Unless you have been living in a cave, you probably have heard that the price of a barrel of oil is going up, way up. Topping 90 dollars a barrel or more on several days this week. This is making people do some crazy things. For one domestic oil well drilling is at a 22 year high, the evil wankers people at the American Petroleum Institute have released a report showing that…

U.S. drilling estimates for the third quarter of 2007 are at twice the level of third quarter drilling activity recorded during the 1990s and the first nine months of U.S. drilling estimates haven’t been this high since 1985, API data show.

According to API’s 2007 Quarterly Well Completion Report: 3rd Quarter, an estimated 13,543 oil wells, natural gas wells and dry holes were completed in the third quarter of 2007, a 22-year record for the quarter and up four percent from third quarter 2006.

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API’s estimates show that the resurgence in oil well completion activity that began at the start of the decade is continuing into 2007. An estimated 4,544 oil wells were completed in the third quarter of 2007, the highest third quarter oil well estimated drilling activity since 1985.

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API also reported total estimated footage of 81,009,000 feet drilled in the third quarter of 2007, up nine percent from the third quarter of 2006 and the highest third quarter estimated footage drilled in more than two decades.

Hmm oil production peaked in the 1970’s in this country, why would oil and gas drilling suddenly reach highs we haven’t seen sine the 80’s? The answer of course, is that oil has been getting more and more expensive. The higher cost of a barrel means that oil companies can now afford to go after the “iffy” spots they are not sure of, or go get that nasty gunk oil that normally wouldn’t be worth the trouble.

Oil prices touched an all time high at $90.07 per barrel last week, easing to $88 on Monday supported by violence between Turkish soldiers and Kurdish guerrillas and a record-low dollar.

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US oil has rallied more than 10 per cent since Oct 8, climbing towards the inflation-adjusted high of $101.70 hit in April 1980, a year after the Iranian revolution. (via)

In fact the high price one can get for oil has caused people all over the world to do insane things to get the remaining oil reserves. In Brazil the plan on drilling in the rain forest.

The National Petroleum Agency, or ANP, plans to put US$36 million toward oil and gas exploration in Acre, a state bordering Bolivia, according to Brazilian state media Agencia Brasil, but environmental officials say no impact study has been done to assess how the plan could affect the Amazon. (via)

Cut down the rain forest (a carbon sink) and drill out oil to burn (a source of carbon), seems like a great way to deal with global warming (note the sarcasm). Alberta Canada is in the process if tearing up the province to get at the tar sands below. It seems that the high cost of oil is not going to keep oil companies from drilling up more and more hard to get at oil, producing worse and worse environmental effects.

Unless we kick our oil habit, we will continue to pay more and more for a dirtier and dirtier product. The culmination of this downward spiral is the destruction of our habitat, the extinction of many of the worlds species and if we are really unlucky the collapse of our civilization.

The first countries to move towards a renewable energy based economy are going to be strategically positioned to become the next super power. Once the oil guzzling American giant runs out of its precious black food it will grind to a halt. The same is true for China, and Russia. Places that run on wind solar geothermal biomass, and wave power will not have any of these problems.

Anyway you look at it (finacially, ecologically, security), kicking oil for good should be one of the top priorities on anyones list.