"A deep-water exploration area could contain as much as 33 billion barrels of oil,"

Some moons ago, I read a really great book called Armed Madhouse, written by Greg Palast. If you don't know who Greg is, you're missing an important progressive voice that comes from outside our mainstream media and I encourage you to at least check him out, regardless of where your political loyalties lie. I may be a fairly strong progressive but that doesn't mean I don't read William F Buckley, George Will, and a host of other conservative authors in order to get a more comprehensive understanding of where everyone is coming from before I make decisions. But I digress.... Palast was arguing in Armed Madhouse about the phoniness of the "Peak Oil" hysteria and if you don't think it's reached hysterical proportions, just do a Google search on it and see for yourself. Anyway, Palast argued that Peak Oil was simply a way to drive the prices of oil through the roof by initiating a phony "shortage" of the most used "scarce resource" on the planet. Prior to this, oil was so plentiful that "Big Oil" couldn't give the shit away. We were awash in oil, drowning in it, sinking in crude. Palast argues, quite effectively, I might add - that we're simply being misled by those who stand to profit from our fears, which, by the way, is a common way to get people to buy your stuff. Now you may not believe any of what he says and think I'm crazier than an outhouse rat while you try to stash gas away in your garage and build storehouses to stockpile your stuff for the coming crash, but Brazil's new find may give you some pause for thought and initiate a nagging question: who are we going to believe, the folks who stand to profit from the high price of oil:

David Welna

Listen Now [3 min 32 sec]

NPR All Things Considered, April 1, 2008 · As the price of gasoline rises toward $4 per gallon, top oil executives explain to a House panel why they need $18 billion in subsidies when their companies rake in huge profits. Democrats want to end the tax breaks and spend the money on renewable sources of energy like wind and solar power.

Or those who want to know why it is we're being told one thing while evidence points to another thing? Interestingly, this seems to be an all too common theme over the past decade..

Brazil Oil Field Could Be Huge Find

ALAN CLENDENNING | April 14, 2008 09:36 PM EST |

Brazil's state-run Petrobras P-40 oil platform undergoes maintenance as it floats in the Guanabara Bay of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in this Wednesday, March 21, 2001 file photo. A deep-water exploration area off the coast of Rio de Janeiro could contain as much as 33 billion barrels of oil, according to the head of Brazil's National Petroleum Agency Haroldo Lima. (AP Photo/Douglas Engle)

SAO PAULO, Brazil — A deep-water exploration area could contain as much as 33 billion barrels of oil, an amount that would nearly triple Brazil's reserves and make the offshore bloc the world's third-largest known oil reserve, a top energy official said Monday.

National Petroleum Agency President Haroldo Lima cautioned that his information on the field off the coast of Rio de Janeiro is unofficial and needs to be confirmed _ but his comments sent shares of state-run oil company Petrobras soaring in New York and Sao Paulo.

Petrobras said in a statement that more studies are needed to determine the potential of what could be the planet's largest oil find in decades. Analysts said the magnitude of the find, if confirmed, could have far-reaching global energy ramifications.

"This would lay to rest some of the peak oil pronouncements that we were out of oil, that we weren't going to find any more and that we have to change our way of life," said Roger Read, an energy analyst and managing director at New York-based investment bank Natixis Bleichroeder Inc., which buys and sells stock in offshore drilling contractor Seadrill, a Petrobras contractor.

Lima told reporters that Petrobras "may have discovered a huge petroleum field that could contain reserves large as 33 billion barrels," amounting to the world's third-largest reserve, according to his spokesman, Luiz Fernando Manso.

His agency later issued a statement saying the comments were based on a recent report in World Oil magazine and a report last November from Brazil's Agencia Estado news agency.

Brazilian Planning Minister Paulo Bernardo declined later Monday to discuss the discovery, saying, "It's better to wait for official confirmation."

Lima's agency regulates Brazil's oil industry, and his initial comments appeared to represent confirmation of what experts have long suspected: That extremely deep exploration areas hundreds of miles off the nation's coast may hold potentially huge reserves.

Brazil's current proven oil reserves are 11.8 billion barrels, according to the U.S. Energy Department. The U.S. has 21.8 billion barrels in proven reserves.

"You're talking about a reserve the size of total U.S. reserves," said Tim Evans, an analyst with Citigroup Inc. in New York. "It's a big, big number."

If proven, the oil in the exploration area called both Carioca and Sugarloaf Mountain by analysts would also be five times larger than the Tupi oil field, whose estimated reserves of 8 billion barrels were announced by Petroleo Brasileiro SA in November. Petrobras also announced a blockbuster find of natural gas in February in an Atlantic Ocean field nicknamed Jupiter.

"More conclusive data about the potential of the discovery will only be known after the conclusion of the other phases of the evaluation process, and the market will be informed at the opportune moment," Petrobras said in its statement to Brazilian securities regulators after Lima made the comments.

While the potential Brazil find could add significant supplies to a global oil market many see as tight, it would likely take the better part of a decade before any of the oil finds its way to market.

Evans said it's impossible to say whether more 33-billion-barrel oil fields exist under the sea.

"Nobody really has data on what's out there in the middle of the ocean," Evans said.

Petrobras' American depository shares closed up 8.3 percent in New York, or US$9.33 (euro5.88) to US$122.18 (euro76.99).

The company's shares went on a wild ride on Sao Paulo's Bovespa exchange, fluctuating between 2 percent and 7 percent higher and settling up 4.8 percent while the benchmark Ibovespa index fell 0.7 percent.

Oil prices were unaffected by the news. Light, sweet crude for May delivery rose US$1.62 (euro1.02) to settle at a record US$111.76 (euro70.43) a barrel.