US A Net Exporter of Oil: First Time in 60 Years -- Thanks To The Bakken Research Lab -- The Bakken, North Dakota, USA

Updates

January 2, 2012: To be exact: 62 years.

Original Post

PennEnergy corrects the story:

The United States could be making strides toward being a net exporter of petroleum for the first time in over six decades, based on trends in the first quarter of 2011.  USA Today reports the U.S. is producing more crude oil and for the first time in decades has become a net exporter of petroleum products such as jet fuel, heating oil and gasoline.

According to an article published by MSNBC, annual domestic production of crude oil could rise to 2.9 billion barrels by 2020. The article states that American oil production has been rising steadily for the past three years while crude oil imports have fallen 10% over the past five years.
Within the United States, the states that produce the most oil are Texas, Alaska, and California, but production is intensifying all over the nation. New technologies, such as fracking, have made previously-inaccessible petroleum easier to extract. Fracking and the extraction of petroleum from tar sands have been met with some political controversy, but for now they seem to be a major component of most plans to reduce America’s dependence on foreign oil.

Not to worry. "Frack and trade" is just around the corner.

I remember when I first blogged about increasing American exports of oil, someone wrote to tell me that it was against the law to export US oil. That was one of the five comments that "put me over the top" and why I closed the comments section. But then I missed the "give and take" and re-opened the comments section. 

Did you notice that the story linked above did not include North Dakota (third paragraph) as among the top three. It's my hunch we pass Alaska and California the month (December). We won't know for awhile. And if we don't, it's just a matter of time, unless California and Alaska increase their activity. And they probably will; the price of oil is just to good to ignore when your state is bankrupt (California, not Alaska).