THE WORLD’S ENERGY SUPERPOWER: US
This Wall Street Journal article is heartwarming:
The U.S. will overtake Russia to become the world’s largest oil producer by 2023, accounting for most of the global growth in petroleum supplies, a top industry monitor said Monday.U.S. crude production is expected to reach a record of 12.1 million barrels a day in 2023, up about 2 million barrels a day from this year, said the International Energy Agency, which advises governments and corporations on industry trends. American oil output will surge past Russia, currently the world’s largest crude producer at about 11 million barrels a day.…Once heavily dependent on imports from the Middle East, the U.S. is getting closer to achieving its goal of producing enough crude to meet domestic demand for refined products like gasoline.Of the 6.4 million new barrels of oil that will be pumped every day between now and 2023, almost 60% will come from the U.S., the IEA said.American influence on global oil markets is also expected to rise, with U.S. oil exports more than doubling to 4.9 million barrels a day by 2023, according to the IEA. Until 2015, the U.S. didn’t export any crude oil by law, but in five years it is expected to be among the world’s biggest exporters.
Fracking saved the Obama administration, its only baleful effect. Other than that, the U.S.’s emerging energy dominance is one of the great developments of recent times. It is ironic that our myopic press obsesses on trivialities like Russians posting on Facebook, while largely ignoring the geopolitical implications of the policies that are freeing up U.S. energy production.
Finally, I can’t resist an “I told you so.” I have written many times over the years–e.g., here, here, here, here, and here–that Barack Obama in particular, and liberals in general, have long lied to the American people about energy.
Most people think Obama’s worst lie was “If you like your health insurance, you can keep your health insurance.” I disagree: I think Obama’s worst lie was his oft-repeated claim that the U.S. can’t drill its way out of our alleged energy shortage because we have only 2% of the world’s petroleum reserves, but consume 25% of the world’s petroleum. What Obama and his fellow liberals never said was that “reserves” is a legal term of art in the U.S. (unlike, say, Saudi Arabia and Russia). “Reserves” is defined by the Securities and Exchange Commission. It doesn’t mean oil in the ground, as Obama knew most people would assume. Rather, it means petroleum that is profitably recoverable under current law and at current prices.
Obama knew this, but he and his fellow Democrats found it expedient to lie, because they were promoting their green energy cronies. Here is my question: what reporters have written about the fact that Obama was not just wrong about energy, but deliberately misled the American people?
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