THE Chevron Thread (merged)

[PlannerBee]

I don't think they actually believe that $35 is a possibility. I think it is just a reference point for their breaking even. We know good and well that they will make far more on this than at that rate. I do think the rest of that article was interesting though. If you could find it and find it for cheap then you would do just that. You wouldn't go out and buy it. We are in big trouble.

[Clouseau2]

I think it is possible for oil to go down to $35, after a big global meltdown caused by, say, US interest rates skyrocketing or some giant hedge fund going bust and not being bailed out by Uncle Sam or GM going bankrupt.

However, as soon as things recover, it would quickly zoom back up to $50+.

[DriveElectric]

Based on the 1.7 billion barrels of oil equivalent in reserves, Unocal actually sold for $10.20 per barrel.

That is heavily discounted into the future because much of that oil will not be pumped for years. But on a pure price per barrel, Unocal sold in the middle of the range compared to other oil mergers lately.

Article from TheStreet.com

Certainly, the price Chevron paid for the assets was not cheap. Given total consideration of about $18 billion, Chevron paid about $10.20 per barrel of oil equivalent for Unocal's reserves, or about $1.71 per thousand cubic feet on a gas equivalent basis. While that is not at the top of the range for recent acquisitions, it is by no means cheap.

<<skip some stuff>>

And, what will keep acquisition prices moving higher and should help support stocks in the coming months is the fact that you can still buy oil and gas reserves on Wall Street as a relative bargain compared to the current price of the commodity and even to the price in the futures market a year-plus out.

[savethehumans]

Chevron CEO Debunks US Energy Independence

David O'Reilly, the head of Chevron Corp., took a shot Tuesday at the notion of the United States gaining oil independence, a current theme among Washington lawmakers promoting domestic energy policies.
"I want to talk about the notion of independence and debunk it," O'Reilly told a conference sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"Our industry, this business, has not been independent as far as the United States is concerned for a long, long time. We gave up on that notion 50 years ago."
O'Reilly, chief executive of the No. 2 U.S. oil company, dismissed suggestions that the nation could rely fully on domestic resources to satisfy its growing appetite for energy.

(All bold print and italics mine.)

What else is there to say? It all came out of the oil industry CEO's mouth!
Naturally, the story goes on to say that they're going to invest in other countries and their oil, since that's where the oil is--except regions that have barred them from investing. He also mentioned that fighting for the oil could only go so far...so a resource warrior, he ain't.
Anyone have comments? Besides "about time they told the truth," I mean?

[Tanada]

David O'Reilly, the head of Chevron Corp., took a shot Tuesday at the notion of the United States gaining oil independence, a current theme among Washington lawmakers promoting domestic energy policies.

"I want to talk about the notion of independence and debunk it," O'Reilly told a conference sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

"Our industry, this business, has not been independent as far as the United States is concerned for a long, long time. We gave up on that notion 50 years ago."

O'Reilly, chief executive of the No. 2 U.S. oil company, dismissed suggestions that the nation could rely fully on domestic resources to satisfy its growing appetite for energy.

(All bold print and italics mine.)

What else is there to say? It all came out of the oil industry CEO's mouth!

Naturally, the story goes on to say that they're going to invest in other countries and their oil, since that's where the oil is--except regions that have barred them from investing. He also mentioned that fighting for the oil could only go so far...so a resource warrior, he ain't.

Anyone have comments? Besides "about time they told the truth," I mean?

The old sayings of watch where the money goes and see what I do ignore what I say have lead me to beleive that the oil execs beleive we are at PO. Now they are not only acting like we are at PO they are in effect saying it.

[FatherOfTwo]

In this particular quote I see no link to Peak Oil.
What I do see is a CEO finally getting fed up with a President who is advocating something which is litteraly impossible to achieve.

[Agren]

savethehumans:
Any links for this?

[Sgs-Cruz]

savethehumans:
Any links for this?

Indeed, links would be appreciated. I wanna forward this to my usual email list.

[arocoun]

I thought that it was absolutely obvious to anyone with a brain that we have little energy independence. We import much/most of the oil we use, after all.

All this talk of "energy independence" and such slowly drains at my faith in human intelligence, which isn't much to begin with.

[FatherOfTwo]

savethehumans:
Any links for this?

It was on the main page (news).. but I can't seem to find it there or in the archives. The best I can do is:

Chevron CEO blasts US oil debate but you have to sign up to see the full article.

Maybe Aaron can find the original news article that had everything and didn't require registration..

[Bubbling_Crude]

This isn't the particular article you're looking for, but it does make a connection with peak oil and David O'Reilly: ChevronTexaco's CEO banking on peak oil situation

Here is the one you're after: Chevron CEO debunks oil independence policies

[Permanently_Baffled]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid= ... fer=energy

Chevron anticipates 5mpd out of Kazakhstan.

The Central Asian country could produce 5 million barrels a day within 20 years, from about 1 million barrels a day now, said Guy Hollingsworth, managing director for Chevron in Kazakhstan.

Reserves estimated at 100 billion barrels

The country has estimated hydrocarbon reserves equivalent to 100 billion barrels of oil.

I thought the capsian area was a disapointment with total reserves at only 35 billion barrels? This source is saying that this single capsian country has 100 billion on its own? Maybe this figure includes gas?

So much conflicting info!!


Are these production increases taken into account in ASPO's figures?

PB

[MicroHydro]

What is being projected here is an increase in production of 0.2 million bpd/year. Depletion from other sources will be so much greater than that, it would not effect the ASPO peak.

[RonMN]

I do believe there are many oil fields that can be "ramped up". But at what cost?

We extract faster, only to make the decline steeper, and it puts it off for a year or 2 but it makes matters WORSE! (IMHO).

It's clearly a case of NIMTO (not in MY term of office)!!!

[b0nez]

The peak happens when the few,the proud, the elite decide the games over and the rest is for them...lol

[seldom_seen]

Just saw this linked from LATOC:

http://www.willyoujoinus.com/

Basically it looks like an industry funded campaign to wake people up to the shituation we're in. Some of the nuggets:

"It took us 125 years to use the first trillion barrels of oil. We'll use the next trillion in 30"

"The world consumes two barrels of oil for every barrel discovered."

http://www.willyoujoinus.com/advertising/print/

I wonder why they're doing this? The cynical side of me says some lawyer decided "okay, when PO hits, people are going to be mad as hell, and oil companies are not going to be very popular. Therefore, we need to go now with some CYA."

Whatever the case. This webite made me want to significantly accelerate my PO planning.

edit: one other thing. look at the Chevron logo in the lower corner of the page, then read the tagline "Human Energy." That gave me the willies when I read that.

[Riverside]

I like the "number of barrells used during this visit" counter...

Makes you wonder if things are hitting the fan sooner rather than later. I think you will see many more companies trying to "protect" themselves so later they can say they tried to warn us. I get the same feeling when ever Bush mentions an energy crisis.

Carla

[Barbara]

This is an amazing finding, seldom seen.
Dunno if this people is in "desperate mood" or it's just marketing. Looks like they need help from us, anyway. Let's partecipate in the discussion, but without unmasking ourselves as peakoilers.
BTW: note the new Chevron claim "Human energy". After "Beyond Petroleum" of BP, you may think these people are onto something...

[JohnDenver]

Wow, that is a great find, and great news. The facade of denial is starting to crumble, and that's the best possible thing that could happen.

[aceroni]

And they even made a website:

http://www.willyoujoinus.com/

Their slogans are":

"It took us 125 years to use the first trillion barrels of oil. We ll use the next trillion in 30"

"One thing is clear: the era of easy oil is over"

Could you believe this?