China Drills For Oil 50 Miles Off The Florida Coast???

Well this is a huge slap in the face of our spineless government officials, according to this page China is slant drilling of the coast of key west, have we completely lost our backbone as a nation??

If the United States decided to drill for oil 50 miles off the coast of China, we would be embroiled in WWIII overnight. Thanks to wacko environmentalist Congressmen and Senators using the Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] to stymie drilling along the continental shelf of the United States, oil that rightfully belongs to American oil companies is now being drilled by Canada, Spain and Cuba—with help from both China and India. With only modest energy needs and no drilling expertise or money, Cuba's government-owned oil corporation, CubaPetroleo—with money and expertise from China's national oil company, Sinopec—is now "exercising its option" in the Straits of Florida. China, according to reports, is slant drilling. Slant drilling is what oil companies do when the oil they are trying to tap is on someone else's property. China will try to tap into reserves on the "American-side" of the Florida Straits that legally belongs to the United States in a 2-year renewable treaty negotiated with Cuba and signed by then-President Jimmy Carter in 1977.

For all you Jimmy Carter fans out there this should be an eye opener, when will we start to see that our politians are selling us down the river just to appease some less fortunate countries.

www.newswithviews.com...

Also the amount of oil were talking about here is huge if only we were the ones getting that oil instead of the chinamen. maybe our gas prices wouldnt be 3.00 a gallon and maybe we could get out of the middle east, wishful thinking huh.

Surveys done by the Department of the Interior suggest the outer banks of the Straits contain more than 115 billion barrels of oil and 633 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The oil reserves in the Florida Straits would cover America's oil and gas needs for approximately 16 years. The government of the United States and the Seven Sisters have been aware of the existence of these oil reserves for over two decades, yet they have all continued to insist there's a severe world oil shortage—as the price of crude continues to climb and oil storage facilities all over the world bulge from surpluses of crude the nation's refineries can't handle.

Whoa... if that doesn't qualify as an act of aggression then I don't know what does. Theft plain and simple. If I understood the issue correctly, we left those stocks intact as a reserve for ourselves...

Why can't chinese oil companies operate in international waters? If the US won't develop it, its fair game. Thats capitalism man.

Theft plain and simple

How can it be theft when no one owns it?

I base my statement on this:

"China will try to tap into reserves on the "American-side" of the Florida Straits that legally belongs to the United States in a 2-year renewable treaty negotiated with Cuba and signed by then-President Jimmy Carter in 1977."

Is the article in error? Or am I misinterpreting the "legally blongs to the US" part?

And if one keeps on the trail you will realise that the year 1977 was quite the watershed as America started shedding it's 'strength' and sovereignty in general.

It's just another example proving the reality that the only scarce thing is in fact the general American inclination to find and/or exploit it's own oil reserves. It's a matter of intent, not availability.

Stellar

could the earth quake today have any thing to do with this slant drilling in the Florida seas?

Or could it of been a collapse of said drilling tunnel done on purpose by under water explosives of some kind??

Im speculating wildly here, but it seems a bit odd that such a large quake came about in such a stable area.

The only logical step the US has would be to build their own rig directly across from the China rig, right on the border and stuff. Then slant drill into the location those Chinese have, and maintain competition. In a sence that would be good for both economies, boosting petrol and lowering our own prices to compete with the Saudi industry.

I think this would be a great solution, however uagmented with a counter intel hub to ensure no clandestine activities by China are conducted. Come on, you and I both know China has and will take advantage of any opportunity it can get. Who wouldn't...

Yupper, that is my $.02

Originally posted by Nygdan
Why can't chinese oil companies operate in international waters? If the US won't develop it, its fair game. Thats capitalism man.

Theft plain and simple

How can it be theft when no one owns it?

China will try to tap into reserves on the "American-side" of the Florida Straits that legally belongs to the United States in a 2-year renewable treaty negotiated with Cuba and signed by then-President Jimmy Carter in 1977.

From above source.

It is owned, and not fair game.

[edit on 10-9-2006 by ADVISOR]

Reminds me of an episode of "The Simpsons." Springfield elementary found an oil reserve under the school. Then Mr. Burns built a slant drill and tapped it from under them.

posted by Nygdan

Why can't chinese oil companies operate in international waters? If the US won't develop it, its fair game. Thats capitalism man. How can it be theft when no one owns it?

I thought the US clalimed a 12 mile border, up from the 1920s 3 miles, but also a 200 miles economic zone. Do you know?

24 mile contiguous zone on top of the 12 miles for the US, announced 24 September 1999.

Seriously Wikipedia is getting better than Google

Originally posted by Nygdan
Why can't chinese oil companies operate in international waters? If the US won't develop it, its fair game. Thats capitalism man.

Theft plain and simple

How can it be theft when no one owns it?

Wrong. So was the guy above us who said it was rightfully the American Oil Companies.

In truth, there is no such thing as international capitalism (that is, there is marble quarries in Colorado, maybe we do not mine it to its fullest, should Peru be allowed to come in and take over the quarries?)

On the international level all resources are by definition the property of the state in which it resides, which is why China is slant drilling and not building platforms right above it, because they know they are stealing.

