Barack Obama's Oil Lease LIES!

How do you know which parts of Obama’s energy speech were either lies or misrepresentations? The parts where his mouth was moving. This morning President Obama outline his energy policy which is comprised of trying to pull the energy policy wool over America’s eyes.

Once again he wants to present “incentives” for the energy industry to drill on existing leases. You see, his feeling about the oil executives is the same as his feeling about the American people, they are complete and total idiots,paying for leases but not bothering to take the product out of the ground so they can make money. All of those stupid executives (according to the POTUS) run their companies by paying fees instead of collecting revenue. getting the product out of the ground so they can make money. This is nothing but Presidential subterfuge.

What the President is not telling you is that these oil leases purchased by oil companies is for exploration and drilling, not just drilling. Oil is not equally distributed across the each potential drilling location, there are unlucky oil companies that get stuck with a lease for a parcel that doesn’t hold any oil. What make those companies really unlucky is that the parcel right next to them might be the new Saudi Arabia.

Even if the leased location is a bonanza of black gold, that oil company still might not be drilling. This may be surprising (not), but there is a lot of red tape to get through once you find oil on a site before you start drilling. This red tape has gotten even more complicated during the Obama administration. Even if everything runs smoothly, it can take years for companies who own a lease to complete their exploration activities, and more years to move from exploration to drilling.

The Institute of Energy Resources explains it clearly with this chart

It takes approximately 60 leases to come up with one discovery. But that involves facts, and the President does not believe in facts so he wants to tax companies for not producing on their leases, even if the federal government’s refusal to grant permits is the reason why those companies are not drilling. You see in the double speak world of Barack Obama a punitive tax is an incentive.

Whats even worse that the President is disregarding the fact that only 2% of the potential drilling land has been leased. Consider, for example, this chart from the Institute for Energy Research, which is based upon data straight from the Department of Interior:

The President is even being misleading about what leases are being used and what aren’t being used.

Here’s how the Department of Interior defines “inactive leases” in its recent report:

“Inactive leases,” or leased areas that are not producing nor currently covered by an approved exploration or development plan. These areas may be subject to certain ancillary activities such as geophysical and geotechnical analysis, including seismic and other types of surveys.

That’s right. The Obama administration is claiming that leases currently in the exploration phase – the first and most important early action that every oil and gas company completes before drilling – are actually inactive. Amazingly, the White House refers to these “inactive leases” as acreage that is “neither being explored or developed,” a statement that directly contradicts what the report itself says.

It’s clear that the White House wants us to believe that he is supporting the exploitation of America’s resources, but the truth is that he is trying to stifle new oil drilling– unless of course you are Petrobras, the Brazilian Oil Company.

When he went to Brazil at the beginning of the Libyan War Kinetic military action, he promised to help fund it’s oil exploration, promising that we would be their best customers.

By some estimates, the oil you recently discovered off the shores of Brazil could amount to twice the reserves we have in the United States. We want to work with you. We want to help with technology and support to develop these oil reserves safely, and when you’re ready to start selling, we want to be one of your best customers.

The truth is, ever since Barack Obama took office he has been making it more difficult to exploit our own energy resources and his latest energy policy consists of making America more dependent on foreign oil. If he is allowed to continue our economy may collapse under the weight of higher energy prices.