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Wednesday, January 04, 2012

China buying U.S. Frakking Rights

Timothy Birdnow

The Chinese are getting into the oil frakking business - here in the United States.

According to Christopher Helman at Forbes:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/christopherhelman/2012/01/03/china-set-to-frack-america-in-shale-deal-with-devon/

"Showing that it isn’t worried about the upswell of angst over hydraulic fracking technology, the Chinese government, through state-controlled Sinopec, today struck a deal with Devon Energy to buy into five prospective new exploration areas in the U.S.

The deal, which includes $900 million in cash upfront and a promise of $1.6 billion in the years ahead to cover drilling and development, gives the Chinese a 33% stake in five of Devon’s fields, and a front row seat to what is effectively the second wave of development of U.S. shale assets. The areas in question include the Tuscaloosa in Louisiana, the Niobrara in Colorado, the Mississippian in Devon’s home state of Oklahoma, the Utica in Ohio and the Michigan basin."

End excerpt.

What does this tell us? The Chinese know the value of shale oil, and realize that this is a ground-floor opportunity to get control of assets inside of the United States. But it also bespeaks a larger problem for America:

"Whatever Devon decides to do with its cash, the likely destination will be onshore. The company sold its deepwater and select international assets to BP for $7 billion in 2010. With new partner Sinopec. That move was the first big one that Chief Executive John Richels made upon taking the reins of the company from Larry Nichols (who founded Devon with his father four decades ago). But divestitures don’t make a legacy, and Richels is surely seeking to make a lasting mark on Devon."

End excerpt.

Soooo,

Devon divested it's Gulf offshore drilling in 2010; why do you suppose they did that? It didn't have anything to do with a moratorium on Gulf drilling by a certain President, now would it? In other words, the Obama Administration pushed Oklahoma-based Devon out of the Gulf. What signal did that send to an American oil company? The Administration is none too happy about frakking, either, and may change the rules at any time. Of course, the Chinese are supported by their government, which has an interest in tying up American oil production. And, the Chinese benefitted from the Gulf drilling ban. Consider their partnership with Cuba for drilling off the Florida coast. http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2011/09/cuba-will-begin-drilling-off-florida-coast-by-december-where-democrats-block-us-companies-from-operating/

The Chinese understand the need for oil - both their own and ours. They understand that if they can get us to lock ours up in a mad dash to end the chimera Global Warming while they themselves develop as much of their own as possible they will have us by the throat. They are operating the Panama Canal, after all (thank you, Jimmy Carter) and thus have easy access to this oil, while they can close the canal if need be to U.S. oil shipping to the western refineries. If they hold rights to shale fields they can tie up our oil and we would be hard-pressed to do anything about it. In America, owning the rights to property and NOT developing them is nigh unto untouchable.

This is part and parcel of the modern Western sickness of internationalism; there are an influential group of people (like our President himself) who want America to diminish, and want our resources handed over to Third World peoples. This group believes we have lived too well "off the backs of the world's poor" and that wealth should be redistributed accordingly. I have little doubt Obama and his insiders smiled when they read this; it's exactly what the Gulf drilling ban was intended to do. It damaged the America oil industry in many and varied ways, roiled into other aspects of the business. They may not have forseen this particular development, but they understood that government damage to one aspect of an industry would lead to damage across the board. They want us at the mercy of China and other erswhile friends, so that we can all come together as a world. They believe WE are the problem, and an America bowed low is a better world for everyone.

And don't forget; Obama himself, when asked about the price spike when he was running for office, said he didn't mind $4 a gallon gasoline, but wished the price had risen more slowly. Obamabot Energy Secretary Steven Chu said "Somehow we have to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe"
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122904040307499791.html

And this Administration would LOVE to strangle frakking in it's cradle, before it can come online and push oil prices down. High oil prices are intended to drive America's lifestyle down. They want us to live more like the energy poor nations, ride public transportation, set our thermostats at 60* in winter, use fans in summer, etc. They want this because they want to punish us for "stealing the resources of the Third World" to live a good life, to force us to conform to a worldwide standard of living (which they think will lead to world government and peace through equal distribution of wealth), and to restrict our ability to move and live independently. They can't control us if we can move about freely, if we can live as we please, if we can buy what we want. And this Administration wants us dependent, dependent on foreign oil, on foreign development, so we have to behave. "Green energy" is but a ruse, a ridiculous farce intended to waste our time and effort.

Read this Heritage piece about the costs of Obama drilling policies - and about the ultimate intentions.
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/02/23/10-things-you-need-to-know-about-high-gas-prices-and-obama%E2%80%99s-oil-policy/

In the end, it's the Obama policies, the damage done to the oil industry by our fearless leader and national suit model, that has led to China now owning frakking rights here. It's intentional.

We have GOT to get these people away from the levers of power, and overturn everything they have done.

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