Billion Barrel Baby  

Kurt Cobb at Resource Insights has a good post up on the recent oil find in Utah that may be a billion barrels in size, making it the largest find in a few years. The head of the company that found the field sounds like he is a pretty well grounded sort of individual. He also discusses the resource constraints (in terms of people and equipment) that oil and gas companies are dealing with lately, which echoes what I've heard here and has also been discussed recently at The Oil Drum and Mobjectivist (and if it is your birthday today WHT, then many happy returns).

Mike Miller, president of Michigan-based Miller Energy Inc., whose company is part of a joint venture in Utah that made what could turn out to be the largest onshore find of oil in the United States in 30 years, instead expresses his concerns about the eventual depletion of oil and gas. If the Utah discovery turns out to be a billion barrels as touted--Miller isn't putting any number on it yet--it would provide only enough oil to supply the world for 12 days at the current rate of consumption.

"I totally accept the fact that oil and natural gas are finite resources," Miller said in an interview at his office last week. "I know we have to develop alternative sources." He added that he follows the debate over when world oil production will peak, but he has no firm opinion on the issue himself.