[A-List] Re: Jonah Gindin on Canada's and Venezuela's Oil Policies

[CeJ]

>>No production boom? Are you kidding me?>>

That's a boom in capital investment--building up of infrastructure.
The term 'boom' is used because Canada scores an increase in oil
production, most of that increase coming from bitumen extraction and
upgrading.

I'm predicting that with a short-term decrease in demand worldwide,
conservation efforts (even in the US, under a Democratic presidency),
we will once again see oil lower than 40 dollars per barrel.

When Alberta matches Venezuela's 3 million bpd, then come to me and
talk about a production  boom. I'll even concede if it gets to 2
million bpd. Which it won't. And efforts underway Venezuela could well
be cheaper in terms of production costs than Gulf of Mexico or North
Sea, much of which now goes out of the hands of the globals as being
too risky or not profitable enough.

This is where we disagree completely MS. You read everything under the
rubric of peak oil production, and for me the phrase means almost
nothing in terms of the current price of oil and profitability.

If I had a million dollars to invest in Alberta right now, I would
invest in strip joints and gambling casinos, since these are much less
capital-intensive (though I would have to check on the laws regulating
such activities, unless I was going to invest in underworld business).

CJ