Environment

Who Could Soon be the Leader in Energy Production? Hint: It’s Not the Middle East

Americas Passing Middle East in Energy Production

After a busy weekend, 2012 presidential politics have clearly come into focus. Like most national elections, the call for America’s energy independence will sooner or later return as a popular talking point and political platform. But an article in the upcoming September/October edition of Foreign Policy magazine challenges the negative energy outlook for the Americas which analysts have projected for the last two decades, and asserts that, thanks to technology advances, political unrest abroad, and booming production at home, the Americas have stripped the title of the world’s global energy supply center from the Middle East once again.

“By the 2020s, the capital of energy will likely have shifted back to the Western Hemisphere, where it was prior to the ascendancy of Middle Eastern megasuppliers such as Saudi Arabia and Kuwait in the 1960s. The reasons for this shift are partly technological and partly political.”

Amy Meyers Jaffe points out that thanks to technological innovations like horizontal drilling, shale gas production in the U.S. has skyrocketed. For a U.S. natural gas industry once in decline suppliers are now in search for potential buyers thanks to a product surplus. Oil drilling is seeing resurgence as well, according to Foreign Policy:

“Oil production from shale rock, a technically complex process of squeezing hydrocarbons from sedimentary deposits, is just beginning. But analysts are predicting production of as much as 1.5 million barrels a day in the next few years from resources beneath the Great Plains and Texas alone, the equivalent of 8 percent of current U.S. oil consumption. The development raises the question of what else the U.S. energy industry might accomplish if prices remain high and technology continues to advance. Rising recovery rates from old wells, for example, could also stem previous declines. On top of all this, analysts expect an additional 1 to 2 million barrels a day from the Gulf of Mexico now that drilling is resuming. Peak oil? Not anytime soon.”

Brad Kane of the Hartford Business Journal writes on the shale bubble and its effect on energy independence:

“As shale gas becomes more prevalent through 2035 and makes up 46 percent of the American supply, EIA predicts our reliance on foreign countries for natural gas will dwindle from 11 percent to 1 percent.

That prediction is based, though, on robust returns from shale gas.

The No. 1 exporter of natural gas in the world is the Middle East country of Qatar.”

Jaffe points out that like the U.S., similarly bolstering stats in oil production have grown in Canada and Brazil. While regime change may bring democratic freedom to parts of an oppressed region, history dictates declines in Middle East oil production during times of political turnover.

With energy sources in the Middle East possibly less accessible in the future and booming production from natural resources in the Western Hemisphere, many would argue that this is an ideal time to “Drill Baby, Drill!”

Comments (95)

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  • capitalismrocks
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 1:51pm

    If the Middle East no longer has a global strangle hold on the world for energy, and countries can make decisions based on human rights violations, political turmoil and so forth, without having to worry about offending a Middle Eastern country, then some REAL progress could be made to bring the Middle East under control and see them finally acting like adults and stop trying to kill one another and destroy Israel.

    These countries will have to actually put their people to work in the global economy and they’ll have less time to sit around making suicide vests and trying to murder everyone for pointless violence that has never achieved anything for them except to have the world view them as savages.

    Report Post » capitalismrocks  
    • Ookspay
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 2:11pm

      Very optimistic of you. More likely, countries like China, India and developing nations will keep the demand strong and the mideast will just sell oil to them. They will remain wealthy and “bored” and still have plenty of time to plot attacks against us. That’s why we must get the heck out of all of the middle east. Once we have our own domestic and friendly oil suppliers, we leave. We leave Saudi Arabia to defend their own oil fields, Kuwait as well. Perhaps they will ally themselves with Israel to keep Iran at bay. Now that is a marriage I would like to see. Either way we get the He!! out. Let them get back to fighting and killing each other with no referee Uncle Sam to brake up their little squabbles. That will keep them busy for a while and cull the herd, they will have no time or reason to attack us.

      Report Post » Ookspay  
    • rjhewitt78244
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 5:36pm

      to the 1st reply I have to agree with you except that instead of just pulling out and letting them continue attacking us as they will do, lets leave a few Nukes and let them radiate instead then we don’t need to worry about them selling to China. Or maby that may be going just a little too far.

