USA
A.G.Randol III, Ph.D.
The Right Climate Stuff Research Team, VA Scientists and Engineers for Energy and Environment, SEEEVA.
The United States is blessed with natural resources that must be produced for not only the economic and energy security of our citizens, but also for the security of our allies in Europe and Asia. The issue is not whether countries will continue to use oil and natural gas, but who will supply it. As we have learned, producing our own oil and natural gas is an important counterbalance to our geopolitical enemies, especially China, Russia and Iran. Imports of Russian crude oil is rapidly expanding again. In May the U.S. imports of Russian oil climbed to 26 million barrels…the highest ever. The increased revenue from the sales of petroleum is feeding the buildup of the Russian arsenal of sophisticated weapons and subsidizing the Iranian nuclear program expansion. Rising oil prices are adding to the costs of everything in the U.S. economy, from the gasoline we buy to the food we consume. The ability to launch a drone strike on the Saudi Arabian oil refining complex has been demonstrated. Closure of the Strait of Hormuz by the Iranians is a real threat. The only counter is the United States production of crude oil and refined products. Our ability to produce natural gas that can be shipped to Japan and Europe provides important energy security for our allies. Without liquefied natural gas exports to Europe, Russian leverage over our NATO allies will continue to grow. Our ability to produce in our prolific basins from the Permian to the Bakken is of vital economic and national security. The Permian Basin (Texas and New Mexico) alone is responsible for 40% of U.S. oil production and 15% of natural gas production. Expansion of the natural gas pipeline network, especially in the Texas Permian Basin, enabled an increase in the capture of associated natural gas from oil wells and contributed to increases in natural gas exports to Mexico. In 2020, the United States exported natural gas to over 30 countries. The total annual U.S. natural gas exports were 5.3 Tcf—the highest on record, and the United States was a net exporter of natural gas for the fourth year in a row. The constraints on new Federal leasing in the Permian will affect production needed to support exports. The growth of weather-dependent intermittent wind and solar requires expanding dispatchable thermal power, including natural gas plants. As Californians and Texans have learned, running an economy on unreliable intermittents is a recipe for severe human hardship from brownouts and blackouts. The February freeze grid failure in Texas resulted in at least 210 people killed directly or indirectly, with some estimates as high as 702 killed.
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