Musings: Is America Knocking On The Door Of Energy Independence?

A phrase introduced into the modern lexicon by President Richard Nixon in the early 1970s was "energy independence". Ever since then, as the nation's domestic oil production declined and our natural gas output stagnated resulting in ever increasing imports of foreign oil and Canadian gas, national politicians campaigned on plans to make America energy independent.

Nearly 40 years after President Nixon uttered the phrase, the shale revolution has transformed America's petroleum industry into an engine for hydrocarbon production growth. With that additional oil and gas production, America's dependence on petroleum imports has declined. Increasingly, not only are the politicians talking about energy independence, but energy industry executives along with energy economists and consultants are also openly talking about the day when the U.S. meets all its power needs from domestic resources.

In late September, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) released data showing weekly domestic crude oil production had reached the highest level since January 1997, some 15 years ago. Reports are that despite the slowdown in drilling in the Bakken formation in North Dakota and Montana, production there should continue to rise during the second half of 2012.

Two charts demonstrate the significance of the increase in domestic production. The first chart shows the weekly estimate of domestic crude oil production since January 1990 with a red line showing how the September 21 data compares with production in early January 1997.......Let's go to the charts.
 

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