API: Oil and Gas Development in USA Could Greatly Contribute to Economy

API Senior Economic Adviser Rayola Dougher told reporters yesterday that continued expansion of oil and natural gas development in America could contribute greatly to the nation’s economy and energy security, but that the right policies would be needed to help accomplish this:

“U.S. oil and natural gas development is expanding and contributing more to our economy and energy security. Our oil and gas companies are producing more and more oil and natural gas, much of it from promising shale reserves in North Dakota, Texas, Pennsylvania and other places. More jobs are being created. Imports are down. And more revenue is being sent to government.

“Continuation of this trend is vital to America’s economic recovery and long-term prosperity. Recent energy projections and economic analysis suggest it can continue. They also suggest the United States can become far more energy self-sufficient. However, the right government policies will be important to facilitating this.

“The emergence of a new era of oil and gas development has been a game-changer, but there is potentially much more to come because the United States has the energy reserves and the technology to step development up to a new level. Technology is key. It goes a long way to explaining why an energy revolution is happening in the United States instead of many other countries, and it can continue to help increase oil and gas production from our nation’s ample reserves.

“Out of all the innovative technologies, hydraulic fracturing may be the most significant. Hydraulic fracturing is a safe, well regulated, 65-year-old technology. Its combination with directional drilling has propelled the shale energy revolution, and it eventually could be needed for most of our nation’s oil and gas development. As a result, costly or duplicative regulation of hydraulic fracturing could be extremely counterproductive.”

[mappress]
LNG World News Staff, December 14, 2012