Brazil Finds Another Huge Oil Field

Brazil continues to increase its reputation as a major player in the oil business, discovering another major oil field, with estimates of up to two billion barrels of oil able to be recovered from it.

This oil discovery is called Guara, and is the result of the new techniques being used which can find oil under the salty sea bottom, which were undiscoverable before.

Estimates in the overall region is what is being called pre-salt reserves, cover a huge range, from a low of 60 billion barrels of oil to 150 billion barrels of oil.

There is no doubt that once the economic crisis begins to wane down, which could still be several years away, Brazil is poised to be come the major oil producer in the region, and as a result change the political and social structure of the region, as they become the largest Latin American provider of energy, overtaking the socialist foolishness of Hugo Chávez and his continuing destruction of Venezuela.

So far it is the largest area of oil discovered this century, and more than likely won't be the last, as the ocean floors are scoured for new oil fields that couldn't be seen in the recent past.

Everyone Drilling Oil but U.S.?

Oil Exploration and Drilling

It's extraordinary that countries around the world are drilling and pursuing oil, with the exception of off the coasts of America and within its borders as well, where billion's of barrels are sitting there because of the far left environmental activists pressuring Democrats, who refuse to ignore them and open up our land and coasts to the billions of barrels of oil already known to be available to us, along with the potentially huge, unknown reserves there for the taking.

I'm not saying American Oil Companies aren't drilling, just that they're not drilling off the coasts of the U.S., which would be very lucrative and helpful to the American economy and American people.

Bizarrely, the Obama administration continues to resist drilling off the shores of the U.S. while oil companies from other nations cash in, like BP from the UK did recently in the Gulf, where they found billions of barrels of oil recently, although it'll take time to know how much it is overall. They are also going to drill a second place in attempts to tap into even more reserves, while the U.S. oil policy is in shambles because of political special interests.

Even though Congress repealed the restrictions on 85 percent of American waters, the Department of Interior under the Obama administration hasn't issued one lease to an oil company for drilling and exploration.

Foolishly, the result will be continued dependence on foreign oil and whims, while we sit on potential resources that could help ween us from this foreign oil dependence in a big way.

Interestingly, the discovery of the Tiber oil by BP in the gulf recently has led some to believe it is a big piece of evidence that strengthens the abiotic theory of oil's origins.

The abiotic theory of oil asserts that any type of hydrocarbon, which includes gas and oil, is the result of natural chemical processes deep in the earth which rise through the fissures of the planet and is usually deposited in sedimentary layers beneath the surface.

What is hypocritical in all this is under the Obama administration, the U.S.Export-Import bank loaned $2 billion to Brazil's Petrobras for furthering their offshore drilling efforts. This gives support to billionaire George Soros, an avid Obama supporter, who owns a stake in Petrobras, which is a state-owned oil and gas company.

Oil Exploration and Drilling

Chevron Angola Oil Discovery

In what is at this time only being identified as a major oil discovery, Chevron announced that the find off Angola's shores still needs to be confirmed by further drilling, but the prospects of a significant oil field are pretty much ensured; it's only a matter of how much oil the field holds, which in cases like this are usually considered over 500 million barrels.

The oil and natural gas field is located off the Cabinda coast of Angola, enlarging the already significant portfolio Chevron has in the African nation.

Its affiliate Cabinda Gulf Oil Co made the find, of which Chevron has a 39.2 percent stake in. The state oil company of Angola - Sonangol owns 41 percent of Cabinda, while Total SA of France owns 10 percent and ENI SpA of Italy has a 9.8 percent stake in Cabinda.

This find continues to underscore the West African nation's growing importance to Chevron and the country's rising stature as an energy producer as its neighbor Nigeria continues to deal with militant attacks on its oil pipelines, which has cut oil production by 20 percent over the last three years.

This is one of many oil and gas discoveries off of Angola, which produced 1.85 million barrels of oil a day in July 2009.

Chevron, which now pumps over 500,000 barrels of oil a day from Angola, said the discovery, in Block 0, was drilled in March in 397 feet of water to a total vertical depth of 13,000 feet. It encountered over 225 feet of net hydrocarbon pay in the Upper Pinda formation, according to the company. Overall, Angola's output stands at about 2.1 million barrels of oil a day, which is a huge 53 percent increase from 2006.

Chevron also said the 79-3XST1 discovery well had a flow rate of 11.6 million cubic feet of natural gas and 2,550 barrels of liquid hydrocarbons a day.

More Oil Found at Campos Basin Off Brazil's Coast

The potentially huge depository of oil at the Campos Basin off of Brazil's Coast has yielded more oil, as partners in the venture, EnCana Corp., SK Energy Co., Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and Devon Energy Corp. discovered more at the huge site.

The new oil was found at a well called the 1APL1ESS in the C-M-101 block in water 1,418 meters (4,652 feet) deep.

With oil prices down, it's not known if the available oil can be produced at a profit at this time.