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President Obama Gets It: Fracking Is Awesome
Forbes ^ | 2/12/2013 | Christopher Helman

Posted on 02/13/2013 5:56:43 AM PST by thackney

In his State of the Union address tonight President Obama said:

“After years of talking about it, we are finally poised to control our own energy future. We produce more oil at home than we have in 15 years. We have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas, and the amount of renewable energy we generate from sources like wind and solar – with tens of thousands of good, American jobs to show for it. We produce more natural gas than ever before – and nearly everyone’s energy bill is lower because of it.”

Yes indeed, thanks to fracking, crude oil production in the United States is surging. From a low of 5 million barrels per day in 2008 output has shot up in a hyperbolic curve to 7 million bpd as of last week.

The last time America’s petroleum output was that high was back in 1992 — 20 years ago.

What’s more, U.S. imports of petroleum have fallen to the lowest level since 1999. (Below 10 million bpd today versus 14 million bpd in 2005.)

Due to a 12% decrease in gasoline consumption during the last four years of recession, we’re using less petroleum too.

The result is that our exports of petroleum products are up nearly 150% in three years to a record $140 billion. As hyperbolic as the increase in oil production has been, so has the decrease in our petroleum trade deficit, falling from $360 billion a year ago to an annual rate of $224 billion today (less than half the $500 billion annual oil deficity of 2008).

This is an awesome accomplishment. And it is all thanks to fracking. Without the techniques of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, this Great American Oil & Gas Boom would simply not exist.

(Excerpt) Read more at forbes.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bho44; bhoenergy; energy; fracking; naturalgas; oil
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1 posted on 02/13/2013 5:56:52 AM PST by thackney
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To: thackney
I'm in Upstate NY....My energy bill sure as hell isn't lower....and it never will be.

And I'm paying twice as much for gas for my car as when Obama took office.

The man has done nothing except waste our money on crap energy projects.

Stop Ethanol now!!

Approve the Keystone Pipeline NOW.

Drill in Alaska NOW.

2 posted on 02/13/2013 6:05:10 AM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: thackney
Image and video hosting by TinyPic

U.S. Field Production of Crude Oil
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MCRFPUS2&f=M

Image and video hosting by TinyPic

U.S. Net Imports of Crude Oil and Petroleum Products
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=MTTNTUS2&f=M

3 posted on 02/13/2013 6:05:42 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: thackney
Guess the Dimmykrats won't be ridiculing 'drill here, drill now' anymore ~ (/s)

They are, of course, slow learners.

4 posted on 02/13/2013 6:09:21 AM PST by muawiyah
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To: Sacajaweau
Image and video hosting by TinyPic
5 posted on 02/13/2013 6:10:00 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: thackney

The fact is that most of these increases are DESPITE Obama’s best efforts to stop them.


6 posted on 02/13/2013 6:11:20 AM PST by Mr. K (There are lies, damned lies, statistics, and democrat talking points.)
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To: Mr. K
The fact is that most of these increases are DESPITE Obama’s best efforts to stop them.

...ongoing efforts, at that!

7 posted on 02/13/2013 6:13:24 AM PST by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing)
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To: thackney

We love our oil and gas companies in Texas. They’ve leased hundreds of thousands of acres of private land in the past four years, and farmers and ranchers are happy to have them drilling on their land. The federal government has done nothing but try to pass punitive regulations and collected their cut in taxes. The First Marxist has no shame when he takes credit for the energy boom.


8 posted on 02/13/2013 6:13:33 AM PST by txrefugee
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To: muawiyah
Guess the Dimmykrats won't be ridiculing 'drill here, drill now' anymore ~ (/s)

Oh No, they're pushing the EPA to stop fracking, coal use and the petroleum industries as fast as they can. Obama used the fact of higher production for his own gain while trying to stop it behind the scenes.

We should pay attention to what HE DOES, NOT WHAT HE SAYS! Liars say one thing and then do the opposite. Obama is a practicing liar.

9 posted on 02/13/2013 6:14:49 AM PST by sr4402
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To: thackney

Obama just knows he cannot stop fracking because Dummycrat politicians in PA, OH and nearby states have already spent those revenues into the next decade, and he’ll have an absolute revolt on his hands if he tries. (not to mention royally cheesing people off in 2 key electoral states)


10 posted on 02/13/2013 6:19:28 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: thackney

Do you happen to have a chart reflecting cost per barrel to extract? May be interesting to overlay that on U.S. Field Production of Crude Oil.


11 posted on 02/13/2013 6:30:47 AM PST by gov_bean_ counter (Hope and Change has become Attack and Obfuscate.)
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To: thackney
IIRC, the stock market was influencing the price in 2008,2009....

