U.S. oil production is worth gushing about
SPRING has sprung, and you might have noticed that gas prices have sprung a little, too. It’s never pleasant to fill your tank and feel your wallet empty at the same time. But console yourself by recalling how much higher prices were in the spring of 2014. Things would be a lot worse today if not for America producing ever-more oil to counteract OPEC’s price manipulation.
This calendar year is projected to set a record for domestic production. The resurrection of the U.S. oil and gas industry has been a godsend. Even former President Barack Obama, for all his dedication to carbon reductions, couldn’t resist taking credit for it in his 2012 State of the Union address.
Energy fracking has produced economic growth, employment, and exports, not to mention supplies, for domestic refining and gasoline production. In addition to reviving dying rural areas, domestic production is shielding pump prices from world crises.
The Trump administration has rightly done what it can to encourage further production, from both hydraulic fracturing and conventional drilling. It has granted long-delayed permits for pipelines and opened federal lands and waters for energy exploration.
As a result, the road to greater prosperity widens. Despite setbacks such as a 20-year delay in opening the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration, the nation has gone from importing most of the oil it consumed 15 years ago to nearly becoming a net exporter today. Fewer net barrels of crude oil had to be imported between September and February than in any six-month period for 25 years.
Consider how this has changed the geopolitical landscape. Total imports from OPEC countries are down 54 percent in the past 10 years, and imports from the volatile Persian Gulf region are down 42 percent.
In the past four years, American oil producers have shown they can withstand big swings in oil prices and price manipulation by OPEC. American firms that temporarily slowed production after the price crash have quickly responded to rising prices by coming back online and producing more than ever before.
North American energy independence was discussed in 2012 as a game-changer that would strengthen America in world affairs. Today, this is no longer a goal but a fact. The oil and gas industry is one that creates wealth, provides well-paid jobs and benefits without subsidies, and that reduces trade deficits.
Oil won’t last forever, but it will last a long time. The world needs American energy, and we’re selling it to them. Politicians should avoid embracing extreme environmentalist ideas that won’t reduce the world’s thirst for energy, but would ship American oil producers’ good jobs overseas.