      Report Post »  
    • Tali
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 5:40pm

      If America becomes energy independent and the Middle East loses its stutus as energy supplier it would be the best. Countries such as Brazil and Russia also have energy that can go into the world market. Part of me wonders if China would someday invade some Middle Eastern country (of course they most likely would do it if things got real bad and the world would not care that they did that).

      Report Post »  
    • avenger
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 5:58pm

      we have known this for the last 10+ years.thank the libs,epa and all the eco freaks& gov agencies that want to destroy the USA ! drill baby driil & drill some more !

      Report Post »  
    • AmericanPatriot01
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 7:57pm

      You know its strange… when the detractors in this debate start sounding like Ron Paul, hahaha.

      They bash and demean Ron for saying “pull out of the middle east and let them hash out their own affairs against one another” (we would still defend Isreal and stop funding the actions they take against us) but then turn around and use that same idea to bash someone. WAKE UP!!!

      Ron Paul 2012!!

      Report Post » AmericanPatriot01  
  • Seede
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 1:41pm

    Export control is needed in all of this as well as price control should also be implemented. When it come to National security we should be energy independent and not let the foreign interests come in at all. Otherwise we would wind up just as bad as the Middle East.

    Report Post »  
    • BSdetector
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 3:07pm

      Free Market should be implemented, not price controls.
      Unleash the free market and we would have all the energy we could use.

      Report Post » BSdetector  
    • LieutA
      Posted on August 17, 2011 at 1:09am

      Problems arise when American Oil and Gas are developed by Corps with no allegiance and Politicians that despise any thought of American dominance of anything. Once again we will have an edge and that is just not fair! So, we’ll regulate anything that runs on Fossil fuels and sell to our Landlord (China) for cheap. Americans will suffer continued energy inflation, a stifling of wealth creation, vast job migration and overall poverty. Then we’ll be just like the rest of the western world. Lets all join hands and sing about world citizenship and necessary sacrifices.

      Report Post »  
  • ED4237
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 1:33pm

    We have more than enough energy here to get and that would provide jobs to this economy and tax revenues to go with it. This admin and the greenheads do not want that so this admin will not push congress and the energy companies to get here. We the taxpayer are founding Brazils growth in off shore drilling and thanks to Obama sending our jobs and oil rig to them, then you watch this admin and others will barrow money from them.

    Report Post »  
  • LarryofArabia
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 1:31pm

    Let’s cut and run from the Middle East. Nothing good can come from there anyhow. Trust me, I’ve been there. In Dubai, those people are so smart, they built the worlds tallest building. It‘s too bad the humidity coming off the Persian Gulf creates so much haze that you can’t see the building from more than a mile away. We need to remove the Middle East from our economic equation.

    Report Post »  
  • cknapp
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 1:05pm

    Personally, I would drilll through a Caribou in Alaska to get oil, if it would stop us from bying oil from people who do not like us, and even if it cost the same, as long as the jobs remained here in America.

    I am 49, and a couple of years ago while deployed to Iraq, I began to think a bout a dead cow I had to move from a filed in the mid 1970′s. I wondered how much of its body fluid would be left in a million years to add to the bio-bass to create petroleum. I figured not very much would be left even today, as at the time I moved the carcass, it had been dead a few days, body cavity opened, and fluids were already evaporating.

    I started seaching the Internet, read about a theory called A-biotic petroleum, petroleum created without the use of biology, basically “cracked” naturally deep in the Earth. This theory was followed more by the Russians than by Americans.

    The theory is complicated, but poses the idea that when oil was first discovered there was evidence of bio-matter co-located in the fossile record. Now if one things about it, where on Earth can you go and NOT find signs of life? Even deep undersea hot sulpher vents have organisms that have adapated to the environment, thus no matter where you dig, evidence of life abounds.

    There are reports of abandon oil fields re-filling spontaneously, or having signs of increased production.

    It alsmost makes sense that petroleum is a quasi-naturally occuring “element” or by-product of forces deep with

    Report Post »  
    • Cat
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 4:17pm

      @CKNAPP

      Read many articles regarding this issue as well.

      It dispels the lie that we’re running out of ‘bio-fuel’ when the ‘fuel’ may not be bio at all, but elementary and a natural phenomenon of the earth, the globe’s current composition, its distance from the sun and the relationship earth has to other planets. Several links pop up when seeking “Abiogenic”.

