Oh look, someone invented Cold Fusion (again)

we have known about everything on the surface for at least 50 years...

i rather hope oil companies arent seriously researching oil muds/clays and oil shales. by the time they figure out how to make it cost effective / break even, those resources could have made solar profitable.

Exxon.

Also, lazypedia:

Proven oil reserves in the United States are 21 billion barrels (3.3×109 m3), excluding the Strategic Petroleum Reserve. The U.S. Department of the Interior estimates the total volume of undiscovered, technically recoverable prospective resources in all areas of the United States, including the Federal Outer Continental Shelf, the 1002 area of the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the National Petroleum Reserve–Alaska, and the Bakken Formation, total 134 billion barrels (21.3×109 m3) of crude oil.[1][2] This excludes oil shale reserves, as there is no significant commercial production of oil from oil shale in the United States.

The United States has the largest known deposits of oil shale in the world, according to the Bureau of Land Management and holds an estimated 2.175 trillion barrels (345.8 km3) of potentially recoverable oil.[15]

Anyway. I wouldn't wait for any "major" oil companies to jump into the "alternative energy" wagon any time soon. Hell, they don't even need to have a plan. They can just wiggle their juicy money/resources at whoever and ask for a merge when the time is right. Done.

Next thing you know. Exxon Mobile - Helping the planet breathe, one wind turbine at a time.