On last Thursday night in the 3rd. Presidential debate, Joe Biden said he would “transition away from the oil industry”. Quite a shocking admission about the direction the Democratic candidate plans on taking one of the largest and most important industries in America. Even the moderator seemed shocked at the bluntness of the statement and asked “Why would you do that?” and he answered “The oil industry pollutes, significantly. It has to be replaced by renewable energy over time.” The statement sent shock waves throughout the political universe. Mark Jones, a Rice University political science professor said “Biden effectively leveled with the oil and natural gas industry, letting it know it is a dead man walking.”
So just how important is the gas and oil industry to America? Well for starters it contributes around 8% of our gross domestic product (GDP). The service industry is largest accounting for about 65% of GDP and manufacturing 11%. The industry provides around 6% of all employment or about 9.8 million jobs A VERY large industry to say you will eliminate!
Here are the states with the highest oil production (barrels/day):
- Texas (1,609,075)
- North Dakota (461,531)
- New Mexico (248,958)
- Oklahoma (200,685)
- Colorado (177,817)
- Alaska (174,800)
- California (169,166)
- Wyoming (87,955)
As of 2018, the United States is the world’s largest crude oil producer. We currently produce approximately 12,108,000 barrels per day. For the first time in 2019 the U.S. became energy self sufficient and no longer dependent on any other country for our energy needs. What is done with all that oil? There are thousands of products derived from crude oil, which are very beneficial to humans and have improved their quality of life around the world. The largest share of crude oil is used for gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, and heating oil. Other products include heavier ones used to make asphalt or lubricating oils for petroleum jelly and detergents.
How about natural gas production? Natural gas production in 2019 was about 34 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), the highest annual amount recorded. The largest producers are Texas (24%), Pennsylvania (20%), Louisiana (9%), Oklahoma (8.5%) and Ohio (7.7%). Most of the increases in production are from the controversial technique known as “fracking” which is the process of injecting liquid at high pressure into subterranean rocks and boreholes to force open existing fissures and extract oil or gas. The controversy is that environmentalists say potentially carcinogenic chemicals may escape during drilling and contaminate groundwater around the fracking site. A very complex topic to discuss in another post.
So while developing more and better renewable energy sources is urgent and important at the same time eliminating fracking and “transitioning away from the oil industry” needs to be a well thought out, bipartisan effort that will take generations and tremendous ingenuity. Not a campaign idea to simply toss out there to satisfy the left wing of your party at a time when our economy is already on it’s heels from the effects of a worldwide pandemic! Like everything else in life these days it’s just more politicization of a much too important topic.