
U.S. Oil Output Tops 12M Barrels a Day for First Time - aginovski
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/u-oil-output-tops-12-120000720.html
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jorge-d
Oil is such a great industry.

Most of the oil production increase in the last years in the US is due to
fracking; such an amazing technology where a bunch of chemicals are injected
directly into the ground. Ted-ed has a good video about it:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tudal_4x4F0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tudal_4x4F0)

Lets screw up the environment by not quitting our society's oil dependency so
that a few shareholders of [INSERT_RANDOM_OIL_COMPANY_hERE] can enjoy all the
$$$ while future generations (and probably us too given how fast this go) get
to pay the price.

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rayiner
> Lets screw up the environment by not quitting our society's oil dependency
> so that a few shareholders of [INSERT_RANDOM_OIL_COMPANY_hERE] can enjoy all
> the $$$ while future generations (and probably us too given how fast this
> go) get to pay the price.

This is sanctimonious and inaccurate. Oil allows our consumer culture to
exist. We make plastic crap with oil, we import it from China using oil, we
deliver it using oil to an amazon warehouse, and then deliver it again using
oil to a Prime Member. That cycle, in turn, supports everyone else’s job.
Indeed, the very web is built in that oil consumption cycle, since Google runs
the web and 98% of Google’s business is helping sell more plastic crap to
people.

Oil and gas is not particularly profitable. In fact it’s less profitable than
average:
[http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/...](http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/~adamodar/New_Home_Page/datafile/roe.html).
Return on equity is single digits, versus 20%+ for companies like Facebook.

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jtr1
Please stick to the community guidelines and respond directly to the argument.
Calling a response "sanctimonious drivel" does not make your reply more
compelling.

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rayiner
The fact that OP is being sanctimonious is highly relevant to the point I’m
making. It’s one thing to hold the opinion that we need to eliminate oil use
because of the serious environmental repercussions. But if you’re living in
america enjoying American employment options and living standards, you don’t
get to engage in “holier than thou” “us versus them” rhetoric. Our entire
economy and all of our jobs are predicated on cheap energy. Oil companies make
a lot of money because they deliver an essential, high demand product. But
given that oil and gas is less profitable than your average industry (as you’d
expect a commodity to be) there is no basis for acting as if the benefits of
cheap oil flow to oil company shareholders. It flows overwhelmingly to
consumers.

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jtr1
I'm not saying OP made a stellar point, but "drivel" is an unnecessarily
aggressive descriptor here. Try to assume good faith and draw out an argument
that elevates the overall discussion. You're raising a worthwhile concern.
Raise it in a way that invites, rather than shuts down discussion.

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rayiner
You're right, "drivel" was unwarranted. I have deleted that.

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18pfsmt
I drunkenly invited someone to Denver at my expense for a duel the other day
(not literally, but figuratively). All this partisan, populist rhetoric is
driving some of us a bit nuts, but you are usually a voice of reason. It's ok
to slip up from time to time.

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docker_up
The transformation of the US for largest importer to largest exporter in only
a few years is stunning.

Unfortunately, this is a geopolitical tactic to crush Saudi Arabia and other
oil-producing nations like Iran so that it defunds terrorism. The tipping
point for the US between electric cars and gas is about $6/gallon from what
I've read. CA is getting close, I'm paying $4/gallon but most of that is taxes
these days. We can't move forward until we get rid of $2/gallon gas throughout
the country.

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pjc50
It's not so much a tactic as a technologically-enabled event. The US is not
about to "crush" Saudi Arabia, it's actively fighting along side them in
Yemen.

UK petrol prices have been close to equivalent of $6/USgal for a while -
currently about £1.20 per liter, £4.50/USgal = $5.67, and electric cars are
still pretty scarce. Hybrid taxis have been popular for a while though.

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CalRobert
The falling cost of EV's and renewable energy is a relatively recent
phenomenon too, though. Even 5 years ago vs. now, the choice to buy EV has
gotten easier.

If I were in the market for a new car, I'd be looking at EV's. I drive about
5-6000 miles a year and can't really justify the money, though (and tbh 6,000
miles a year at 50+mpg means driving is a relatively small part of my carbon
footprint. Really, I need to fly less)

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pjc50
Or 0.43 metric tons CO2/barrel, per [https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-
gases-equivalencies-ca...](https://www.epa.gov/energy/greenhouse-gases-
equivalencies-calculator-calculations-and-references)

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rcMgD2BwE72F
“Yes, the planet got destroyed. But for a beautiful moment in time we created
a lot of value for shareholders.”

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ComputerGuru
Just yesterday, OPEC agreed to continue to reduce production through 2020 to
counter falling demand/prices.

Edit: Falling demand for _OPEC_ oil, I mean.

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adventured
They're not countering falling demand, so much as trying to keep prices high
in the face of a wall of supply from the US. They're constraining their own
supply, while the US absorbs most of the demand growth. OPEC's forecast for
2019 remains for an expectation of about a million barrels per day of global
growth, mostly coming from India and China.

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cronix
Yet gas prices keep going up. Someone is making a lot of money.

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MentallyRetired
Wasn't there a political expectation that if we produced our own oil, the
price would drop? That was false from the start because we're a part of OPEC,
right?

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skrowl
The United States is not a member of OPEC, if that's "us" and "we" to you

[https://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/25.htm](https://www.opec.org/opec_web/en/about_us/25.htm)

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francisofascii
Oil execs and lobbyists are worried about renewables. Better extract as much
profit as we can now before renewable energy tech gets better. Keep prices low
so consumption stays high. Convince the American people domestic drilling is a
good thing, even though it depletes oil reserves for the long term. The oil
industry today is similar to the logging industry a century ago.

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perfunctory
> Crude output from the Permian is expected to jump 50% by 2025, according to
> BloombergNEF

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entropea
Glad to see we're hitting climate goals.

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googoogaga
Good. The more oil we pump, the less we import, the more we export
(generally). Obviously different industries require different flavors of oil,
but tight oil usually has great characteristics - light and sweet. A lot of
people don't know this, but the oil industry was founded almost entirely by
Americans, its good to see the US back on top.

I've had the pleasure of working for a large driller as a software engineer.
The innovation in drill tech is unbelievable. I hope all of you get the chance
to read about the upstream industry - phenomenal work being done. Oil is an
industry where a ton of the knowledge is only documented in books or the minds
of the workforce. so better yet, visit your local rig site.

