New Sources of Oil

The recent discovery of an oil field in the Gulf of Mexico has shed new light on our increasingly growing energy worries. This new field has been estimated to have as much as 15 billion barrels of oil in reserve, and it could boost our national reserves by as much as 50 percent1.

This new well is located about 175 miles1 off the coast of Louisiana, 270 Miles2 off the coast of New Orleans. The Chevron Corporation discovered the field calling it the “Jack Field.” It lies almost 30,000 feet beneath the surface of the ocean2.

This reserve is very big news for our country because it could be bigger than the second largest reserve ever discovered, Cantarell Field. This means we are one big step closer to becoming more independent when it comes to our energy supplies, and it means lower fuel prices. As soon as the discovery was announced, the price of a barrel of crude oil fell and helped cheapen gas prices.

This news has also led to more discussion on the idea that oil is not actually a fossil fuel but rather is continuously produced deep inside the Earth. If true, this speculation would mean that our oil supplies might not run out as soon as predicted - or even at all. All we have to do is drill deeper into the Earth to find continuously occurring oil production. This radical idea goes against most popular thinking, which says that oil is running out and we need to find other sources of energy. Finding other sources of energy is not a bad idea at all however, but a theory that oil is naturally reoccurring will have a hard time gaining momentum. Most media, government, and private companies already have too much invested in alternative fuel causes to acknowledge the possibility that this theory could be true. That could mean a decrease in funding and support for their research, and that would not be in the best interests of anyone trying to find new, safer, cleaner sources of energy. It is comforting, however, to know that the world may not run out of oil within the next 30 years, since chaos would result.

Hopefully, more reserves like this one will be discovered, in time lengthening the period we have to find other economically feasible sources of energy for our cars, buildings, and essential infrastructure. In the meantime, getting gasoline below two dollars a gallon would stimulate our economy and raise the moral of many Americans.