Bloomberg notes our surge ingas and oil production.
Domestic oil output is the highest in eight years. The U.S. is producing so much natural gas that, where the government warned four years ago of a critical need to boost imports, it now may approve an export terminal. Methanex Corp., the world’s biggest methanol maker, said it will dismantle a factory in Chile and reassemble it in Louisiana to take advantage of low natural gas prices. And higher mileage standards and federally mandated ethanol use, along with slow economic growth, have curbed demand.
The result: The U.S. has reversed a two-decade-long decline in energy independence, increasing the proportion of demand met from domestic sources over the last six years to an estimated 81 percent through the first 10 months of 2011, according to data compiled by Bloomberg from the U.S. Department of Energy. That would be the highest level since 1992……U.S. energy self-sufficiency has been steadily rising since 2005, when it hit a low of 70 percent, the data compiled by Bloomberg show. Domestic crude oil production rose 3.6 percent last year to an average 5.7 million barrels a day, the highest since 2003, according to the Energy Department. Natural gas output climbed to 22.4 trillion cubic feet in 2010 from 20.2 trillion in 2007, when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission warned of the need for more imports. Prices have fallen more than 80 percent since 2008.
At the same time, the efficiency of the average U.S. passenger vehicle has helped limit demand. It increased to 29.6 miles per gallon in 2011 from 19.9 mpg in 1978, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
This is positive for both our domestic and foreign policy. While the article notes this is not a silver bullet for our economy. It is not enough to cure our economic ills. It is just a good start. One that more people should know about.
Part of the reason demand has dropped is that so many people are sitting at home with no job to DRIVE to – are these numbers figured into these data? I doubt it. Energy independence will never happen unless we start building refineries – the last BIG refinery was built in 1976 by Marathon Oil in Louisiana. Yet we are sending billions to South America for them to explore and build refineries. Makes no sense. I would like to see any state that permits and constructs a refinery (which will provide thousands of construction and operational jobs) have it’s lawful sitizens/residents be exempt from paying federal taxes on gasoline for 20 years.
We are exporting gasoline. I think this suggests refineries are not a bottleneck right now. I do think we will need more in the future. We need some way to resolve the NIMBY problem. Yours might work, though the price seems a bit steep. Better be a big refinery.
Steve
*citizens* too… ;-)
Interesting development. There are a number of resultant and contributing ideas and concerns. For example, should we note that the increase in energy production in the US has occurred during the administration of a Democrat president and did not happen during the preceding Republican administration? Or would it be more reasonable to point out that the increase has resulted from new technology and has little to do with political influence?
Another issue relates to whether it is a benefit to have major increase in access to fossil fuel (natural gas in this case) while still having concerns about the increase in atmospheric carbon as well as particulate contaminants from burning less clean fuels? Certainly natural gas burns with less carbon emission than other fossil fuels. Recent improvements in the technology of wind generation, battery technology, and other alternative energy sources makes it very feasible that fossil fuel energy could become a minor component within the next four to five decades. Might that changeover be slowed if fossil energy costs drop enough to discourage investment into alternative energy sources?
Good questions. I dont know the answers to all those. I do think it interesting that the President in office has little bearing on energy production. It kind of makes sense. They all want cheap energy. When you look closely at the causes of increased or decreased production, it is usually technology and supply/demand dictating production. People just try to score points by making it a political issue.
Steve