An overlooked corner of West Texas is believed to contain billions of bls of new oil

[vienna]

The main problem is the tendency for Texas-based oil concerns to just sit on their finds within Texas rather than exploit; part of the reason is the very, very high depletion charges and fees levied by Texas for pumping out petroleum products; another is the widely suspected, but never acknowledged desire by Texas oil concerns to exploit any and all oil in other states and areas while hoarding their own stores; by doing so, the belief is the Texas companies will be "the last men standing" if, or when, other oil sources are depleted. They will, in fact, become a US version of the Saudis and be able to dictate terms by meting out the remaining oil as leverage. As of 2008, Texas oil depletion charges and fees were the highest, by far, in the US and Texas oil interests have spent millions in an effort to prevent other oil producing states from raising their fees to anywhere near those of Texas. In 2006, here in California, where the state charges and fees are rather low, there was a ballot initiative to raise the state fees to a level near Texas' rates; the Koch brothers financed a counter campaign, providing a fund of US$19,000,000 to defeat the initiative. The initiative didn't pass, preserving cheap oil exploitation for Texas concerns. It seems "Drill, baby, drill!" to achieve US energy independence only applies if the drilling is done outside of Texas...

However, the ever increasing rise of alternate energy (solar power, more electric vehicles, etc.) are putting a strain on the ambitions of Texas oil, in particular, and the world oil market, in general. I wonder what it would be like to be sitting on a vast pool of oil and having no place to sell it for the price one anticipated?...



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