There is money in that there fracking...
Halliburton's profits rise by nearly 50% in 4th quarter 2011.
The company that brought you the infamous and ultimately deadly cementing job that has been alleged as one of many problems at the root cause of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and subsequent BP oil gusher is laughing all the way to the bank...
Fourth quarter 2011 earnings are up 50% for the Houston-based company on sales of drilling and fracking equipment, and the contracting work that entails.
“I’m proud to say this was a record year for our company, with revenues of $24.8 billion, operating income of $4.7 billion and with growth, margins and returns that led our peer group,” said Dave Lesar, Halliburton’s chairman, president, and chief executive officer. “Our business has nearly doubled in size over the last five years, primarily from organic growth.”
Sort of like it just exploded, wouldn't you say?
Make them pay their taxes, dammit.
But then, there's this, from the damned if you do and damned if you don't department...
Report: U.S. reliance on oil and gas imports will drop by half in 23 years.
Okay, that headline looks pretty good, doesn't it? Well...yes and no. That does indicate we're using less, or converting to alternative fuels or renewables, or wind or solar. It also means that the oil companies are drilling and fracking more fossil fuels in the US than we use, and that's in part because some of us have been attempting to get away from fossil fuels - driving less, insulating our homes.
“These projections reflect increased energy efficiency throughout the economy, updated assessments of energy technologies and domestic energy resources, the influence of evolving consumer preferences, and projected slow economic growth,” Howard Gruenspecht, the EIA’s acting administrator, said in a statement.
Domestic oil production will rise 20 percent by 2020 to 6.7 million barrels a day, the highest level since 1994, as shale oil production continues and more Gulf of Mexico resources are developed, according to the agency.
But because of less consumption domestically, there will be a glut... Now the rat bastards can sell more US fuel overseas, where it's a lot more expensive - hence more money in their pockets, and more greenhouse gases released into the atmosphere...
But then there is:
Although greenhouse-gas emissions will rise 3 percent from 2010 to 2035, they nonetheless will stay below 2005 levels thanks largely to coal’s decline, improved efficiency and state-level renewable-power mandates, the agency said. Energy use and climate-warming emissions fell from 2005 levels as a result of the recession.
The agency added that greenhouse-gas emissions and net oil imports will fall further than projected if the U.S. finalizes proposed fuel-economy standards for cars, minivans and pickup trucks. Last fall two federal agencies proposed standards for model years 2017 to 2025 that would roughly double mileage from current levels by the end of that period.
Upcoming fuel-efficiency standards could prevent 6 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases — almost what the U.S. emitted in all of 2009 — from entering the atmosphere over the lifetimes of the vehicles covered, according to the White House. They also would cut oil use by 2.2 million barrels per day by 2025, roughly one-fourth of current levels, the White House says.
We stand on the edge of a knife. Hope that we - and the other inhabitants of the planet - are still here by 2025...
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