Editorial: No magic drill bit to solve the oil issue

Tag : small drill bit

It came so quickly after Sen. John McCain reversed his previousposition that it almost seemed coordinated.
Now, it's not surprising that coastal drilling is getting a secondlook with oil prices where they are. It's especially not surprisingcoming from politicians who might have only opposed drillingbecause it was a popular position with Florida voters.
But there is no magic drill bit. Anyone who believes drilling nearthe Gulf Coast will bring gas prices down will be severelydisappointed. Last year, the Department of Energy concluded thatsuch drilling would have minimal impact on prices.
Why?
Because the amount of recoverable oil there is small compared toworldwide demand, which is the real driver of oil prices.
And just because the oil is drilled here doesn't mean it stayshere. Oil is priced and sold in a global market. With worldwidedemand growing, despite rising prices, oil prices will remain high.
More, the cost of finding and producing oil is itself growing asnew  especially big  reserves become increasingly hard to find,and are found in less-accessible places. Drilling equipment is alsoin short supply.
But even if an all-out drilling campaign in United States waterseventually did produce enough oil to moderate prices, it would notjust encourage Americans to stop conserving, it would feedappetites around the world.
Somehow, the idea of putting our beaches and coastal waters at riskto temporarily bring down the cost of gasoline by a few pennies inChina and India doesn't sound like a bargain.
And the reality is that no matter how much we drill in the UnitedStates, by far most of our oil will continue to be imported untiland unless we change our energy equation.
The real solution is not desperate measures to chop a few penniesoff the cost of gasoline, it is to create a sense of nationalurgency in attacking energy use as a priority national securityissue with the aim of reducing our dependence on oil, not justforeign oil.
How? More mass transit, including fast trains, in and between bigcities and heavily populated regions; much greater efficiency inhow we use energy on the road, at work and at home (includinghybrid, electric and hydrogen-powered cars); and new energysources, including solar, wind and nuclear power.
Meanwhile, despite increasing propaganda that Congress or theenvironmentalists or whomever have prevented drilling in the UnitedStates, the reality is far different.
According to an industry Web site that tracks drilling  www.wtrg.com/rotaryrigs.html  there are more oil and natural gas drilling rigs active in theUnited States than in all of the rest of the world combined.According to the site, "Year-over-year oil exploration in the U.S.is up 36.5 percent" over last year.
The site reports that with just over 3,000 rigs active worldwide,about 1,900 are being drilled in the United States, including about389 oil rigs (but not counting the more than 1,500 "workover" rigsused to enhance or restore production in existing fields).
What we need is new, innovative thinking to change how we produceand use energy. Trashing the environment to cut a few pennies offgas prices is old thinking that clings to the problem.