gemini104104
Verified User
It would be foolish, uninformed and ridiculous to blame a president for oil prices and the production of oil. Obviously the U.S. can be at the top end of oil production in the world at currently being the 11th oil producer in the world, but it is the oil companies that set prices and based on the current lack of oil production, results in high oil prices as follows:
Reasons Why the United States Can’t Drill Its Way to Energy Independence
The solution to high energy prices is a swift and urgent transition to clean energy—not further reliance on dirty fuels controlled by dictators and profiteering oil corporations.
The oil and gas industry already has plenty of land and ocean ready to be used
The oil industry can decide to produce more oil whenever it wants. In fact, the oil industry already possess more than 9,000 approved—but unused—drilling permits on federal lands. Nearly 5,000 of those permits were approved in 2021 alone—the highest figure since the second Bush administration.
9,000 Approved permits to drill that are unused by the U.S. oil and gas industry
The number of permits already approved is about six times the average number of wells drilled annually in the past five years. Over the past 10 years, permits and wells drilled have followed a similar trajectory—except for now, when permits have increased and wells drilled have decreased. The oil industry has all it needs to increase production but has chosen to profiteer off the current crisis rather than act.
Industry CEOs are profiting hand over fist while average families suffer
Meanwhile oil and gas executives are raking in windfall profits while consumers suffer at the pump. Last year, four of the major oil companies—Shell, Chevron, BP, and ExxonMobil—posted record profits, totaling $75 billion. In the fourth quarter alone, ExxonMobil was bringing in $97 million dollars in profit every day.
The reason that U.S. oil companies haven’t increased production is simple: They decided to use their billions in profits to pay dividends to their CEOs and wealthy shareholders and simply haven’t chosen to invest in new oil production. According to Bloomberg, “U.S. oil companies generally have been reluctant to pump more, preferring to steer cash flows back to investors instead of spending it on new drilling that could flood the world with cheap crude.
The oil industry is sitting on 10 years’ worth of unused leases
The oil industry already has at least 10 years’ worth of unused leases at its disposal. They are only producing oil or gas on roughly half of the area they have already leased. There are nearly 14 million acres onshore and more than 9 million acres offshore that are currently under lease but are not being used for oil production. At least one-quarter of these unused leases are sitting on lands that the Bureau of Land Management has deemed to have a medium or high potential for oil. What’s more, only 10 percent of U.S. oil and gas production occurs on federal lands and waters, limiting the federal government’s ability to impact leasing decisions—the other 90 percent is done on state and private resources."
https://www.americanprogress.org/ar...es-cant-drill-its-way-to-energy-independence/
Reasons Why the United States Can’t Drill Its Way to Energy Independence
The solution to high energy prices is a swift and urgent transition to clean energy—not further reliance on dirty fuels controlled by dictators and profiteering oil corporations.
The oil and gas industry already has plenty of land and ocean ready to be used
The oil industry can decide to produce more oil whenever it wants. In fact, the oil industry already possess more than 9,000 approved—but unused—drilling permits on federal lands. Nearly 5,000 of those permits were approved in 2021 alone—the highest figure since the second Bush administration.
9,000 Approved permits to drill that are unused by the U.S. oil and gas industry
The number of permits already approved is about six times the average number of wells drilled annually in the past five years. Over the past 10 years, permits and wells drilled have followed a similar trajectory—except for now, when permits have increased and wells drilled have decreased. The oil industry has all it needs to increase production but has chosen to profiteer off the current crisis rather than act.
Industry CEOs are profiting hand over fist while average families suffer
Meanwhile oil and gas executives are raking in windfall profits while consumers suffer at the pump. Last year, four of the major oil companies—Shell, Chevron, BP, and ExxonMobil—posted record profits, totaling $75 billion. In the fourth quarter alone, ExxonMobil was bringing in $97 million dollars in profit every day.
The reason that U.S. oil companies haven’t increased production is simple: They decided to use their billions in profits to pay dividends to their CEOs and wealthy shareholders and simply haven’t chosen to invest in new oil production. According to Bloomberg, “U.S. oil companies generally have been reluctant to pump more, preferring to steer cash flows back to investors instead of spending it on new drilling that could flood the world with cheap crude.
The oil industry is sitting on 10 years’ worth of unused leases
The oil industry already has at least 10 years’ worth of unused leases at its disposal. They are only producing oil or gas on roughly half of the area they have already leased. There are nearly 14 million acres onshore and more than 9 million acres offshore that are currently under lease but are not being used for oil production. At least one-quarter of these unused leases are sitting on lands that the Bureau of Land Management has deemed to have a medium or high potential for oil. What’s more, only 10 percent of U.S. oil and gas production occurs on federal lands and waters, limiting the federal government’s ability to impact leasing decisions—the other 90 percent is done on state and private resources."
https://www.americanprogress.org/ar...es-cant-drill-its-way-to-energy-independence/
