Oil Companies Sitting On Already Leased Land: Why?
It has been reported that oil companies, major international corporations and little outfits alike, are “sitting on” federal land that they already hold the mineral lights to. They have been blamed for high oil prices because they haven’t explored for or produced petroleum from these lands.
Why would they do this when crude oil prices are at record highs on the international market?
Now, lets do a non-oil business thought experiment: I Suppose that a home builder has bought up individual lots with the intention to build houses for sale. Thy\en the federal government decrees that its policy is to reclassify all neighborhoods zoned for single family dwellings exclusively for apartments. Will the developer build house? Well no. tot exactly a parallel with the oil industry but it makes the point.
In the oil business, just holding the subsurface mineral rights to a piece of land is just the first step. Every additional step to explore for oil and then produce it requires regulatory delay and obstruction. The liberal-Left has long publicly announced their desire to eliminate the oil industry and all fossil fuels. Now there are jurisdictions that have mandated the elimination of internal combustion engines by dates certain beginning in 2030. That is not too far off now.
So why would any oil company, large or small, invest millions or billions to explore for and produce oil and gas, knowing that the publicly stated policy of the powers that be is to eliminate their entire industry?