Lower 48 Production: 23-Year High! Employment in Oil and Gas: 24-Year High

Link at CarpeDiem.

Buried in this week’s 213-page August Monthly Energy Review from the EIA full report here is the fact that U.S. crude oil production for the lower 48 states is estimated to have reached a 23-year high in July of 5.865 million barrels per day. 

If so, that would be the highest monthly production of crude oil in the lower 48 states in more than 23 years, since April of 1989 when 5.88 million daily barrels of oil were produced. 

From January-July of this year, the EIA estimates that oil production in the non-Alaska states increased more than 14% compared to the same period last year, boosted by the strong, ongoing gains in North Dakota oil (+66% year-to-date through June 2012 vs. last year) and Texas oil (+35% year-to-date through June compared to 2011).

Go to CarpeDiem at the link to get the graphs, other links; an incredible story. I find it amazing that these success stories are not trumpeted in the mainstream media. Oh, that's right. The administration has a permitorium in effect and an agenda to push slicers and dicers (see next item).

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Meanwhile, the president's focus for his second term, should he win:

The president views a second term in some ways as a second chance, an opportunity to approach the office differently, according to close aides. He would like to tackle issues such as climate change, immigration, education, and filibuster reform.

Nothing about jobs; nothing about deficit; nothing about energy independence; nothing about tax relief; nothing about ... I know a lot of Americans are concerned about filibuster reform, but think about that for a moment, and the reason becomes clear, why that is at the top of the president's agenda.

Politically, "climate change" is code for "wealth transfer," "frack and trade," and, permitoriums.

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Don sent me this little note. Remember how the mainstream media was bent out of shape when Libyan oil was at risk due to hostilities a year or so ago. Bloomberg reports that Libya estimates its 2012 oil revenue to be $55 billion. If North Dakota averages 700,000 bopd for 2012 at $85/bbl --> $22 billion.  Granted, "we" may not hit 700,000 bopd as the average for 2012, and it's very, very difficult to know for sure exactly what the average price of oil will be for Bakken oil this year, but it helps put things into perspective. It seems the mainstream media talks more about Libyan oil than North Dakota oil, but, then again, I am a bit hyper-sensitive to these things.