Remember the Red Queen / decline debate with regard to shale? Look at fun fact #3:
It’s important to note that most of this surge in production has been driven by advances in technology like horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing. In a recent conference call, Pioneer Natural Resources (NYSE: PXD) Chief Executive Scott Sheffield pointed out that a single well in the Texas Permian Basin produced 140,000 barrels of oil equivalent within its first six months of operation. By comparison, a typical vertical well would take 30 to 40 years to accomplish the same feat.For newbies: the payback for a drilled well can come in six months with a Bakken well.
President Obama has never mentioned fun fact #4 or #5, nor has he ever visited a 14-well oil pad:
According to a report by the IHS CERA, shale drilling created 1.7 million direct and indirect jobs between 2008 and 2012. The study estimates that unconventional energy production has also boosted America’s average annual household income by $1,200.
Lower natural gas prices brought about by shale drilling has also sparked a revival in domestic manufacturing. If energy costs remain low, the Boston Consulting Group estimates that 5 million manufacturing jobs could be added by 2020.And, of course, the activist environmentalists and warmists will never mention fun fact #10:
No doubt shale energy poses numerous risks to the environment. However, there is one problem it’s helping to solve: global warming. According to the Department of Energy, U.S. CO2 emissions per capita have fallen 15% over the past decade and are at the same level as they were in 1963. Much of this decrease can be credited to the transition to natural gas in electric power generation.For them, the discussion is closed. All technology is bad. People working is bad. Life is bad.
They shot us down.