Wednesday, September 06, 2006

Somebody Define “Double” for Me

Because I don’t think I know what it means in the context of oil reserves:
In a development that could double the nation's oil reserves and result in a boon to Louisiana and its offshore industries, Chevron and two partner companies announced Tuesday they have produced oil on the outskirts of U.S. waters in the Gulf of Mexico,

***

The discovery is significant to the nation because it is the first time oil has been produced in a 300-square-mile geological region called the lower tertiary trend that is thought to hold 3 billion to 15 billion barrels of oil. The nation's current reserves are about 30 billion.
How can “3 billion to 15 billion” barrels “double” 30 billion barrels?

I readily admit that I know nothing about Big Erl and how it operates. But am I missing something in the math here?

And, dammit, Louisiana is part of the United States:
J. Larry Nichols, chairman and chief executive officer of Devon Energy, was effusive about the Gulf's prospects in conference call Tuesday morning.

***

Compared to other regions in the world, the Gulf of Mexico is politically stable and close to oil and gas markets, he said.

"This," he said, "could not have happened in a better place."
It’s good to see that Louisiana (i.e. the United States of America) is considered “politically stable” when being compared to “other regions in the world.”

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Big Erl spokeswoman at your service.

It's just the T-P being its normal stupid self again. Obviously Pam Russell does not understand that finding up to 50% of A equals up to 1.5A not 2A. Also note that 3 billion barrels in that entire trend, not the localized field, only increases the national reserve by 10%. (FYI, the world consumes 30 billion barrels of energy a year and our reserve replacement isn't keeping up.)

This more reliable article states clearly that this discovery in the Gulf of Mexico boosts U.S. petroleum reserves by 50%.

Slimbolala said...

Wow, we're "politically stable"? Who'da thunk?