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Thank you semi-retired President Barack Hussein Obama for such a reduction in oil production on Federal Lands
Obama Stymies Oil and Natural Gas Production on Federal Lands
4/17/2014 @ 10:02AM
A new nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) report quantifies the Obama administration’s hostility towards America’s oil and natural gas industry. While oil and natural gas production has surged on non-federal lands, President Obama has overseen a decline in production on federal lands.
There are four entities that own land in the United States: the federal government, states, private landowners, and Native Americans. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) at the Department of the Interior is charged with leasing, selling, and generally managing oil and natural gas reserves on federal land.
Although the federal government heavily regulates the exploration and production process through laws like the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, etc, the federal government doesn’t control land owned by states or individuals. The point being, a fair way to judge the Obama administration’s stance towards oil and natural gas is to compare federal production to state and private land production.
According to the CRS report, oil production on federal lands actually fell 6 percent between 2009 and 2013. Over the same period of time, oil production increased by an astounding 61 percent on state and private lands. The decrease in federal production is not insubstantial but requires context in the form of state and private production numbers. As a result of these massive gains, crude oil production on state and private lands has risen by 2.1 million barrels per day. That increase alone is more than Algeria, Libya, Qatar, and Norway produce– all countries with storied oil reputations – and explains why the U.S. is on track to be the world’s largest oil producer.
Touting natural gas during this year’s State of the Union, President Obama said, “America is closer to energy independence than we’ve been in decades. One of the reasons why is natural gas – if extracted safely, it’s the bridge fuel that can power our economy.” Speaking at Georgetown University, the president again reaffirmed his supposed support for natural gas, “And today, we produce more natural gas than anybody else. So we’re producing energy. And these advances have grown our economy, they’ve created new jobs, they can’t be shipped overseas.”
Unfortunately, these words amount to nothing more than lip service. Natural gas production on federal lands decreased by an astounding 28 percent from 2009 to 2013 while natural gas production on non-federal lands increased by 33 percent from 2009 to 2013. Actions speak louder than words.
Commenting on the administration’s shuttering of federal lands, Energy and Power Subcommittee Vice Chairman Steve Scalise (R-LA) said:
The shale gas revolution on non-federal lands has transformed our economy and propelled America into the position of a global energy superpower. But we cannot become complacent with this progress. America can secure energy independence by developing all of our energy resources on both federal and non-federal lands. Unfortunately the Obama administration has turned its back on energy exploration on federal lands, costing us hundreds of thousands of good jobs and billions in potential federal revenue.
One way the Obama administration hamstrings energy production on federal lands is by elongating the permitting process. According to the CRS report, it took 41 percent longer to process an application for permit to drill (APD) in 2011 than it did in 2006, from 218 days to 307 days. If a company can’t get permits, they can’t drill. If they can’t drill, production declines.
Much of the new 2.1 million barrels of oil produced every day comes from horizontal drilling, and no one knows more about horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing than Harold Hamm, founder and CEO of Continental Resources CLR -0.08%. Continental Resources defined itself by developing overlooked oil plays in North Dakota. Continental now employs around a thousand people, contracts with many more, and supports thousands more with its enormous capital expenditures. None of these gains would have been possible if the federal government controlled most of the land in North Dakota. The state’s unemployment rate would not be 2.6 percent if the federal government controlled land in North Dakota.
Nearby western states, like Utah and Wyoming, that have the misfortune of substantial oil and natural gas reserves on federal land can only look at North Dakota and wonder, “what if?”
Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisprandoni/2014/04/17/obama-stymies-oil-and-natural-gas-production-on-federal-lands/
Obama Stymies Oil and Natural Gas Production on Federal Lands
4/17/2014 @ 10:02AM
A new nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) report quantifies the Obama administration’s hostility towards America’s oil and natural gas industry. While oil and natural gas production has surged on non-federal lands, President Obama has overseen a decline in production on federal lands.
There are four entities that own land in the United States: the federal government, states, private landowners, and Native Americans. The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) at the Department of the Interior is charged with leasing, selling, and generally managing oil and natural gas reserves on federal land.
Although the federal government heavily regulates the exploration and production process through laws like the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act, etc, the federal government doesn’t control land owned by states or individuals. The point being, a fair way to judge the Obama administration’s stance towards oil and natural gas is to compare federal production to state and private land production.
According to the CRS report, oil production on federal lands actually fell 6 percent between 2009 and 2013. Over the same period of time, oil production increased by an astounding 61 percent on state and private lands. The decrease in federal production is not insubstantial but requires context in the form of state and private production numbers. As a result of these massive gains, crude oil production on state and private lands has risen by 2.1 million barrels per day. That increase alone is more than Algeria, Libya, Qatar, and Norway produce– all countries with storied oil reputations – and explains why the U.S. is on track to be the world’s largest oil producer.
Touting natural gas during this year’s State of the Union, President Obama said, “America is closer to energy independence than we’ve been in decades. One of the reasons why is natural gas – if extracted safely, it’s the bridge fuel that can power our economy.” Speaking at Georgetown University, the president again reaffirmed his supposed support for natural gas, “And today, we produce more natural gas than anybody else. So we’re producing energy. And these advances have grown our economy, they’ve created new jobs, they can’t be shipped overseas.”
Unfortunately, these words amount to nothing more than lip service. Natural gas production on federal lands decreased by an astounding 28 percent from 2009 to 2013 while natural gas production on non-federal lands increased by 33 percent from 2009 to 2013. Actions speak louder than words.
Commenting on the administration’s shuttering of federal lands, Energy and Power Subcommittee Vice Chairman Steve Scalise (R-LA) said:
The shale gas revolution on non-federal lands has transformed our economy and propelled America into the position of a global energy superpower. But we cannot become complacent with this progress. America can secure energy independence by developing all of our energy resources on both federal and non-federal lands. Unfortunately the Obama administration has turned its back on energy exploration on federal lands, costing us hundreds of thousands of good jobs and billions in potential federal revenue.
One way the Obama administration hamstrings energy production on federal lands is by elongating the permitting process. According to the CRS report, it took 41 percent longer to process an application for permit to drill (APD) in 2011 than it did in 2006, from 218 days to 307 days. If a company can’t get permits, they can’t drill. If they can’t drill, production declines.
Much of the new 2.1 million barrels of oil produced every day comes from horizontal drilling, and no one knows more about horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing than Harold Hamm, founder and CEO of Continental Resources CLR -0.08%. Continental Resources defined itself by developing overlooked oil plays in North Dakota. Continental now employs around a thousand people, contracts with many more, and supports thousands more with its enormous capital expenditures. None of these gains would have been possible if the federal government controlled most of the land in North Dakota. The state’s unemployment rate would not be 2.6 percent if the federal government controlled land in North Dakota.
Nearby western states, like Utah and Wyoming, that have the misfortune of substantial oil and natural gas reserves on federal land can only look at North Dakota and wonder, “what if?”
Read more: http://www.forbes.com/sites/chrisprandoni/2014/04/17/obama-stymies-oil-and-natural-gas-production-on-federal-lands/
