Democrats blink on offshore drilling

Reuters/NY Times:

A top U.S. Democratic senator said in a newspaper interview published Wednesday that he would consider supporting opening up new areas for offshore oil and gas drilling.

"I'm open to drilling and responsible production," Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin told The Wall Street Journal, adding that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could also support the move.

However, Durbin said his support for opening new areas to drilling was contingent on setting requirements that oil and gas companies begin production within a specified time frame on acreage they have leased from the government.

The spike in oil prices to record highs above $145 per barrel has prompted calls for the U.S. government to allow energy producers to explore for oil and gas off the East and West Coasts and in the eastern region of the Gulf of Mexico. Those areas are currently off limits to exploration.

...

Durbin is still showing his ignorance of the oil business, but I think he and other Democrats heard from voters over the pass week telling them what they thought of the ridiculous restrictions on offshore drilling. Since there is no rational reason to not drill, Democrats are being compelled to give in on the point, but they still want to throw in one of their control freak requirements that will do nothing to create more oil.

A brief word about oil leases. Companies pay for the right to explore for oil. Five years ago a company paid me for that right on my acreage. They never drilled. The lease expired and another company could do the same thing again. The so called use it or lose it provisions the Democrats are pushing is just pap for their dupes. Companies don't drill because they do not think the prospects are good after they do preliminary exploration. Losing a non productive tract is not a big deal. What is more important is access to areas where the potential is greater.

While it is disappointing that no royalty payments are coming in since a well was not drilled, It makes no sense for me to be angry witht he company for not drilling. If they thought they could make money from doing it, I am postiive it would be done.

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