From Politico:

"New York Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer wants Saudi Arabia to pledge to make up for any missing Iranian supplies, and he wants them to do it now, rather than waiting until summer. 'A public commitment will cause the price of oil to drop right away,' he said Tuesday."

Senator Schumer is correct, oil markets are forward looking and a public commitment to development matters.  But rather than Saudi Arabia, let’s look at what the U.S. is signaling.

1. Continued reduced production on Federal areas in the Gulf of Mexico.
2. 87% of our offshore acreage being placed off-limits.
3. Federal permits lagging in offshore areas.
4. Federal permits lagging in onshore areas.
5. A million barrels a day from ANWR languishing for decades.
6. The U.S. blocking upwards of 800,00... more »

Opponents of increased domestic oil production like to portray the U.S. as being helpless in the face of worldwide events.  This argument sometimes takes this form:

… with only 2% of the world’s oil reserves, we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices – not when consume 20% of the world’s oil.

Which we dealt with here, and sometimes like this:

…oil prices are dictated by the vast world market, of which U.S. production is just a small fraction.

or this:

This notion that a politician can wave a magic wand and impact the 90-million-barrel-a-day global oil market is preposterous…

While it is good to see supply and demand being mentioned when discussing oil, the U.S. is hardly a feeble little victim unable to affect the market.

In 2010, according to the EIA, the... more »

Just saying…

Click for expanded view.

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer is worried about the impact of the potential loss of Iranian oil on the global crude market. Reuters reports:

The United States should do more to encourage Saudi Arabia to boost its oil production to make up for lost Iranian oil, Senator Charles Schumer said on Sunday, urging renewed diplomacy as a way to ease the run-up in oil prices. … A public promise from Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter, to pump oil at its full capacity would calm oil markets as well as gasoline prices, Schumer, the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, said in a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Without saying so directly, Schumer’s point is that, yeah, supply matters. Global markets respond positively and negatively to ups and downs in supply – hence Schumer’s... more »

The Interior Department isn't doing enough to prepare our nation for a secure energy future, and its policies are harming our economy and lessening the amount of revenue that our industry is producing for our government.

The administration acknowledges the importance of oil and natural gas in the nation's energy future. Its projections show they will supply most of our energy for several more decades even with strong growth in renewable energy. Yet the government's follow-through in fostering more domestic development raises questions about its commitment.

The fact is, oil and natural gas development on U.S. public lands and federal offshore waters remains on a very slow track.

Sure, the department has extended some Gulf leases, and it produced a supplemental environmental impact statemen... more »