[...] Oil Chart [...]

With the world continuing to find more new oil than it’s consuming, this price does not reflect anything close to market value.
Each barrel is about $20 worth of product with $80 of taxes, regulation, state controlled restrictions slapped on.

Hi Asd, they have to price it that way because many countries had peaked in their oil production meaning they can’t produce faster than they can consume.

Another point, if oil price is $20 per barrel… Canada Tar Sands will be stopped digging as it’s too costly to produce, same as oil shale & deep sea drilling. That could mean a significant of the world oil supply will be gone due to cost factor…which means it’s almost impossible to go back to $20 per barrel.

Unless, the oil discovered must be high quality low sulphur high pressure land based oil fields that cost next to nothing to pump out as it’s flowing out by it’s own…and must have huge quantity reserve. 

There are reasons why people resort to costly deep sea drilling, sucking out oil from oil shale (rocks) and other unconventional way of pumping oil from existing oil fields like pumping fresh water and etc.

Why would Canada use natural gas to extract the oil from the tar sands? Is Natural gas free? Nope. 

Of course, I need to see your research to make further assumptions haha I haven’t been researching this for some time.

Do let me know if I’m wrong

Simon, Thanks for the response, and for the page, it’s the only source I could fnd for a real time chart.

Isn’t the main reason we resort to deep sea drilling, shale etc that we’re not allowed to access the cheaper, safer resources nearer shore? (where the politicians live!) who ultimately pays for a $20 Billion ‘fine’ or the highest corporate taxes in the world? we do at the pump. Seems backwards to me to restrict the main thing that has fueled progress over the last century.

 Maybe $20 is exaggerating- but in the long run, prices have not increased along with more advanced extraction- e.g. north sea, gulf etc, and there is no physical shortage of supply in the ground. I think as always the spike reflects political, not physical hurdles?

Hi Asd,

That’s an assumption that there are still plenty of oil “near” politician home…hmm

Other than the “not in my backyard” assumption and politician that are not greedy to extract more oil until other countries have exhausted their supply, we have to focus more on facts on peaked oil production of other countries.

Do research “Peak oil theory” and find out which countries no longer able to “produce” oil more than enough to for their own country consumption?

Indonesia is one of such countries used to be a oil exporter but peaked in their oil production (or should I say extraction) in 2004 I think and begin to slowly require to import oil for their own local consumption.

USA itself is oil exporter in the 70s, remember? Now it’s 2nd largest oil importer of the world when China over take USA as 1st oil importer.

Question is why the government or private organization limit oil extraction by imposing restriction to drill “cheaper & safer resources nearer to shore?”…

Now the debate is why other countries in the world are moving into deep sea drilling, oil shale & expensive to refine high sulphur crude oil & tar sands if there are really lot’s of cheap oil flowing in the world?

The key is ever growing demand in the world (depending on growth of human population) and slowing down of world oil supply. (Read Peak oil – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia )

I was told about imminent peak oil way back in school in the 70’s- that I wouldn’t be able to drive when I grew up as all the oil would be gone….. By the time I got my license, the world was awash in the cheapest oil ever- near $10 a barrel! Most countries stopped exploring, ideological environmental restrictions were easy to put in place as nobody worried about access.Then India and China suddenly freeing up their economic systems took everyone by surprise right?The way I see it- same old roller coaster caused by politics interfering at every level with natural supply and demand- Asia subsidizing and Europe taxing so much that the real cost is buried and demand inflexible…Peak ’dependency on foreign oil’ in the U.S. occurred in 2005, that trend has reversed and the U.S. is increasing it’s production every year, depending on the political obstruction, it could easily become self sufficient again. Without the majority of the entire coastline being off-limits and ponderous red tape- this reversal could be much faster. Absolutely there is a lot of oil offshore! but in front of wealthy & connected people’s vacation homes who don’t want their view spoiled by a speck on the horizon!  But push for monsterous ugly turbines to trash the entire rural heartland! For the environment? Yeah sure!Windmills already kill 10′s of thousands of birds every single year- far more than BP ever did.Orinoco, Bakken, Arctic, Iraq all dwarf the big finds that produced a glut in the 90’s- So I’d bet on another glut, but as always- politics controls our fate far more than geology?

I really hope you are right about that my friend, let’s hope there’s more oil in USA where the rest of the world can’t find easily

Let’s hope your politician can allow drilling near shore…and that oil will continue to flow.
http://www.indexmundi.com/energy.aspx?country=us&product=oil&graph=production

While the rest of the world convert to renewable energy.

At the moment it does look like oil supply sources are shifting to the western hemisphere-
Canada, US, Gulf of Mexico, Brazil but I think much of Asia remaines unexplored?

Likewise I genuinely hope someday an ‘alternative’ will be practical enough to no longer be an ‘alternative’  no longer a subsidized drain, but a contributor to wealth and standards of living like oil has been,  we’ll see!