Democrats take jab at holders of unused oil leases

[LSK]

WASHINGTON ? In a bid to force oil companies to drill more on existing oil and gas leases, House Democrats today unveiled a plan that would assess new fees on existing acreage producers may be holding but on which they are not actively working.

With the slogan "use it or lose it," Democrats introduced legislation that would force producers to pay $5 a year for every acre the companies hold but are not working on to produce oil and gas. By the fourth year, the fees would jump to $25 an acre and rise to $50 an acre every year thereafter.

Democrats complain that oil and gas producers keep calling for access to new federal lands but have failed to begin work on existing acreage the Democrats say could yield an estimated 4.8 million barrels of oil and 44.7 billion cubic feet of gas per day.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/business/5833333.html

Why drill in the Artic National Wildlife Refuge when they already have millions of acres of land that they refuse to drill in????

[tabatha]

1. Randi just explained what is going on.

I have to say it was brilliant.

It should be made into a Youtube video.

[LSK]

4. here is her blog post

http://forums.therandirhodesshow.com/index.php?showtopic=2570

[onethatcares]

2. because,

they're probably getting government subsidies to not drill.

Time to hit the internets and find out "who" these "people" are.

[Name removed]

9. Deleted message

Look up Jack Overstreet and Legacy Energy International.

They are HEAVILY Repuke.

Info here: (from opensecrets)

OVERSTREET, JACK
ENGLEWOOD,CO 80113	LEGACY INTL.
INC./PRESIDENT	9/19/07	$4,600	Schaffer, Bob (R)
OVERSTREET, JACK
ENGLEWOOD,CO 80113	LEGACY INTL.
INC./PRESIDENT	9/30/07	$2,300	Schaffer, Bob (R)
OVERSTREET, JACK
ENGLEWOOD,CO 80113	LEGACY INTERNATIONAL
INC./PRESIDENT	4/9/07	$2,000	Coleman, Norm (R)
OVERSTREET, JACK
BURKE,VA 22015	LOCKHEED MARTIN
CORP./V.P./LEGISLAT	8/2/07	$1,000	Chambliss, Saxby (R)
OVERSTREET, JACK
ENGLEWOOD,CO 80113	LEGACY INTL.
INC./PRESIDENT	9/30/07	$-2,300	Schaffer, Bob (R)
OVERSTREET, JACK F
ENGLEWOOD,CO 80113	LEGACY INTERNATIONAL INC./OIL &
GAS	3/6/07	$10,000	Colorado Republican Campaign Cmte (R)
OVERSTREET, JACK F
ENGLEWOOD,CO 80113	LEGACY INTERNATIONAL INC./OIL &
GAS	1/3/07	$3,500	Colorado Republican Campaign Cmte (R)
OVERSTREET, JACK F
ENGLEWOOD,CO 80113	 	8/1/07	$-3,500	Colorado Republican
Campaign Cmte (R)
OVERSTREET, JACK F MR
ENGLEWOOD,CO 80113	SELF-EMPLOYED/OIL AND GAS
EXPLORATI	6/28/07	$2,300	Thompson, Fred (R)
OVERSTREET, JACK F MR
ENGLEWOOD,CO 80113	SELF/OIL & GAS
EXPLORATION	12/27/07	$2,300	Coffman, Mike (R)
OVERSTREET, JACK F MR
ENGLEWOOD,CO 80113	SELF/OIL & GAS
EXPLORATION	12/27/07	$2,300	Coffman, Mike (R)
OVERSTREET, JACK F MR
ENGLEWOOD,CO 80113	RNC
EAGLES/CO-CHAIRMAN	1/22/07	$2,100	Romney, Mitt (R)
OVERSTREET, JACK F MR
ENGLEWOOD,CO 80113	RNC EAGLES/CO-CHAIRMAN	2/26/07	$200	Romney,
Mitt (R)

GANGER, ROBERG MR
FT. COLLINS,CO 80528	LEGACY
INTERNATIONAL/PARTNER	5/26/04	$5,000	Republican National Cmte
(R)
GANGER, ROBERT MR
FT. COLLINS,CO 80528	LEGACY
INTERNATIONAL/PARTNER	7/19/04	$10,000	Republican National Cmte
(R)
GANGER, ROBERT N MR
FORT COLLINS,CO 80528	SELF-EMPLOYED/OIL & GAS
EXPLORER	8/12/03	$2,000	Bush, George W (R)