The oil is in no way the property of American oil companies. Sorry, but it belongs to the American people, it lies within our borders and is the property of the state it resides in or the federal government if outside state boundaries. The government may allow a company to drill for oil (notice that is why oil companies do not drill there.. they are not allowed! They do not have a god given right to drill where ever they damn well please)

The situation is kind of iffy.. there is no way to combat oil theft on an international level.. it is sad because Cuba allowed them to do this and there is nothing we can do about it, as long as it is slant drilling (we do it to you know) and the only way would be to out pump the Chinese pumps. But.. another problem.. we do not have the capability to refine anymore oil then we already have. Aside from that we drill millions of barrels of oil from Alaska, but we sell it off to the international markets.. it is not kept here in the states except for what is refined.

Also, if you want to talk about oil theft... Right now all bids and contracts where destroyed after the Iraq invasion, all contracts where reformed with mostly American companies (the biggest losers of the Iraq war was Russia and France). We also control Taiwan. Do you honestly think that we help those Taiwanese because we like democracy?! Please. They sit on one of the largest oil reserves in the world, and China cannot touch it because international boundaries are 200 miles off the mainland coast. Taiwan therefore sits atop the drilling sites, which is why China is even fighting over Taiwan.. all over oil.. a lot of oil.. and WE wont let them touch it. So they went to Florida. Got to love the irony. Lets go north into Russia. The USSR fell apart, what companies came in to develop the Siberian oil fields? American. Well.. Russia tries but they really are horrible at the whole capitalism gig..

Please be realistic - the Chinese are gambiting and KNOW that the US won't allow it, it's a power play trying to say "we'll work around you".

Right now the US controls indirectly almost all the oil going to China - there are incredible forces near Iran, the US controls those sea lanes, and Venezuela is within bombing distance from the US coast.

China isn't drilling these straights, just looking to, and they know that the US won't allow it.

International waters has always been 12 miles, it is the distance a ship's largest gun could fire in the time period the border was set at 12 miles by the British Maritime Law.

We sometimes take up to 200. 'Cus we're special.

If the United States decided to drill for oil 50 miles off the coast of China, we would be embroiled in WWIII overnight.

Ah... Oh really?

Remember that American spy plane that flew near Chinese territory resulting in the death of a Chinese pilot? No WWIII... So how in God's name would drilling off 50 MILES cause it. Ah... a biased article indent to fill fear in our head.

Oh and btw, the U.S. has military bases, air bases SURROUNDING China with the ability to bomb any Chinese city within an hour... Yes, CRY WAR my friends... the Chinese are PURELY evil and would be the only nation to wander near another nation's territory...

Of course, drilling off the coast is much less lethal than having bombers off one's coast, am I right?

There are several fundamental flaws in the very premise of this thread... so many that I don't know where to start...

(1) Nowhere in the link cited does the blogger cite any sources for his claim... Nor does the poster of this thread. All we have to go on is that the blogger says its so.

(2) There is an underlying assumption that environmentalists are out to harm the United States... and that simply is not so.

(3) In connection to that is the idea that the environmentalists won't let oil companies drill for more oil in order to protect the environment but are willing to let Chinese companies do it.

(4) To think that environmentalists even have the clout to stop or allow a company, much less a foreign one to drill where it wants them to is laughable... especially in this administration.

(5) In an administration totally owned by the oil companies to suggest that they would allow this is absurd.

(6)In the mid 70's we extended our maritime borders out from 12 miles to 200 miles. I know I was in the Coast Guard when this happened. It was initally done to help the fisheries and to keep out factory ships but it also includes all foreign activity such as drilling so in order to do so they (the Chinese) would have had to get explicit permisson from the government.

(7) Finally if somehow the environmentalists actually had the clout with this administration; a joke in and of itself, to push for and allow a foreign company, Chinese or not to drill where U.S. oil companies are not... they would be howling bloody murder and it would be all over the news... not just some right wing bloggers posting.

reply to post by apc


Actually most nations that can, claim 200 miles and we weren't the first to do it.

reply to
post by the_sentinel

For all you Jimmy Carter fans out there this should be an eye opener, when will we start to see that our politians are selling us down the river just to appease some less fortunate countries.

Here's ONE great big Jimmy Carter fan.

I would mention that if this was a treaty in 1977, the Senate had to approve it. I don't recall that happening but maybe, like the Panama Canal treaty, Cater talked sense to the Senate? Like him or not, I assure you, if JC had been prez on September 11, 2001, we would NOT be at WAR in Iraq. And ALL the misery which goes with that. 4,100 KIA and counting for one thing. $600 b. down the tube for another.

Loss of standing in the ME, as evidenced by the 1) Syria-Israel talks being held in Turkey NOT in W-DC. 2) The Lebanon-Hezbollah agreement being struck in Qatar and NOT in W-DC.

With the Brits sitting by as we go back into Basra. Them leaving Iraq on November 5. Refusal of NATO to sweep up our droppings in Afghan. That too will be ours to repair on November 5. and no $133 oil either and a brush-off by King Abdul.

We sure could do worse than Jimmy Carter.

[edit on 5/24/2008 by donwhite]