Legal Commentary

The latest big oil discovery

By Tom Kirkendall

As oil futures hit $115 per barrel late this past week, The Economist ran this article on the questions surrounding the recent announcement regarding the discovery of Brazil's Carioca-Sugar Loaf Field, which could be one of the largest oil discoveries in history. Given the time, expense and risk involved in extracting the oil, the announcement of the discovery didn't affect oil markets much, but The Economist article nevertheless concludes as follows:

The discoveries do suggest that the gloomiest pundits are wrong to predict that the world will soon run out of oil. It is not that there are still lots of huge oil fields out there: the number of mammoth discoveries is declining, Tupi (and perhaps Carioca-Sugar Loaf and Jupiter) notwithstanding. But the new finds do illustrate how the technology with which oil firms hunt for, extract and process fossil fuels is constantly improving. Petrobras’s recent success is only possible thanks to recent advancements in seismic surveys, drilling, and offshore platforms. Other technological developments are allowing a greater proportion of the oil found around the world to be recovered and are even expanding the definition of oil, as firms conjure liquid fuel from the solid tar-sands of Canada, for example, or from coal and natural gas.

As noted recently here, the recent increases in oil prices are making alternative energy sources economically viable. Thus, take note of what former ExxonMobil CEO Lee Raymond noted years ago in response to a question on oil prices:

Interviewer: "Some people think prices will keep going up?"

Raymond: "Maybe. I'll bet they'll be lower at some point."

Full post as published by Houston's Clear Thinkers on April 20, 2008 (boomark / email).