If the new Congress wants to put Americans back to work, it should take steps to encourage the domestic production of oil and natural gas.

In two great columns this week, Mark Maddox of American Action Forum and Michael Whatley of the Consumer Energy Alliance discuss the U.S. oil and natural gas industry's ability to create jobs.

In The Hill, Maddox addresses the natural gas boom and writes:

"At a time when every nation in the industrial world is scrambling to create jobs, the United States government should send a clear signal that it intends to make our nation's affordable energy available to spur economic growth...With more than a 100-year supply of gas from U.S. shale formations, this newly accessible resource is a game changer and it's time our leaders seized this opportunity."

In... more »

Are you planning a trip during the upcoming Thanksgiving Day holiday? For those of us in the Washington, D.C. area, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving is the single busiest day on surrounding highways during the entire year.

There's little doubt that travelers will be watching gasoline prices as they plan their trips, and some will wonder why prices have been higher this fall than one year ago. The answer is simple: Gasoline prices tend to track crude oil prices, and the cost of crude oil has increased by nearly $10 a barrel in recent weeks.

There are several factors that influence the price of gasoline, but the most important is the cost of crude oil. Gasoline is refined from crude oil, and the cost of crude is determined in the global marketplace.

On November 1... more »

The United States is blessed with an abundance of clean-burning natural gas. It provides fuel for industry, power for heating, and chemicals for plastics, medicines and a wide variety of consumer products, such bicycle helmets and hospital supplies, that make Americans safer, healthier, and more comfortable. At the current rate of consumption, it's estimated that the United States has enough natural gas to last about 100 years.

To maintain a steady supply of natural gas for U.S. consumers, energy companies must drill thousands of wells. And each well makes a valuable contribution to the economy by generating government revenues, jobs, and much-needed energy resources for American families.

Consider the benefits of a single well in Susquehanna County, Penn., which borders New York State. It... more »

The State of Michigan held a lease auction last week, in which leases for nearly 274,000 acres of state lands were awarded to the highest bidders for oil and natural gas development. The sale raised $9.65 million in bonus bids on top of the $178 million offered for leases during the very competitive May 2010 sale.

Why are oil and natural companies investing in Michigan? The state is the center of the bull's eye-shaped Michigan Basin, a huge geologic bowl beneath the lower peninsula that stretches into Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin and Ontario. About 500 million years ago, the basin held an ancient sea and created the proper conditions for deposits of salt, natural gas and oil.

Earlier this year, two wells drilled by Encana and its subsidiary Petoskey Exploration... more »

Brazil says its deepwater Libra oil field could hold as much as 15 billion barrels of oil, making it the biggest crude oil discovery in the Americas since Mexico discovered the Cantarell field in 1976.

The Libra prospect lies in the Santos Basin about 500 miles off the coast and beneath a layer of salt about 9,800 feet below the ocean surface. ANP, Brazil's national petroleum regulatory agency says the government will retain control of Libra, and at least two Brazil-owned companies will own stakes in the field. Bloomberg/BusinessWeek reports that Petrobras, one of the companies, raised $70 billion last month in the world's largest share sale toward the $224 billion, five-year investment plan, which is said to be the oil industry's largest.

Back in the U.S Gulf of M... more »