Why do we need to drill in ANWAR? Because there is no slack whatsoever in the world oil supply. And based on the emergence of India and China as modern economic powers, the situation will only get tighter from here. The United States remains the only country on earth that refuses tap the huge energy reserves beneath its feet.
If we had access to ANWAR, an incident like today’s would not have nearly the impact,
Crude Oil Rises After BP Shuts Alaskan Field, Largest in U.S.
Aug. 7 (Bloomberg) — Crude oil rose after BP Plc shut Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay field, the largest in the U.S., because of corrosion in a pipeline.
An inspection completed in July found a leak in a pipeline, London-based BP said in a statement today. The shutdown will take “days” to complete, a company spokesman said. The BP- operated Prudhoe Bay field produces 400,000 barrels a day, about 8 percent of U.S. production.
So, how long have we let this ANWAR’s domestic oil reserves just sit there?
In mid-1968, a “step-out well” drilled seven miles from the discovery well, confirmed that this was a great structure, a world class oil field. A true elephant….In the tightening world oil market, Prudhoe Bay was not going to destroy any price structures, but it did have the potantial to slow the growth of American oil imports greatly and to reduce dramatically the tautness in the global oil market balance.”
This is taken from one of my favorite books, Daniel Yergin’s The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money and Power