And in the meantime....the President has killed every new gas/oil/coal project available.

12 posted on 02/13/2013 6:42:53 AM PST by Sacajaweau
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To: gov_bean_ counter
Do you happen to have a chart reflecting cost per barrel to extract?

There are some reports out there with cost, but if you use them, you have to be careful to be sure it includes all cost.

The cost to produce a barrel of oil is not just production cost, it is exploration cost. And that cost needs to include allowances of the dry holes, permitting problems and delays.

The cost for exploration needs to be for the future as well, what does it cost to find a replacement barrel of oil for the one you produce today. An oil company needs to keep finding reserves, either through exploration, or using enhanced recovery methods on the fields they already have. If they don't include those cost, they are not in the oil business, they are going out of business, eventually.

On top of that, each field is different costs. You may have the same company having greatly different costs in different fields. There can be variances like a more expensive well with longer laterals and more perforations producing more barrels of oil than one with less.

Because of all this, I don't find that any number shown in production cost being very accurate to describe an industry, there are just too many variables. Which is why there is such risk in oil/gas, boom and bust cycles, etc.

13 posted on 02/13/2013 6:45:15 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: Sacajaweau
Here is a interesting perspective in the price of oil: Price of Oil plotted against Price of Gold


14 posted on 02/13/2013 6:47:21 AM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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To: thackney
Haven't we learned by now that we can't take anything he says at face value?? Let's parse this:

“After years of talking about it, we are finally poised to control our own energy future." [The potential has been there for literally decades - only the government has kept stopping us (ANWAR, Keystone, Offshore leases sold to foreign countries and not for our own use)]

"We produce more oil at home than we have in 15 years." [Others have rightly already pointed out that it happened despite Obama - and this came about strictly by American enterprise]

"We have doubled the distance our cars will go on a gallon of gas" [Since when?? Even if you look at the CAFE standards for cars back to the time they were first introduced, we are just now getting close to the "double" point: 18mpg in 1978 to just over 30mpg now. This simply doesn't stand up to any math test.]

"...and [doubled] the amount of renewable energy we generate from sources like wind and solar" [twice nothing is still nothing]

"...with tens of thousands of good, American jobs to show for it." [how many solar companies - temporarily bolstered with taxpaying monies - have failed in the past 3 years? Any such jobs you're talking about were not the result of your efforts, Barak.]

"We produce more natural gas than ever before – and nearly everyone’s energy bill is lower because of it.” [Two points here: yes, he's actually right about the production - but as with domestic oil, he had nothing to do with it. Second, regarding price: even a casual glance at the historical charts show that there is little to correlate our (dramatically increasing) natural gas production to the (volatile) price. Currently, it is lower than usual, but it has been lower still...and up quite a bit since last summer.]

15 posted on 02/13/2013 6:58:25 AM PST by alancarp (Obama will grab your guns and ship them to Mexican drug mobs.)
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To: alancarp

The whole speech should be parsed to consider his Narcissism. Anything good done by the private sector -”We” did this. Anything good by the Government - “I” did this (even if it was against his personal policies). Anything bad - “Congress” did it - even when the “sequester” was Obama’s own idea and the Congress agreed to his proposal.


16 posted on 02/13/2013 7:34:47 AM PST by LibertyOh
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To: LibertyOh
The whole speech should be parsed to consider his Narcissism.

This. Good point.

17 posted on 02/13/2013 9:34:26 AM PST by alancarp (Obama will grab your guns and ship them to Mexican drug mobs.)
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To: thackney
Obama " nearly everyone’s energy bill is lower because of it. "

Well, that's partially true, that's until the taxes are added into the equation.
18 posted on 02/13/2013 3:31:52 PM PST by American Constitutionalist
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To: thackney
WOW ! Pigs do fly.

So what has given Obama a new outlook on oil fracking and go against the environmentalist ?

Ok,

1 # Some people in Washington has talked some sense to him and managed to convince him that this is good for America ?

2 # Some people told him that the Federal government can make some really good money, opps, I meant revenue from taxes and it could help him look good in reducing the Federal deficit without much pain in cutting spending ?

3 # The big corporations control all the strings in Washington ?

4 # Maybe he does care about us Americans and the pain in our pocketbooks ? jobs ? cost of gas ?

5 # That he realized the environmentalists numbers just don't add up and it's all a big lie and scam ?
19 posted on 02/13/2013 3:42:31 PM PST by American Constitutionalist
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To: American Constitutionalist

#6 The title includes sarcasm.


20 posted on 02/13/2013 4:00:49 PM PST by thackney (life is fragile, handle with prayer)
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