WP: Alaska Oil Field's Falling Production Reflects U.S. Trend

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/06/AR2005060601742_pf.html

Oil keeps flowing through a maze of aging wells, pumps and pipelines that poke through the snow on this desolate North Slope tundra.

But this vast field is ailing: Output has fallen by nearly 75 percent from its peak in 1987 and is expected to continue dropping.

The Prudhoe Bay field sprawling over an area the size of Howard County still pumps more oil than any other site in the United States. But its shrinking production reflects a trend throughout the country: After years of pumping, fields in the U.S. are drawing less oil from the ground.

The implications for U.S. energy policy are profound. At a time when President Bush and members of Congress are talking about the need to be less dependent on foreign oil, the country is becoming even more dependent. As U.S. production declines, demand has been increasing.

[Roland99]

1. Or is it all a ploy to get us used to paying exhorbitant prices?

[aneerkoinos]

4. Ploy?

It is no ploy that US oil production peaked in 1970, and that global production has reached peak levels.

[Roland99]

5. By ploy I mean an intentional slowdown in production

I know it's quite a reach but just something that's been sitting in the back of my mind lately.

[aneerkoinos]

6. OPEC is producing full throttle

What the situation is, that global production of sweet light crude seems to have peaked and is allready in or soon nearing decline. at the same time there is overproduction of heavy and sour, surpassing the refining capacity for that type of crude. And demand keeps still growing.

[Roland99]

8. But do we know for sure that OPEC is at full throttle?

[aneerkoinos]

9. Sure enough, IMO

With the exception that Iraq is largely off-line, for known reasons. :evilgrin:

I don't see any good reasons to put my tinfoil hat on.

[Roland99]

10. You're probably right. But, this doubt has been rising in my mind lately.

[Theduckno2]

2. Another reason the 2006 mid-term elections are so important!!!

We need, and I mean need, elected legislators that realize we need to become less dependent on oil (foreign and domestic). Peak oil is here or nearly here, so time is of the essence. Its good to see the MSM showing interest in the subject. :)

[Deja Q]

7. Are we past the point though?

How can the world sustain 6 billion people, which it can't already effectively do?

[dArKeR]

3. CROSSING THE RUBICON The Decline of the American Empire at the End of

the Age of Oil

http://www.fromthewilderness.com/

[bpilgrim]

11. PEAK OIL can not be SPUN any longer

how do we get our politicians to begin talking about this serious issue?

peace

[hatrack]

12. Wow! The WP reporting breathlessly on news from 1987!

Oh my God! Prudhoe Bay already peaked! And it did so eighteen years ago! Stop the presses! :eyes:

Incredibly sodden, slovenly "journalism" from America's finest beltway cage liner (other than the Times, of course).