Word: bbl
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1990
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...than petroleum. The U.S. has a generous supply of just such a fuel: natural gas, also known as methane. Neglected during the 1980s because of abundant supplies of cheap crude, gas has suddenly become an attractive alternative again. With the Middle East crisis pushing petroleum prices to $30 per bbl., energy experts and environmentalists have begun urging greater development of natural gas to wean the U.S. from its heavy dependency on crude...
...enough natural gas in the ground to last 60 years at the current rate of consumption. Right now the fuel supplies about 24% of daily U.S. energy use, vs. 42% for petroleum products. Only a modest increase in gas production would be needed to replace the 750,000 bbl. a day of interrupted oil supply from Iraq and Kuwait. Gas already has many applications: heating, cooking and generating electricity. But energy experts are working on new ways in which the fuel could replace oil and gasoline, most notably in powering vehicles. Predicts Michel Halbouty, a Houston wildcatter: "Gas will...
...tightly regulated by the Federal Government that producers were discouraged from searching for the fuel. After prices were deregulated in the 1980s, the low cost of petroleum helped keep gas prices depressed. Wholesale natural gas sells for about $1.50 per 1,000 cu. ft., the equivalent of $9 per bbl. for oil. Observes T. Boone Pickens, a major oil-and-gas producer: "At that price, there's no way that exploration will ever start again...
...Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, which oversees the industry, is pondering proposals for 35 major construction projects. According to industry estimates, these pipelines could displace about 900,000 bbl. of oil a day. Most bitterly debated is the Iroquois pipeline, a 370-mile-long conduit that would bring Canadian gas to six Northeastern states. A coalition of environmentalists, heating-oil dealers and U.S. gas producers is fighting the project. But last week an administrative-law judge supported FERC's preliminary approval of the pipeline...
...size of the oil deposit, however, is a mystery. The Interior Department's estimate ranges from 600 million bbl. of crude to as much as 9.2 billion bbl. At the high end, the oil reservoir would be roughly equal to Alaska's enormous Prudhoe Bay field, or more than the U.S. uses in a year. The Interior Department puts the odds of finding a commercially exploitable oil field in the refuge at 1 in 5, vs. the industry's typical success rate...