      Take it a step further and we can surmise that the earth may completely change in the distant future and merely tranform into a globe of aboitic liquid, glowing brightly next to a red giant. You know the rest of the story.

      The underlying topic here is; who will have the power now?
      Obviously, it will be the ones with knowledge.

      Report Post » Cat  
    • mustang-2537
      Posted on August 17, 2011 at 8:48am

      I’m no great scientist, but that is somewhat my opinion too. Our scientists are exploring the universe and can tell us all kinds of things, but cannot tell us much about what is happening within our earth. They know that gravity exists, but can’t tell us how it works or what it really is.

      Report Post »  
  • SamIamTwo
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 12:19pm

    No matter what we do, we harm someone, eh? LOL

    Oh my the earth will shrivel up. The big blue balloon will be deflated by the US for drilling out the natural gas. The earth is going to move closer to the sun…LOL We are actually moving away from the sun and the earth is rotating slower. http://curious.astro.cornell.edu/question.php?number=124 So in a billion or so years…when the sun grows…will global warming really matter? But I drift off topic.

    Quick we need a liberal to get on this immediately.

    Report Post » SamIamTwo  
    • agameofthrones
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 12:29pm

      The EPA has concluded that our exhaling is destroying the planet so try to hold your breath as much as possible if you want to save the earth. Jeez!

      Report Post » agameofthrones  
  • Hickory
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 12:16pm

    American ingenuity and can do attitude can do anything if it is not contained by government regulations. Progressives hate American inventors because the inventors prove over and over that freedom of thought and action is America’s treasure……. Not big government.

    Report Post » Hickory  
  • abbygirl1994
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 12:15pm

    So lets build some refineries instead of medical centers for illegals…

    Report Post » abbygirl1994  
    • Graywolf
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 3:05pm

      Right on!!!! We need to finance this country not those that hate us, and rip us off on the price of oil. Congress needs to grow some balls, and tell the people what is going on, and Obummer NO NO NO you will not send money to other countries. ALL executive orders have to be abolished, and no more allowed.

      Report Post »  
  • SFYMP
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 12:08pm

    Haven’t laughed with intensity like that in a while, thanks. That’s better than a stroll by a grassy knoll.

    Report Post »  
  • Chuck Stein
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 11:55am

    America developed the technology for cheap, clean energy back in the 1960′s: Liquid Flouride Thorium Reactor. Check out energyfromthorium.com.

    Report Post »  
  • georgeisn6
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 11:53am

    Owhatabummer will kill any attempt to bring this nation back from his devistateing policy’s.

    Report Post »  
  • BOUGHT YOUR SILO YET?
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 11:52am

    Can’t come soon enough for me.

    Report Post » BOUGHT YOUR SILO YET?  
  • BarbWire
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 11:49am

    Drill. Coal. Let’s go.

    Report Post »  
  • RodT82721
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 11:48am

    The progressive environmentalist have done as much to awaken the American voter as Barry, Pelosi and Reid in their 111th Congressional spending spree.
    These ‘greenies’ spent decades putting their anti-energy policies into effect, thru the EPA, Dept of Energy, and all the progressive judges to back their play. It’s about over!
    Like everything they do, they just over play their hands, to the point that they are no longer operating in the shadows, but out in the open for all to see, and hate. AGW has been exposed, the endangered species list is next.

    Report Post »  
  • pap pap
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 11:48am

    I just can’t understand why Obama is not in jail.

    Report Post »  
    • walkwithme1966
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 12:14pm

      Hey Pap Pap – he is not in jail because he has done nothing illegal – you think???
      http://wp.me/pYLB7-1pE

      Report Post » walkwithme1966  
    • abbygirl1994
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 12:18pm

      As far as I am concerned, when the dust settles your gonna see that him and his administration has done more than we can imagine to destroy America,, printing money ought to be one of them.. crap wouldn’t it be nice to go home and print off the money we need every day.. and never have to keep an accounting of it..

      Report Post » abbygirl1994  
    • Anonymous T. Irrelevant
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 12:45pm

      Or Al Gore. His billions need to be re-distributed, since they were not earned honestly.

      Report Post » Anonymous T. Irrelevant  
    • Therightsofbilly
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 12:48pm

      Hey WALKWITHME1966

      Per the rules of OBAMACARE, you just used up your one free yearly PAP Smear.

