... the U.S. is a bigger producer of oil than it was a few years ago. Oil consumption is in many ways a zero-sum game: more money spent by consumers on gasoline means more money going into the pockets of oil producers — most of them overseas. But in the last few years, the U.S. domestic oil industry has experienced significant growth, thanks in part to North Dakota's shale oil boom. Government data on crude oil production suggests that 2011 saw the highest level of domestic oil production since 2003. So more of the money spent on more expensive oil will stay in the U.S.I missed it, but apparently Fed Chairman Bernanke said that, unlike other recoveries, the housing market is not going to lead us out of this recession. I missed what industry he said would lead us out of the recession, but I assume he did not. It would not be politically correct to say what is obvious: it's the traditional energy industry leading the recovery.
Did you notice something else? The only "tight oil" play the linked article mentioned was the Bakken. As I've said many, many times, it's not the production that made/makes the Bakken so important. History will write that it was the a) relative unfettered development of the Bakken; and, b) the technology laboratory that the Bakken is/was that are the important things about the Bakken. Yes, for shareholders, mineral rights owners, for developers, it's all about the production. But for America, in general, it's the lessons and technology that were learned and developed in the Bakken that will be remembered as being most important.
Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.
While on one hand. the Obama administration has done all that it can to put obstructions in the way of domestic oil and gas production, just watch, they will be the first ones to take credit for it.... Dave
ReplyDeleteYou are correct; he has already taken credit for it, and I have blogged about it.
DeleteThank you for taking time to comment.