California's Dirty Little Secret

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California's Dirty Little Secret By Keith Kohl | Tuesday, April 15th, 2014 Can California really be in the thick of a full-blown oil crisis? After all, this is the same state humorists and environmentalists alike hail as the champion of clean energy. In fact, nearly half of the Tesla cars in the U.S. are registered and driven on California highways. Then again, it's also the same state that hands out I.O.U.s in place of tax refunds... but I digress. Despite the Golden State's reputation for being a leader in alternative energy, the cold, hard truth of the matter is that the state is just as indebted to oil as the rest of us. Actually, they have it much worse... Advertisement Discovery Alert: The Land of Milk and... Oil? For years, most people paid little attention to Glassrock County out in West Texas. But I can tell you this... that's not the case any longer. You see, the land underneath this little-known county contains an oil field that is bigger than 8 U.S. states combined. And according to CNBC, the "Oil flows like water..." As you can imagine, this is paving the way to even more incredible oil stock gains than we saw with either the Bakken or Eagle Ford (which both created their share of millionaires). The question here isn't when you should move on this opportunity, but HOW FAST you can move on it... because I can tell you, plenty of folks already have. Here's how you can ride the newest oil tsunami to explosive profits... California Dreaming It's far too easy to fall for the wondrous things California is accomplishing with clean energy. One quick trip to the California Energy Commission will inundate you with a plethora of new clean initiatives — like the latest news that the state is spending over a hundred million dollars to improve its electricity system, or that 45% of the 200,000 gigawatt-hours of electricity California generates is from natural gas, or even the addition of the state's Renewables Portfolio Standard that was passed a few years ago. Don't get me wrong — show me the same goals in Maryland, and I'll be the first one on board. Unfortunately, oil dependence is a horse of a different color. California still relies on oil to fuel 96% of its transportation sector, and the state is home to almost 11% of the total number of vehicles registered in the U.S. And for a state where oil production has been in decline for the better part of three decades, an addiction to crude oil is the last thing you want see. Click Chart to Enlarge To say California is oil-rich is a little misleading. Even though the state has 2.9 billion barrels of proved reserves, both you and I know the only thing that matters is what you can get out of the ground. They're not alone in these peak oil woes. I mentioned last week that Alaska was dealing with its own oil production crisis. There is, however, one slight difference. California now relies on foreign countries for imports for over 60% of its oil supply. (I did say they have it worse than the rest of us, didn't I?) Since 2005, U.S. imports of crude oil and petroleum products dropped by nearly 24%, mostly due to the boost in tight oil production in the lower-48 states. Click Chart to Enlarge During the same period, the amount of crude oil imports reaching West Coast refineries increased by 3.5%! Click Table to Enlarge Advertisement Shortage of Offshore Drilling Rigs Creates Huge Opportunity! Oil companies the world over are clamoring for deepwater drilling rigs. And right now, there is a massive shortage of them. This massive shortage is an absolute boon for the companies who own these huge, billion-dollar rigs. Spending on deepwater drilling is expected to rise from $43 billion last year to a whopping $114 billion in 2022. That's why we've found the best way to cash in on this unfolding situation. You could collect as much as $17,300 per year for the next 9 years. Click here for the full details on this breaking story. The Oil Noose Tightens It's bad enough that California became a net exporter as production plummeted over the last 25 years, but this crisis situation didn't exactly sneak up on anyone. Back in 2009, the Society of Petroleum Engineers released a report on the future of California's oil supply. You see, the most troubling issue isn't necessarily how much oil they're importing, but who is selling it to California refineries. Toss Alaska's own peak oil troubles into the mix, and you can probably guess where our clean energy champion will go for more oil: That's not a comforting chart no matter how you look at it. Last year, 54% of the crude oil imports hitting the West Coast came from just three countries — all of which also happen to be card-carrying members of OPEC. I have a feeling that most of you already know OPEC has been struggling to maintain its dominance over the world's oil supply. It was only a few days ago that the IEA released its latest monthly oil report showing that OPEC production fell to 29.6 million barrels per day — its lowest point since 2011. As for California's three largest oil suppliers in OPEC, two of them — Saudi Arabia and Iraq — led the group's 890,000 bbls/day production decline. Stay tuned, because we're not only going to delve further into OPEC's brewing oil crisis, but we'll also take a look at how you can take advantage of this dynamic shift in global supply. Until next time, Keith Kohl @KeithKohl1 on Twitter A true insider in the energy markets, Keith is one of few financial reporters to have visited the Alberta oil sands. His research has helped thousands of investors capitalize from the rapidly changing face of energy. Keith connects with hundreds of thousands of readers as the Managing Editor of Energy & Capital as well as Investment Director of Angel Publishing's Energy Investor. For years, Keith has been providing in-depth coverage of the Bakken, the Haynesville Shale, and the Marcellus natural gas formations — all ahead of the mainstream media. For more on Keith, go to his editor's page. I liked this article | I did not like this article Follow Energy and Capital on The Bottom Line Related Articles Alaska's Peak Oil Crisis A Dose of Reality for U.S. LNG Exports Diversifying U.S. Oil Production The Hottest Oil Play in Canada Recently... 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