State of Oil and Gas: We're Creating the Jobs

Less than a decade ago, a pervasive theory marked the industry, and it was one of global “peak oil.” I was a member of that club, believing U.S. oil production had “peaked” in 1970 and were in irreversible decline here, and elsewhere.

How wrong we were. The industry, driven by the innovation that marks private enterprise, has – once again – innovated. With stunning technological advances (chiefly the combination of fracking and horizontal drilling), we now have more energy reserves that any other nation on earth. Not only that, we have the cheapest in the world, too.

Today, the oil and gas business is the most dynamic industry in America. Unfortunately, they are still targeted by Washington, DC, as villains and increasingly blamed for everything from profiteering to earthquakes. If you want to blame that industry for anything, blame it for creating too many jobs.

"What have I done wrong"

Well, you didn't follow the Pickens Plan, and I mean the old original Pickens Plan.

Boone's biggest asset is being a silver tongue devil, he's a good ol' boy and knows how to raise money.

He didn't have pot to piss in but was able to raise some money from family members to get started. He didn't build his oil company by drilling holes in the ground, he did it by leveraged buyouts, being a corporate raider.

Boone was a second generation LBO King. The first was JL Ling who leveraged Temco and Vought to create LTV and then LTV Steel.

As for Peak Oil, there is peak oil at a price. We ran out of $25 oil but we have a lot more oil now that it is $100. Unfortunately, in July 08 the price of oil spiked to $140, which pricked the real estate bubble, and crashed the economy.

There's always going to be oil in the ground, it just keeps getting more expensive to produce. That's the history. Every recession we have had(except one) since the depression is related to oil problems.

The first oil well was the Drake in 1860 and was only 70 feet deep. Back then there weren't any cars burning gasoline but they needed the kerosene to replace whale oil.

Howdy Ben, haven’t talked to you in a while. Thanks for your comments.

You gotta give TBP credit for single handedly leading the parade for natgas as a transportation fuel. He’s also been a long time critic of the DOE for never fulfilling its objective of making USA free from dependence on OPEC. He also bankrolled the Swift Boat campaign against John F’n Kerry.

I never could understand the animosity heaped upon him here on FR just because he’s a slick businessman.

I recall from back then Pickens complaining that the govt needed to get out of the way and let the private sector build the new transmission lines to carry wind power(interstate). And none of them have been approved.

Texas approved their new intrastate windlines(in 2008) and those are operating now.

These state govt regulators have way too much authority over interstate lines.

As for the animosity towards Pickens, that was because, back then, he said "we can't drill our way out of this".

And wasn't just animosity. There were a lot of lies published about him, Mesa Water, the Roberts County Freshwater Supply District, and Mesa Power.

Any way, most of those plans he had ended when the State PUC approved the new transmission lines. He sold all those water rights 2-3 years ago.

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