Democrats to let offshore drilling ban expire

[RangerM]

Offshore Drilling Ban to Expire :happy feet:

 

WASHINGTON - Democrats have decided to allow a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts to expire next week, conceding defeat in a months-long battle with the White House and Republicans set off by $4 a gallon gasoline prices this summer.

 

Give them some credit for seeing the writing on the wall.

 

That oughta help the gas price take a dive, eventually.

[4rd4life]

Offshore Drilling Ban to Expire :happy feet:

 

 

 

Give them some credit for seeing the writing on the wall.

 

That oughta help the gas price take a dive, eventually.

 

Don't count on this having any affect on gas prices, and don't count on the oil companies even drilling.

[suv_guy_19]

Don't count on this having any affect on gas prices, and don't count on the oil companies even drilling.

 

If there's accessible oil, the oil companies will drill.

[RangerM]

Don't count on this having any affect on gas prices, and don't count on the oil companies even drilling.

 

I don't agree that they won't drill, but I do agree there is more going on here than meets the eye. This may be an avenue to increase ethanol mandates, or simply to placate the electorate until after election day.

 

OR, it could be that they just give up.

 

Regardless, it still should depress the oil futures prices.

[4rd4life]

If there's accessible oil, the oil companies will drill.

 

The Interior Department estimates there are 18 billion barrels of recoverable oil beneath the Outer Continental Shelf, about half of it off California.

 

While the ban on energy development will be lifted if the Senate goes along with the House action, it doesn't mean any federal sale of oil and gas leases in the offshore waters — much less actual drilling — would be imminent.

[xr7g428]

If you owned an oil well, you would value each barrel of oil at the price you would have to pay to replace it.

 

If the only place you can drill and FIND oil is a place where the cost to drill is $80 per barrel, you tend to hang on to what you have if the price drops. If you know you can drill where the expected cost is less than $30, you tend to want to sell what you can while you can.

 

The impact of the opening of offshore drilling is goin to change the perception of what the next barrel will cost.

[fmccap]

I don't agree that they won't drill, but I do agree there is more going on here than meets the eye. This may be an avenue to increase ethanol mandates, or simply to placate the electorate until after election day.

 

OR, it could be that they just give up.

 

Regardless, it still should depress the oil futures prices.

I believe they gave up because it's part of a spending bill that needs to go thru before they ONCE AGAIN go on recess.