of oil as Saudi Arabia.

After that.. Iran/Mexico = tied

and it's a split between some European nations, Arab nations, and nations in South America

 

[Aimster]

Russia > World
http://www.albawaba.com/en/cou.../Saudi%20Arabia/226252

 

[cwjerome]

Originally posted by: Aimster
Reliance on Middle East? LOL

Not all oil comes from the M.E.

Russia is pumping out the same amount of oil as Saudi Arabia.

After that.. Iran/Mexico = tied

and it's a split between some European nations, Arab nations, and nations in South America

OK... I think we all know not all oil comes from the ME.

You seem to be saying that the US doesn't rely on oil from the ME... is that so?

 

[Aimster]

Originally posted by: cwjerome

Originally posted by: Aimster
Reliance on Middle East? LOL

Not all oil comes from the M.E.

Russia is pumping out the same amount of oil as Saudi Arabia.

After that.. Iran/Mexico = tied

and it's a split between some European nations, Arab nations, and nations in South America

OK... I think we all know not all oil comes from the ME.

You seem to be saying that the US doesn't rely on oil from the ME... is that so?

We rely on oil from all of them.

Russia and Saudi Arabia are pumping out more oil than practically everyone else combined. (putting the oil on the market)

 

[cwjerome]

Originally posted by: Aimster

Originally posted by: cwjerome

Originally posted by: Aimster
Reliance on Middle East? LOL

Not all oil comes from the M.E.

Russia is pumping out the same amount of oil as Saudi Arabia.

After that.. Iran/Mexico = tied

and it's a split between some European nations, Arab nations, and nations in South America

OK... I think we all know not all oil comes from the ME.

You seem to be saying that the US doesn't rely on oil from the ME... is that so?

We rely on oil from all of them.

Russia and Saudi Arabia are pumping out more oil than practically everyone else combined. (putting the oil on the market)

Well I'm just trying to figure out your point in relation to the OP, which is, possibly ending US reliance on ME oil. If that were to happen, what good (and/or bad) might come of that?

 

[Aimster]

A more correct term would be "stop the reliance on foreign oil".

If the U.S is really bothered by Middle East oil on the market...

buy all the oil from Russia and Mexico.

Only 1/4 of oil imports to the U.S are coming from the M.E. If that 25% bothers the U.S people so much they should sign a contact with Russia rather than Saudi Arabia

 

[Skyclad1uhm1]

Is Brazil one of the few South-American countries which does not yet have a socialist government? Not all of them are Communist, but a lot of the governments there are friends with Chavez.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

We already get most of our oil from Canada and Mexico. The ME is not our biggest supplier anyway.

Dangit. Stop finding new reserves. We need to wean ourselves off of oil as it is.

 

[Aimster]

Why does the U.S use almost 20mbpd of oil?

Cars?
Energy plants?

 

[tweaker2]

just for the fact that the USA needs to jealously protect the petrodollar as the currency of trade for oil will keep us involved in the middle east for as long as there is a barrel of oil to be pumped from the sand there.

also, it doesn't matter how much more oil is found in this world, the oil cartels will be sure to restrict the flow of it to keep prices climbing ever higher and higher, just as the diamond cartels are doing with their "finite" resource, and just as big oil is now doing in iraq and elsewhere.

seems to me the development of sources of alternative energy that is cheaper to produce than oil products of which ethanol is not, and does not include the use of a source of food of which corn is, (of which the big agribusinesses have corrupted into a vehicle for driving up profit) and which does not harm the environment is about the only way to reach energy independence.

sadly, imho the oil conglomerates are diametrically opposed to the development of a clean and cheap source of alternative energy as it will obviously compromise their agenda, or they would have jumped on the alternative energy bandwagon with a big bang a long while ago.

 

[Engineer]

40 billion barrels of oil sound huge until one realizes that it will last less than 500 days at the current 85 million barrels per day world wide useage (85 million barrels per day).

 

[Rio Rebel]

Originally posted by: Skyclad1uhm1
Is Brazil one of the few South-American countries which does not yet have a socialist government? Not all of them are Communist, but a lot of the governments there are friends with Chavez.

