During a trip to D.C., I talked with a group of people in the field of energy research. I heard some of the “inside baseball” information on one major DOD program that will convert large amounts of U.S. coal into synthetic liquid fuel. This will be a government-industry partnership, with the U.S. Air Force as the lead agency.

Since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita – North Atlantic Hurricane seasons have been mild in comparison. That was three years ago when the oil price was $50… what do you think production disruption will do to $135 oil?

Drillers found oil in my home state in 1943. The Sunniland trend in South Florida has produced about 110 million barrels so far. And the Big Cypress National Preserve produces about 730,000 barrels of oil per year.

Oil Output and Supply… Let’s discuss the U.S. oil supply going forward. The U.S. presently consumes about 21 million barrels of oil per day. This is a mix of domestic output, much coming in small quantities from several hundred thousand old stripper wells, and imports.