Oil politics

We simply cannot be this self-centered and stupid but... From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Foreign money pours into American oil, gas fields
Foreign investment poured into American gas and oil shale fields through three quarters of 2011, amounting to $24.5 billion of the total $39.9 billion in deals, according to figures released to the Tribune Review.

And that 61 percent share from overseas money shows little evidence of cooling off, said Steve Haffner, a partner in the Pittsburgh office of PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC. The giant accounting firm only calculated deals worth $50 million or more.

On Nov. 3, Chesapeake Energy Corp. announced a $2.14 billion letter of intent to develop a substantial part of its Utica shale formation holdings in eastern Ohio to an unnamed foreign company.

At the same time foreigners are investing in American shale projects, six U.S. terminal ports are seeking federal approval to begin exporting liquefied natural gas from those locations. One, at Sabine Pass, La., has been approved.

Most of those in the business of plotting long-term U.S. energy policy have been caught flat-footed by the rapid development of fracking and new shale gas being discovered across the country -- including the Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania, said Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, at a hearing last week in Washington.

"Most of them have missed what would turn out to be the most important development of all," she said.

By the time we get a coherent energy policy, our own oil fields will be owned by the Chinese. And our neighbors to the North? From United Press International:

China wants our crude, Canada says
Canada expects strong interest in its heavy crude oil reserves from China after the U.S. government balked on a major oil pipeline project, the government said.

The U.S. State Department last week said it was reviewing alternate routes for the planned Keystone XL pipeline to avoid environmentally sensitive territory in Nebraska. That decision could move final approval, originally expected at the end of this year, to after the 2012 presidential elections in the United States.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said during a meeting with Asian trading partners in Hawaii that the State Department's decision highlighted the importance of working closer with the Chinese.

"This does underscore the necessity of Canada making sure that we are able to access Asia markets for our energy products," he was quoted by The Wall Street Journal as saying. "And that will be an important priority of our government going forward."

The Canadian government said a heavy crude oil pipeline would get built to carry oil from tar sands projects in Alberta province one way or the other. The direction of that pipeline would depend on the end consumer.

Harper is saying: "You guys can't be this stupid." And Obama is saying: "Yes we CAN!" Less than one year to the 2012 elections and some interesting conservative candidates showing up...