Brazil has a more socialist government than ours, and a somewhat left-leaning President (nicknamed Lula). He met with Castro soon after being elected, and that concerned the US, but Brazil continues to be friendly to the US.

South American countries have to work with each other, and none of them can afford to be US puppets even if they wanted to. The US ignored the region for years, and even today seems to pay less attention than it warrants. South America has a lot of potential and this recent development in Brazil may finally start turning our focus there.

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: Aimster
Why does the U.S use almost 20mbpd of oil?

Cars?
Energy plants?

My cadillac with 22" gets terrible mileage, cuz.

 

[Genx87]

Originally posted by: Engineer
40 billion barrels of oil sound huge until one realizes that it will last less than 500 days at the current 85 million barrels per day world wide useage (85 million barrels per day).

Why do people bother responding with this? Who the hell expects the entire world demand to be supplied by this one field? Each new field brought online adds to the total world supply of oil. That will help keep up with demand. Nobody expects a single field to supply the entire world. I dont even think it is possible to pump a field for 85 million barrels a day anyways.

 

[Orignal Earl]

Originally posted by: Rio Rebel
The US ignored the region for years, and even today seems to pay less attention than it warrants.

The continent became a battlefield of the Cold War in the late 20th century. Some governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay were overthrown or displaced by U.S.-aligned military dictatorships in the 1960s and 1970s. To curtail opposition, their governments detained tens of thousands of political prisoners, many of whom were tortured and/or killed (on inter-state collaboration, see Operation Condor). Economically, they began a transition to neoliberal economic policies. They placed their own actions within the U.S. Cold War doctrine of "National Security" against internal subversion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_America

What years did the US ignore the region? '74 and '87?

 

[Mxylplyx]

Protecting world oil supply is still in our interests. If the gulf became too volatile to safely transport oil, it would still drive up global oil prices.

 

[desy]

It helps but its not cheap oil to get
The reason everybody talks about Saudi Arabia cause the oil is soooo cheap to get out of the ground , with lifting costs bout $4 a barrel , compare that to tar sands $65 a barrel.
So companies can and do make a lot of money off ME oil where deep sea drilling, horzontal drilling etc cost a lot more.

 

[Robor]

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
We already get most of our oil from Canada and Mexico. The ME is not our biggest supplier anyway.

Dangit. Stop finding new reserves. We need to wean ourselves off of oil as it is.

:Q I just agreed with you on something! :Q

 

[Rio Rebel]

Originally posted by: Orignal Earl

Originally posted by: Rio Rebel
The US ignored the region for years, and even today seems to pay less attention than it warrants.

The continent became a battlefield of the Cold War in the late 20th century. Some governments of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, and Uruguay were overthrown or displaced by U.S.-aligned military dictatorships in the 1960s and 1970s. To curtail opposition, their governments detained tens of thousands of political prisoners, many of whom were tortured and/or killed (on inter-state collaboration, see Operation Condor). Economically, they began a transition to neoliberal economic policies. They placed their own actions within the U.S. Cold War doctrine of "National Security" against internal subversion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_America

What years did the US ignore the region? '74 and '87?

Sorry, I guess I wasn't thinking from the standard perspective that involvement=military manipulation.

 

[Engineer]

Originally posted by: Genx87

Originally posted by: Engineer
40 billion barrels of oil sound huge until one realizes that it will last less than 500 days at the current 85 million barrels per day world wide useage (85 million barrels per day).

Why do people bother responding with this? Who the hell expects the entire world demand to be supplied by this one field? Each new field brought online adds to the total world supply of oil. That will help keep up with demand. Nobody expects a single field to supply the entire world. I dont even think it is possible to pump a field for 85 million barrels a day anyways.

We respond with this because people think that 40 billion barrels is going to end this or end that (reliance on the ME for example), when in reality, it's too small of an amount (worldwide) and is only going to delay the so called peak oil just a tad longer and will not remove one ounce of reliance on the ME for oil, period. That's why and you know it.

By the way, I did not say it was a bad discovery, which you seemed to infer. Unless we find enough oil to last an eternity, I think it's time to get the fuck off oil and on to somethig else, period.

 

[manowar821]

And...?

Fuck oil.