Link here at Rigzone:
Higher
production and lower demand are driving the United States on the path
to energy independence by 2025, the first time since 1952 that the
nation will export more energy than it imports, according to a recent
Wood Mackenzie report.
“A country can achieve energy independence through two channels,” said
James Brick, senior analyst with Wood Mackenzie. “It can either produce more or consume less, and the
United States is doing both.”
Over the past seven years, the United States has added 3 million barrels
per day of tight oil and 27.5 billion cubic feet per day of shale gas
to the world energy mix, a 42 percent increase in U.S. oil and gas
production. At the same time, oil demand is decreasing, mainly due to
efficiency gains in the transport sector.
U.S. oil production has increased thanks to exploration and production
activities in unconventional oil plays such as the Bakken and Eagle Ford
as well as activity in the Permian Basin. Crude oil production from the
Bakken and Three Forks formations in North Dakota’s Williston Basin
lifted the state’s crude oil production to a new record of more than 1
million barrels of oil per day in April and May of this year.
In March,
analysts estimated that Eagle Ford production would keep growing through
this year. In July, the U.S. Energy Information Administration reported
that the increase in Permian oil production since 2007 is positioning
the basin as the largest U.S. crude producing region.
The end of the United States’ ban on crude oil exports, higher tight oil
production and lower transport sector demand are key uncertainties that
could accelerate U.S. energy independence. But energy independence
could be stalled by delays in the development of critical export
facilities, environmental regulations and energy policies designed to
encourage gas to be consumed in the U.S. power sector, Wood Mackenzie
said.
In contrast to decreasing oil demand here in the US, it seems that Saudi Arabia's domestic consumption of oil is actually increasing.
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