David Blackmon of The Telegraph reports that the US is producing more oil and gas than any nation ever has. He writes:
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) said in January that US domestic production of crude oil for September 2023 set a new all-time high of 13,247,000 barrels per day. That fact probably deserved more notice than it received given that it was the most oil any nation on earth had ever managed to produce in a single month. The high-tech modern US oil and gas industry is completely transformed.
Even more remarkable is the fact that US producers managed to break the record in November, and then exceed the September number again in December, the most current month for which full data is available. It is likely November’s all-time record of 13,319,000 barrels per day (bpd) has been exceeded at least once again during the first quarter of 2024, as producers find ways to wring more production out of each wellbore. […]
Today, America ranks as the largest producer of both oil and natural gas on Earth, and there is no sign that is likely to change anytime soon given that the industry is conducting its business more efficiently and effectively than at any time in history. As a result, the USA enjoys almost complete energy security: we have no need for oil and gas from unsavoury regimes overseas, and we even have enough left over to help supply our friends – such as Britain. This could change if voters decide to award Biden a second term in November, giving his regulators four more years to invoke even more onerous roadblocks to growth.
But even that seems doubtful. If the history of the oil and gas industry has taught us nothing else, it is that markets and human ingenuity seem to always find ways to overcome attempts by politicians and regulators to pick winners and losers.
Read more here.
