Bloomberg – Crude Output Exceeds Imports for First Time in 16 Years

The surge in U.S. shale development through hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling in North Dakota, Oklahoma and Texas has boosted domestic oil production – 7.3 million barrels a day  last week alone – to the highest level since 1986, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

Fuel Fix Blog – Feds Give More Time To Study Proposed Drilling Rule

Last month API asked for an additional 90 days to study  BLM’s proposed rule governing hydraulic fracturing. Today, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell said that she would allow an additional 60 days for stakeholders to review the proposed regulations.

The Daily Beast – U.S. Closing Trade Deficit With Better Oil numbers

The Daily Beast takes a look at how... more »

Fox Business – Oil and Natural Gas Industry Readies for Hurricane Season

API’s Rayola Dougher stopped by Fox Business and outlined measures the industry takes to prepare its employees and facilities for the threats posed by hurricanes. “Worker safety is the industry’s top priority,” Dougher said.

CNN Money – U.S. Steps Up Natural Gas Exports

With  the Energy Department granting a second liquefied natural gas export license last month, the U.S. might soon see the approval pace quicken on the remaining export applications, CNN reports. 

San Francisco Gate – BP Announces Investment Plans After Alaska Oil Tax Change

The company says it  will invest another $1 billion for oil production in Alaska over the next five years. BP plans to  bring nine drilling rigs to the North Slope,... more »

Imports of crude oil have decreased significantly over the past four years as the U.S. has become more self-reliant in meeting its energy needs domestically. In fact, as the graph below shows, from the beginning of 2008 through the end of 2012 net U.S. oil imports have declined by more than 1.3 million barrels per day (bpd) while domestic production has increased by almost 1.5 million bpd. In short, the increase in domestic production accounts for all of the reduction in imports and then some.

The 2008-to-2012 timeframe is especially significant, because the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA 2007), which set the required ethanol volumes for the current Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), was signed into law Dec. 19, 2007.

Here’s the point: The ethanol industry and its... more »

New from the U.S. Energy Information Administration:

Monthly crude oil production in the United States is expected to exceed the amount of U.S. crude oil imports later this year for the first time since February 1995. The gap between monthly U.S. crude oil production and imports is projected to be almost 2 million barrels per day (bbl/d) by the end of next year—according to EIA's March 2013 Short-Term Energy Outlook.

EIA charts it like this:

Two more EIA details:

• Monthly crude oil production is forecast to top 8 million bbl/d in the fourth quarter of 2014, which would be the highest level since 1988.
• Net crude oil imports are expected to fall below 7 million bbl/d in the fourth quarter of 2014 for the first time since 1995.

So, when’s the parade? Seriously, advan... more »

The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s Short-Term Energy Outlook released this week contains two important crude oil stats:

• U.S. domestic production is expected to continue growing rapidly over the next two years, from an average of 6.4 million barrels per day (bbl/d) last year to 7.3 million bbl/d in 2013 and 7.9 million bbl/d in 2014. Much of the production growth will come from drilling in tight plays in the Williston (North Dakota and Montana), Western Gulf and Permian basins (Texas).
• U.S. liquid fuel imports, including crude oil, are expected to decline to an average of 6 million bbl/d by 2014. EIA says the net import share will average 32 percent in 2014 “because of continued substantial increases in domestic crude oil production.”

As the Washington Post’s Brad Pl... more »