STAHLA, REX MR
FT. COLLINS,CO 80528	LEGACY
INTERNATIONAL/PARTNER	7/20/04	$10,000	Republican National Cmte
(R)
STAHLA, REX MR
FT. COLLINS,CO 80528	LEGACY
INTERNATIONAL/PARTNER	5/26/04	$4,000	Republican National Cmte
(R)
STAHLA, REX MR
FT. COLLINS,CO 80528	LEGACY
INTERNATIONAL/PARTNER	6/2/04	$1,000	Republican National Cmte
(R)


The worst of the worst. 

[BlooInBloo]

3. Doesn't the artificial restriction of supply effectively constitute price-fixing....

or collusion or something bad like that?

[LSK]

5. see this thread (its the speculators):

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3438071&mesg_id=3438071

[BlooInBloo]

6. (whine) Why can't you just TELL me! I don't want to CLICK on things! (/whine)

:rofl:

[LSK]

7. cause you are a perv

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3430563&mesg_id=3438203

:hi:

[BlooInBloo]

8. Am NOT! I didn't say a single *word* about what I would be doing with his wife!

:P

[Speck Tater]

10. What I heard is worrying. Things are always more complex than the simplistic slogan-solutions.

The drilling pipe is made in China and they can't get enough pipe to do the drilling they have in progress already.

Quoted from a post on the Running On Empty forum:

Also, CWEI board has been talking (from first-hand knowledge of the
posters) about extreme shortages of steel pipe. And apparently, the
U.S. stuck a big fat trade tariff on Chinese steel pipe, which the
Chinese are livid about, so that we are no longer getting "subsidized"
Chinese steel tubular products. Not, perhaps, the very smartest time
for a tariff dispute in a critical material?

Here's a post about it:
http://www.investorvillage.com/smbd.asp?mb=2234&mid=4963850&pt=msg


Pipe in the Oil Patch
A project manager I know says the home office is concerned enough
about the steel product supply situation that they are telling him
not to start drilling until the items necessary to complete the well
are on hand.

They are concerned about having a rig finish a hole and not having
enough pipe to complete the well. That would mean huge expense to
either keep the rig sitting there or plugging the well on the way out
of the hole to redrill later. They authorized the money to buy and
stockpile pipe, wellheads and seperators to complete 65 wells before
the end of the year. That is a pot of money, folks, and all up-front.
So far, they have pipe for the next 2 wells, 31 wellheads and 12
seperators on hand. Yesterday, 3 loads of pipe, paid for and
supposedly shipped, didn't arrive at the lease. No one knows (or more
accurately, will say) where it went. There appears to be some
question whether it ever existed at all. This is not a local,
isolated problem - this company buys tubular products from every mill on earth.

The economics of drilling are changing fast. $80 oil or $8 gas will
shut down the oil patch, IMO. It has implications for drillers as
well as the E&P business. By extension, it has broad energy supply
implications for the general economy.

People may bitch about high energy prices but unless something
changes (not all change is for the better), high prices will be the
"good old days" when availability at any price becomes an issue.

[old guy]

11. So even if ANWR was open

they could not drill because no pipe is available?

[ljm2002]

12. Well, pipe or no pipe...

...the fact is the Republics have been trying to make hay so they can get drilling to happen in ANWR. So from a political standpoint, I'd say it's well past time for us to make hay over the fact that the AREN'T EVEN USING THEIR EXISTING SITES.

[wryter2000]

13. Awesome

I was debating a freeper about ANWR this week. He obviously wasn't aware of this. Actually, I wasn't either until I'd read it here.

Well done for the Dems to capitalize on this.

[Lochloosa]

14. K/R for information on the asshole I had an argument at work with today.

[LSK]

16. I think we have all been having the same argument lately

Too many of those assholes around.

[Skidmore]

15. Better yet, revoke the lease. Use it or lose it.

[LSK]

17. Kick

[kentuck]

18. Why not lease it to smaller independent companies??

Morons.