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[quote user="jgreen"] The oil companies already have leases on 41 million acres of land.  They are paying the lease for the right to drill on it, so it must have oil or they wouldn't be paying for the lease.  So, why are they not drilling on the land they already lease?  Might it be that they don't really want to drill on it because then supply would be increased and prices would decline?  Perhaps it makes more sense to blame others, to involve the Arctic refuge issue and the sensitive offshore issues as false fronts to cover the fact that they just don't want to drill and increase supply.  Notice that our president visited Saudi Arabia last month, sat down with his allies and asked them to increase production.  They said - NO.  George came home and started talking about drilling in the Arctic, knowing that it was a nonstarter in the Congress.  Why didn't he and Dick Cheney encourage their friends in the oil industry to drill on land they already lease? Maybe it's because their personal fortunes are in oil, and if supply increases, the value of their personal fortunes declines.  Don't be misled by all of the political pandering and the half-truths that come from the White House.  Go to the facts.  The acreage is under lease, much of it in the Gulf of Mexico, it can be drilled just as soon as the company holding the lease decides to do so.  And, current environmental regs, the same ones that govern the drilling that is now in progress, will govern the drilling.  The oil is there folks, it already is in the control of the oil companies, there is no reason other than greed that keeps them from drilling for it and placing it on the market.  There's the real problem - changing the market so as to lower prices.Jgren  [/quote]That charge has been made a lot lately.  But if the reason oil companies don't want to drill on existing leases is that they want supply scarcity and the resulting high price, then why would they want to drill in ANWR?  That would increase supply and drive down their price.  Another thing to consider is the fact that oil companies might make less money at a higher price than they would at a lower price.Here is an article about the subject which answers the charge that oil companies are asking to drill in new areas while not drilling on leases they already have:<a href="http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/23/news/economy/oil_drilling/index.htm?eref=rss_topstories">http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/23/news/economy/oil_drilling/index.htm?eref=rss_topstories</a>From the above link:Some Democrats also charge that oil companies are deliberately not drilling on the land to limit supply and drive up oil prices. "Big Oil is more interested in pumping up prices and pumping up their own profits rather than pumping more oil," said Rep. Edward Markey (D-Mass), who has co-sponsored a bill to charge oil companies a fee for land they hold that's not producing oil. "We should not even begin discussing handing over more public land to the oil companies until they first use [the land] they already hold."But the oil industry says it pays millions of dollars for these leases, and that it would not make sense to purposely leave the areas untapped. Rather, years of exploration is required before drilling can even begin. In some cases, no oil is found on leases they hold. In others, drilling the wells and building the pipelines takes years. It is especially hard now that a worldwide boom in oil exploration has pushed up the prices - and timelines - for skilled workers and specialized equipment."No one is sitting on leases these days," said Rayola Dougher, senior economic advisor for the American Petroleum Institute. "Those making those assertions don't understand the bidding and leasing process."Gheit agrees that it's unlikely that hoarding is going on. With prices at $135 dollars a barrel, everyone is trying to pump as much as they can, he said. But fearing oil prices will eventually fall, the industry is leery about making too many investments in the fields it has - many of which are in deepwater areas that can be pricey to develop.Instead, they're holding out, hoping the government will open areas closer to shore that would be cheaper to work on.
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