• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer

Humphrey Hawksley

Author, commentator and broadcaster

  • Home
  • About
  • Journalism
  • Books
  • Humphrey’s
    Diary
  • Blog
  • Podcasts
  • Contact
    & Photos
  • Rake Ozenna Thrillers
  • Future History
  • International Thrillers
  • Non-Fiction
  • All Books

Addicted to oil

26th February 2006

ABILENE, TEXAS February 2006

President Bush this week announced an ambitious new energy policy. He wants oil from the Middle East to become a thing of the past with imports from there cut by 75 per cent within twenty years. More money would be spent on alternative technologies and Americans would have to end their addiction to oil.

The Texan sky was filled with a huge late afternoon light. The land was arid with cactus and brown grass, and a wind so strong that the dust it whipped up stung your face.

Phil Kendrick, a big man in a dark red-checked shirt, bent down and dipped his index finger into a pool of ink-black liquid. ‘See that,’ he said, ‘that’s a sweet smell. That’s oil. I tell you this is going to be a good, good well.’

‘So that makes you an oil baron?’ I ask.

‘No. No. I’m not an oil baron. I’m an independent stripper well operator. I’m as low on the totem pole as you get.’ He looked towards the small, creaking pumps which dotted the landscape. ‘But there’s a lot of us. Put us all together and we make a big contribution to what this country needs.’

Phil is 79 and carries the glint of a gambler looking for the next big win. On the wall of his living room is a long black and white photograph taken in 1918 of the first well his father dug.

‘He worked for the Revenue at the time,’ Phil chuckled. ‘During the week he collected taxes and at weekends he went looking for oil.’

‘America was worried about oil then. We’d only found it in Pennsylvania. Henry Ford said to John Rockefeller, I’ll keep building those cars as long as you keep looking for the oil.’

Suddenly, old-style adventurers like Phil Kendrick have become fashionable.

Oil companies have admitted that the easy-to-pump oil is running out. They’re having to head for more inaccessible supplies. Sixty per cent of America’s oil is imported costing twelve billion dollars a month. And the country’s become aware that much of it comes from Islamic countries where many people aren’t exactly pro-American right now.

As for all the talk of alternatives and new technology – well that hasn’t happened yet.

So in his State of Nation address. President Bush, who incidentally used to be an independent Texan oil operator himself, spelt it out. ‘America is addicted to oil,’ he said. ‘which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.’

He wants to end it.

‘Hogwash,’ said Robert Bryce, Managing Editor of the magazine Energy Tribune, sitting in a deep leather chair in the Petroleum Club in Houston, which they call the oil capital of the world. ‘All the talk from Washington about independent energy is just politics. It’s not based on reality.

‘There are 250 million cars in America. Converting those to fuel efficient vehicles will take decades and cost billions. Meanwhile, people still have to drive to work.’

A few miles away, another 79-year-old oil man, Gene Van Dyke, poured over a map of Africa, where his company, Vanco Energy, owns deep water exploration leases. He’s looking for a huge discovery – which he calls finding the Big Elephant.

‘There’s plenty of oil around. It’s just more difficult to get to,’ he said.

‘What do you hope for?’ I asked.

He turned over a sheet of paper and jotted down figures on the back. ‘Best case is twelve billion barrels. Worst case, I reckon, is 1.2 billion. Even that at fifty dollars a barrel, will bring in more than fifty billion dollars.’

But 1.2 billion barrels would keep America running for just over two months.

‘So that wouldn’t help the oil shortage much,’ I ventured.

‘May-be not,’ he said slowly, until his eyes lit up. ‘But it’ll certainly make a lot of money for Vanco Energy.’

The majors – that’s Shell, Exxon, BP and others – don’t do much Wild Cat exploration, as it’s known, like Gene Van Dyke and Phil Kendrick. It’s too risky and expensive. Gene and Phil try to be first, then when they strike oil, they sell the rights on the bigger companies.

Thirty or so years ago, the majors pulled out of America because all the easy oil and gas had been found. A few months ago, one of them, Shell, moved back into north west Texas. ‘They’re like sheep,’ says Gene. ‘If one comes back, they’ll all come back.’

I went with Phil Kendrick to look at an exploration rig. It was dirty, noisy, dangerous, nothing much changed since his father was drilling almost a century ago.

‘You can’t hire a rig in Texas now,’ said Phil. ‘They’re too much in demand. Everybody wants a slice of the action.’

‘What do you think,’ I yelled above the noise. ‘About all this talk in Washington on…’

The wind took my last words, but Phil guessed what I was talking about. ‘1950,’ he shouted. ‘That’s when I first went to Washington, telling them they’d better look for more oil and gas here, because those places overseas could be unstable.’

