Pittsburgh Post-Gazette – Number of Women Landing Jobs in Oil, Natural Gas Industry Growing

Good news from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: Of 3,900 positions added in the oil and natural gas industry nationwide in the first quarter of 2013, almost half or 1,800 were filled by women.

AEI Ideas Carpe Diem Blog – The Most Economically Successful Metropolitan Area in the Country

As a direct result of all the shale oil and natural gas activity in the Permian Basin area of West Texas, the economy of Midland is booming, writes Mark J. Perry. There is also an unprecedented construction surge taking place in the town – building permits in March skyrocketed to 347, which was a 580 percent increase from  a year ago.

Zanesville Times Recorder – Free Trade Should Include Natural Gas

A... more »

Two new reports outline the importance of crafting the right policies to capitalize on America’s vast wealth in shale natural gas.

An American Chemistry Council (ACC) analysis points to rich capital investments and job gains to be realized in that sector because of abundant, affordable supplies of shale natural gas:

• $71.7 billion in chemical industry investments publicly announced through the end of March.
• 46,000 new chemical industry jobs by 2020.
• 264,000 jobs in supplier industries by 2020.
• 226,000 induced jobs in communities where chemical industry workers spend their wages.
• $20 billion in federal, state and local tax revenue.

ACC President and CEO Cal Dooley:

“The United States has become a magnet for chemical industry investment, a testament to the fav... more »

Increasing U.S. domestic production of oil matters. Energy Information Administration (EIA) chief Adam Sieminski had this analysis at an energy conference earlier this week (h/t Breaking Energy):

“There’s a fairly significant, long-standing relationship between spare production capacity in OPEC and what the pricing environment is for oil. So the 2 million barrel per day  increase in U.S. oil production that surprisingly took place over the last five years has resulted in higher OPEC spare capacity, and undoubtedly, has been a factor in why Brent oil prices are $103-$104/bbl rather than $125-$130/bbl.”

In other words, the head of the federal agency that analyzes energy data says the recent growth in U.S. production has helped reduce the price of Brent crude, a leading global bench... more »

In an interview with Fuel Fix, Charlie Williams, director of the Center for Offshore Safety, fields a question about the perceptions surrounding the safety of drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico:

“I think the biggest misconception is that not much has been done, when there has been a tremendous amount of effort by the industry and by regulators in moving this forward. … There has been more collaboration, cooperation and improvement in working together to make things better than I think we have ever done before.”

Steadily improving offshore safety in oil and natural gas development was the main reason for the center’s creation and Williams’ selection as director last year. The center gathers industry practices that foster safe and responsible operations, shares the inform... more »

Take a look at the map below, one we’ve used before to show the vastness of America’s offshore oil and natural gas reserves – the overwhelming majority of which (in red) that’s off-limits for development.

That should be changed – and could be changed with the right policies in Washington. Legislation introduced today in Congress to allow drilling off Virginia’s coast is a step in that right direction. The bill sponsored by U.S. Rep. Scott Rigell of Virginia would require the Interior Department to sell at least one offshore lease for oil and natural gas development there, mandating that a portion of any federal revenue be shared with the commonwealth.

Access to areas offshore and onshore is vital to the kind of expanded domestic oil and natural gas production needed to make the Un... more »