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 »

One of the biggest challenges in planning for our energy future is that opponents of oil and natural gas are quite unwilling to acknowledge the reality of our energy supply and demand.  Two examples: First, from a new Sierra Club video (ably rebutted in full by Oil Sands Fact Check here):

“Moving America beyond oil isn’t that difficult.”

And second, from a Globe and Mail article featuring Jeremy Rifkin, a Maryland-based author and consultant:

“We have to be off carbon in 30 years.”

Now for the reality: The government projects oil and natural gas will supply 57 percent of our energy in 2035:

And 52 percent of the world’s energy that year:

So yes, moving America “beyond oil” would be “that difficult,” and yes, we need to plan to use carbon-based energy well beyond... more »

Interesting chart in this Bloomberg BusinessWeek post on falling crude oil prices, which also makes the point that the United States is sitting on more oil supply than it has since 1990. 

Note the “Y” axis, which shows that global crude oil output at nearly 90 million barrels per day (solid blue). Now look at the saddle between Q2 2008 and Q2 2010, showing that output was approximately 83 million barrels per day. The difference between then and now is about 7 million bpd.

Now check out this chart, which shows where U.S. liquid fuels production could be with increased access to our energy resources – including the outer continental shelf off both coasts, the eastern Gulf of Mexico and the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. The difference between U.S. production (dark blue part of eac... more »

TransCanada President and CEO Russ Girling has a letter to the editor in the New York Times after the newspaper’s recent editorial criticizing the Keystone XL pipeline. Main points:

• The Keystone XL would feature the strongest steel and would conform to the highest safety standards.
• TransCanada already has agreed to 57 special conditions laid out by the federal pipeline administration, including remotely controlled shut-off valves, increased inspections and burying the pipe deeper than originally proposed.
• The Keystone XL has successfully cleared three separate environmental reviews. The final, 10,000-page environmental impact statement said that measures taken by TransCanada would result in a “project that would have a degree of safety over any other typically constructed do... more »

American-made energy. With the Energy Information Administration projecting that the United States will need more than 16 percent additional energy by 2035, the idea that we could, before then, see 100 percent of our liquid fuel needs met domestically and from Canada is huge. Make that gigantic.

Increased access to American energy resources is the key. API’s recent report to the two political parties’ platform committees marks the way – offshore:

• Open the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and natural gas exploration and development
• Open the Atlantic Outer Continental Shelf
• Open the Pacific Outer Continental Shelf

And onshore:

• Open the 1002 Area within the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska
• Open portions of the Rocky Mountains
• Lift New York state’s drilli... more »