      Report Post » Therightsofbilly  
    • WarriorPitbull
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 12:50pm

      What has Obama done illegally? Fast and Furious came from the top, I’d call that highly illegal. The “Kinetic Action” executive order in Libya is illegal. Anything that he does to usurp American fuel independence is illegal and treasonous (for instance Brazil gets our money for oil exploration and drilling but we get moratoriums on drilling for our own oil), the list goes on and on.

      Report Post » WarriorPitbull  
  • LukeAppling
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 11:43am

    Hooray for America! Where is Al Gore to teach the children after failing to teach the parents about global warming? Tyhe biggest scam in world history has been broken by chris Horner and unrtelenmting assault on the lies of the Obama and gore fools.
    America has the most energy sources in the entire world and these fools, Gore, Obama, United Nations et al still try to delude people but we have awakened and are looking for candidates to pursue proven energy sources and investigate unproven at a more leisurly pace while rebuilding our economy on oil, gas, nuclear, shale oil, and bio fuels while allowing the market and entrepeneurs to develop wind, solar and hydrogen. This will get rid of Obama and all his friends from our lives. It will take time to get rid of all his hidden regulations but we can do it and are happy to pursue an obama-free life.

    Report Post »  
  • AmericablessGod
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 11:32am

    If we started to aggressively pursue our own resources along with nuclear energy back in the 70′s when it was talked about, we would already be independent and an oil exporter! Our politicians who seem to be slaves to the environmental Nazis have kept us slaves to our enemies in the Middle East. What insanity!!

    Report Post » AmericablessGod  
    • Wayner
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 11:42am

      Try to keep Cass Sunstein from finding out about all of this

      Report Post »  
  • tankyjo
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 11:20am

    We should be selling oil to the rest of the world! That would shake things up!! Israel is poised to become a big energy player. That WILL shake things up!!

    Report Post » tankyjo  
    • MidWestMom
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 12:09pm

      Why sell it? We should keep it. A lot of global pc would fly right out the window if the US entirely stopped buying oil from the mid-east & south american countries.

      Report Post »  
  • cntrlfrk
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 11:18am

    ‘

    Doesn’t matter. With Obama setting the auto requirements to 50 mpg, we will all be pulling Rickshaws anyway.

    .

    Report Post » cntrlfrk  
    • sacwoodpusher
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 2:37pm

      Hey, that’s it! Rickshaws will reduce foreign energy usage, and give Americans jobs! What an idea!

      Report Post »  
  • GaryInTheMiddle
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 11:06am

    Shut down or scale back (drastically) the power of the EPA!

    Report Post » GaryInTheMiddle  
    • SFYMP
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 12:04pm

      Shut it all down and start over withe size and scope of let’s say…1888 through 1910 when this country was manufacturing some product. Think Henry Ford could start in these times? Drill Baby Drill!

      Report Post »  
  • drattastic
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 11:00am

    How long before the leftist environazis put an end to all exploration and production mentioned in the article above . The green movement is nothing but a socialist plot to bring this country to its knees . They do not want a strong energy self sufficient country ,remember we need to bring our standard of living down to the third world level ,we will be much easier to control that way.

    Report Post » drattastic  
  • Oh My God
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 10:59am

    We are a great country and “we can do it” as long as DC lets go of all the stupid regulations that bring us down.

    Report Post »  
  • Gary S
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 10:58am

    As soon as we move Obumer from the Whitehouse to the big house & clean out the slugs, energy production will skyrocket.

    Report Post »  
    • adastra2005
      Posted on August 16, 2011 at 12:08pm

      Think of all the jobs it will produce as well as increased revenue to the Treasury. If Obama just wasn’t such a chucklehead he could reap the political rewards of all this.

      Report Post »  
  • michael48
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 10:57am

    probably be more fun to drive around in a 12-ton windmill…right Barry???…or 30 acres of solar cells…BTW…what’s OUR buses running on Barry??? HOT STEAMING COW DUNG?????

    Report Post »  
  • Whitey4West
    Posted on August 16, 2011 at 10:56am

    “On top of all this, analysts expect an additional 1 to 2 million barrels a day from the Gulf of Mexico now that drilling is resuming.”

    This is completely false…I know many people who work(ed) in the Gulf. NONE of them are back to work there. All of them are in Brazil, or have moved to another line of work.

    Report Post »  
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