‘Did they listen?’

‘No. They didn’t.’ He roared with laughter. ‘But they’re listening now.’

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Threads (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Mastodon (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Primary Sidebar

For enquiries and further information

To contact Humphrey:
[email protected]

Before sending your email address please read our GDPR Compliance Statement and Privacy Notice to reassure yourself that we are looking after your data responsibly.

More reports

How close are we to a Third World War?

Times Radio discussion with Rod Liddle and Lord Owen. … [Read More...]

Screenshot of Democracy Forum webinar

Climate change: South Asia’s biggest threat?

Imagine waking up to find your home submerged, your crops destroyed, and your community in chaos—all … [Read More...]

‘New norms? The role of the Indo-Pacific in a changing world’

New norms? The role of the Indo-Pacific in a changing world

The Democracy Forum presents a round-table discussion, titled ‘New norms? The role of the … [Read More...]

The Democracy Forum 2024 - Pakistan

Political economy: The genesis of uneven growth in Pakistan

The Democracy Forum presents a round-table discussion, titled: Political economy: The genesis of … [Read More...]

Faultlines in China’s internal economic policies

The Democracy Forum Presents a studio discussion, titled ‘Faultlines in China’s internal economic … [Read More...]

From Our Own Correspondent

The Philippines — How China Plans to Win the Asia-Pacific

3rd March 2017

Taiwan-China – a Flashpoint Once More

19th February 2017

Living on America’s Border with Russia

28th August 2015

World Peace Begins in the Bedroom

5th June 2015

The curse of gold

30th May 2012

The supply chain children

30th January 2012

Experiments in aid

30th January 2011

Joining the club

30th July 2010

Banking nuclear fuel

26th January 2010

The ceremony of port

30th December 2009

Dancing with the devil

30th June 2009

The Contractor’s War

30th March 2009

Sharing your man for Jesus

30th March 2009

A million good workers needed

30th October 2008

Russia’s human weapon

30th September 2008

Cold War bunker

30th August 2008

Smoke-filled rooms and the law

30th June 2008

War scars, a handshake and a beacon

26th June 2008

Make knives not war

30th March 2008

Baghdad banking and real estate boom

30th January 2008

America is our ally

30th November 2007

Russia’s red line over Kosovo

30th October 2007

Big Brother is watching us all

30th September 2007

Small town with a big heart

30th June 2007

The democratic mission

30th May 2007

How Kosovo worked

30th January 2007

Hell escape

30th November 2006

Reporting from Israel

30th August 2006

Peace? With our politicians – never

26th June 2006

Lenin and Mao – One day they’ll get it right

30th May 2006

China in the backyard

30th April 2006

Reporting from Poland

26th February 2006

The boy who lived on a garbage dump

30th December 2005

Republican missionaries in New Mexico

26th November 2005

The American dream

30th July 2005

Why did they fight?

30th April 2005

Haunted by the Ottomans

27th February 2005

Empires and abortion

30th December 2004

The young political elite

30th September 2004

Beer with the Hizbollah

30th July 2004

The patriot act

30th June 2004

An economist in Patagonia

27th April 2004

Someone else in her house

28th February 2004

Big threats, no health care

30th December 2003

Inside India’s nuclear program

30th November 2003

Suicide slum

30th September 2003

The politics of SARS

30th April 2003

The Christian mission

27th February 2003

Blood cocoa

30th May 2002

The war crime pen-pushers

30th January 2002

Triple border terror

30th January 2002

Europe’s apartheid

30th September 2001

The blonde and the dying

30th March 2001

Never to be freed

30th January 2000

One wrong turning

30th May 1999

Footer

Travel & Food Blog

Humphrey’s favourite place in Anchorage, Alaska – Mount Baldy

Taiwan – Old China blends with New Asia

For Winter Sun, Unwind in Dubai

Bhutan – Land of Luxury & Legends

Hong Kong & the Great Outdoors

Search site

Goldster

  • The Goldster Conversations Podcast
  • Goldster Conversations Video Archive

Connect with Humphrey

Join Humphrey’s mailing list

Subscribe

Email Humphrey

For general enquiries and bookings for events:

[email protected] and [email protected]

Copyright © 2008–2025 Humphrey Hawksley · All rights reserved · Site Terms, Cookies and Privacy · GDPR Compliance Statement · Website by LiT Web Studio

  • Contact & Photos
  • Subscribe
Manage Cookie Consent
This site uses cookies and other tracking technologies to assist with navigation and your ability to leave comments, analyse your use of our website, assist with our social media promotional efforts, and provide content from third parties.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
Manage options Manage services Manage {vendor_count} vendors Read more about these purposes
Cookie choices
{title} {title} {title}