From: glevy@PRATT.EDU
Date: Mon Jan 23 2006 - 09:43:59 EST
> The labour input required to extract oil from shale and > tar sands is well above that required to pump it from current > reservoirs. Hence the immedidate effect would be to reduce the rate of > surplus value and the rate of profit. Hi Paul C, Perhaps I don't understand the technical processes enough, but it seems to me that a) there is much more labor input typically with conventional oil 'exploration' and drilling (especially when first setting-up a site) and b) the labor input for the extraction of oil from the sand is relatively minimal (i.e. there are truckdrivers, working essentially alone, who dig the sand and place it in the trucks and there is the labor at the processing plant). It is noteworthy in this connection that there is a sizable investment in constant fixed capital (e.g. the trucks are specially made and relatively expensive), but I'm not sure how that compares to the constant capital requirements for conventional drilling. OTOH, in one sense the wage costs for extracting oil from the sands in Alberta are very high: it is not a very populated area and relatively high wages have been offered in an attempt to induce workers to re-locate there. In solidarity, Jerry
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