Do the oil companies really have 68million acres in the gulf they can drill in gulf without restrictions?

The democrates claim the oil companies have all this acreage leased and don't need to open any other areas up. Is this a true statement?Do the oil companies really have 68million acres in the gulf they can drill in gulf without restrictions?
No, they don't...and your first clue should been ';The democrates (sic) claim...';





Also, your question is in the wrong category...it doesn't have to do with the military.Do the oil companies really have 68million acres in the gulf they can drill in gulf without restrictions?
I forget the actual number but there is a large amount of area leased for drilling. What is not being said by the main media is that it is unknown for the most part if that land has oil. It will cost oil company millions upon millions of dollars to go thur the hit and miss drilling needed to find some oil. We do know there is oil in ANWAR in Alaska so we should get the drilling and production going there ASAP and stop fooling around and wasting time.





Also, the people who are making a big deal about big oil profits are not understanding something very basic. Most oil companies like Exon are only making about a 9% profit. The big amount of profits is because more people around the world are using more oil then ever especially in expanding markets like China and the Middle East. You will notice that the main media will not tell you how much percentage of profit the oil companies are making. The people who blame the oil companies will not say either since most don't know. Most businesses need to make at least over a10% profit to be able to keep going.





Congress had an investigation with some of the oil companies last year and warned them of not price gouging but that was all they could do because there was no evidence that it was happening. Now some critics are saying we should not drill because it will not help us lower prices now. Thats like saying don't call the police to stop a serial killer who just killed your neighbor because it won't help him any now eventhough there is a danger still around. Drill Now, Drill Often. Where is Jed Clampet ( the Beverly Hillbillies) now that we need him?
I just watched CNN’s international Channel(3pm EST), breaking the news that oil price spikes again. But the anchor and the reporter assert it is China’s diesel demand contributed to the hike.





Waited a sec ! It is already THIRD time I am hearing CNN’s assertion of China’s diesel demand. The first time was about two weeks ago. What’s going on?





Then, Israel’s-Iran-attack-drill news flashing back-------Which Was Just Happened This Morning ! That “unmistakable signal” is surely an act to have a consequence of oil supply disruption ! Why is it not reported as a oil spiking cause ? !





Time to scapegoat China again before a major offensive ? To verify, I went to CNN web site , there it is :





China hikes fuel prices http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/20/news/int…





China to raise energy prices


http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/19/news/int…





But nowhere saying that Israel’s-Iran-attack-drill will unstablize the oil supply region, causing the oil price up.





For Israelis Iran Strike Drill see


http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?c…
They do have 68 million acres. It's just not in the Gulf. It's on Federal Wildlife reserves. The oil companies are not drilling it because it's too expensive to do so. They were waiting for the easier off-shore drilling to be approved. BTW, more oil won't help prices...the suits on Wall Street need to stop speculating, that'll bring the prices down.
That's not all in the Gulf, so no. About 76% of the public waters under lease in the Gulf are not being drilled yet.





The 68 million acres includes more than 40 million acres in Idaho, Utah, and a bunch of other states.
Yeah, they already have rights in the gulf and alaska. Does that mean they have rights to all the oil in the gulf and alaska? Of course not. Should they, yes of course they should.
Actually that was proven to be a number they pulled out of their hat within a couple of hours and is completely phony. They have spent the last 20 years putting areas where known reserves are located completely off limits.
Just because its open for drilling doesnt mean theres oil there, oil companies risk billions of dllars not to mention time in exploring oil. Research needs to be determine first to warrant the expensive drilling.
The issue with the leases they currently have is that they are too short to permit the testing and exploration that needs to be done to make their efforts worthwhile.
Oil companies are raising prices and won't stop until they get what they want and that's to drill anywhere they want
Yes, including land in Alaska.
No! They may have 68 million acres the Republicans would like to open up for them to drill in which belong to the people of the United Sates of America! Not to the oil companies!





Bush and McCain want to see how much wildlife they can destroy using a trumped up oil shortage as a reason. There is PLENTY of oil. All the oil companies have to do is ask, but they haven't and drilling in federally owned property is why they haven't asked! There is no oil shortage and there never has been one!





As far as clean energy, if the oil companies would quit buying all the patents perhaps we would have a lot more by now but they don't want to risk their obscene profits!





The oil companies according to this ';Congressman Nick Rahall is telling big oil companies to ';use it or lose it.';





Rahall, D-W.Va., introduced legislation last week that gives those companies an ultimatum: Start producing oil on their 68 million acres of inactive land or risk federal restrictions on future lease requests.





A report by the U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources, which Rahall chairs, states that oil and gas companies hold leases to 68 million acres of federal land and waters, spread out all across the country, that are not producing anything. An additional 4.8 million barrels of oil could be produced daily if the land was utilized, the report says.





Rahall told the Daily Mail that oil companies should be held accountable much like coal companies, which are required by federal law to develop their leases.





';Companies that lease federal coal resources are required, as a result of the Federal Coal Leasing Amendments Act of 1976, to diligently develop their leases,'; Rahall said. ';This requirement has discouraged the rampant speculation on federal coal as a result of the energy crises of the 1970s -- the same type of speculation that now appears to be plaguing the federal oil and gas leasing program.'; have 68 million acres they don't use that is already LEASED to them.





http://www.dailymail.com/News/2008061801…