I was afraid this was going to happen. American society is wanting to believe in miracles, and that isn’t just limited to the Tea Party and their fantasy of Jesus-ruling-the-WhiteHouse.

The oil deposits in ND have been long known. They were not produced before because the petroleum was not in large, easy to access reservoirs but packed into tight sedimentary deposits with the source rock spread over large distances.

Only with the advent of high oil prices has it become feasible to do the horizontal drilling, and drilling wells in large numbers, necessary to increase ND petroleum production.

Furthermore, claims about Brazil are based on fantasy. Brazil is still a net oil importer, and may always remain that way as any increased production will stimulate their own economy and as an emerging marking they don’t yet consume the amount of oil/capita that most Westernized countries do. Also, the claims about offshore Brazilian oil overlook the fact that the assumed deposits will require the deepest off-shore drilling yet, and will make the Macondo project look like childs play.

Also, the NPR is misinterpreting the EIA data. The US has also been in a deep recession that has curtailed per capita oil consumption significantly, and if we get into boom times (for which all politicians are lusting to take credit) energy demands will skyrocket.

Americans are running from hard analyses and toward fantasies in large numbers, and that doesn’t bode well for our ability to deal with reality in the future.