100 billion barrels of Oil discovered near Gatwick airport in London

[Valmy]

Yeah 'You mind if we pump oil in your garden?' is probably going to require a bit of negotiation. Not to mention the neighbors may be under the impression it may reduce their quality of life or something crazy like that.

But I bet you guys feel stupid for grabbing all those colonies to secure oil resources in the 20th century now eh? You were sitting on it all along.

[viper37]

Poor Britain.   Hopefully they keep it as a reserve.  Oil can be a terrible curse on an economy.

Yeah it totally devastated Texas. Oh wait...

But I guess alot has changed since those days in the oil and gas market.

it destroyed Canada, apparently.  Thank God we don't exploit our oil in Quebec, not only would we keep on destroying Canada, but we'd be rich too.  Canadians would have real reasons to hates us now.

[Siege]

Have they ever heard of hydraulic fracturing?

Leasing the land use alone would cost a fortune in that area. So many cheaper places to get oil.

Hydraulic fracturing uses very little land.
Have you seen a completed well?
It takes very little space. You can have it on your backyard.

What happens is all the pictures you see out there are of wells while under construction, which takes more space of course, but that is only temporarily until the well is complete.

[Valmy]

I am well aware what those things look like. We have been leasing land for fracking for years. But even with our relatively worthless farmland leasing is a big thing.

[grumbler]

Lots of oil is not extractable using modern technology,  even hydraulic fracturing.  It isn't even (necessarily) dependent on how many houses are in the area, or how much they are worth. It's more a matter of how concentrated the oil is and how much pressure it is under.

[grumbler]

What happens is all the pictures you see out there are of wells while under construction, which takes more space of course, but that is only temporarily until the well is complete.

You've never seen a picture of a completed oil well?   

You haven't been trying.

[KRonn]

OPEC will invade.

The US may invade....     

But wait, the US now has massive reserves of oil and gas, so I think the UK is safe!   

[Norgy]

About time they finally started sorting out lost luggage.

[crazy canuck]

Can someone dig up the end of oil thread we had a few years back?

[Siege]

What happens is all the pictures you see out there are of wells while under construction, which takes more space of course, but that is only temporarily until the well is complete.

You've never seen a picture of a completed oil well?   

You haven't been trying.

I have seen a lot of wells, but not fracking wells.
I am not in the fracking business.

[lustindarkness]

What happens is all the pictures you see out there are of wells while under construction, which takes more space of course, but that is only temporarily until the well is complete.

You've never seen a picture of a completed oil well?   

You haven't been trying.

I have seen a lot of wells, but not fracking wells.
I am not in the fracking business.

Not the water well you poison, oil wells.

[Martinus]

What happens is all the pictures you see out there are of wells while under construction, which takes more space of course, but that is only temporarily until the well is complete.

You've never seen a picture of a completed oil well?   

You haven't been trying.

I have seen a lot of wells, but not fracking wells.
I am not in the fracking business.

Well, it's not your fracking business, anyway.

[MadImmortalMan]

Yeah 'You mind if we pump oil in your garden?' is probably going to require a bit of negotiation.

Are you kidding me? I'd jump at the chance to have someone drill a well in my yard. That's like having a second paycheck for a job you don't have to go to. 

[Sheilbh]

Why wouldn't it be extracted?

South-East England, a couple of thousand people to each square mile living in houses valued at £500,000 on average, might not be worth it unless the extractive method is very unobtrusive.

And English land law doesn't help either I've read. Even ignoring the apparently sometimes difficult discovery of who owns the mineral rights (apparently the CofE especially was very aggressive in getting their manorial rights to minerals registered before the expiry of that 'overriding interst'). Lots of little rights and interests in the land that are all protected and would be probably very expensive to buy out.

[Barrister]

Why wouldn't it be extracted?

South-East England, a couple of thousand people to each square mile living in houses valued at £500,000 on average, might not be worth it unless the extractive method is very unobtrusive.

And English land law doesn't help either I've read. Even ignoring the apparently sometimes difficult discovery of who owns the mineral rights (apparently the CofE especially was very aggressive in getting their manorial rights to minerals registered before the expiry of that 'overriding interst'). Lots of little rights and interests in the land that are all protected and would be probably very expensive to buy out.

Depends on your legal regime.  Here in Alberta, where the laws are well-developed (and not surprisingly oil company friendly) all those little interests get pooled and any and all revenue shared, even without your consent.