Energy Today - May 18, 2011
Rayola Dougher
Posted May 18, 2011
Edmund Sun: American Energy Needed to Lower Gas Prices: President Obama's energy policies are detrimental to both gas prices and employment. Through a combination of postponing or canceling previously approved drilling leases and issuing outright bans on drilling, the Obama administration has imposed a de facto moratorium on domestic exploration. Analysts say the number of deepwater permits approved monthly under the Obama administration has dropped by 78 percent from the historical average. Production on the Gulf Coast has decreased by 240,000 barrels of oil a day in 2011, according to the Department of Energy, and 13 drilling rigs have left the Gulf of Mexico. The moratorium has cost the struggling region 12,000 jobs already, and an additional 24,000 Gulf jobs and 36,000 jobs nationwide are at risk if drilling remains stalled. Minot Daily News: Taxable Sales Skyrocket; 'Oilfield Headquarters' Third in State for 2010: Following record-setting quarters throughout the year, final 2010 figures show taxable sales and purchases skyrocketed throughout North Dakota's oil country. Leading the charge was the city of Williston, which despite having only the ninth-largest population in the state posted the third-highest taxable sales and purchases figures, which totaled $1.34 billion...Williston's strong economy is buoyed by its de facto status as "oilfield headquarters" for the northwest portion of the state. The city is home to well over 350 oilfield service companies that make their living buying and selling to petroleum exploration, production and transportation companiesBusinessTrends Blog: Energy Sector's Role in the Economy: PwC reported: "The top 15 states, in terms of the total number of jobs directly or indirectly attributable to the oil and natural gas industry's operations in 2009 were Texas, California, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Florida, Michigan, Colorado, New Jersey, North Carolina, Indiana, and Georgia." Consider oil and gas jobs as a share of employment, the states rank as follows: "Wyoming (15.8 percent), Louisiana (15.1 percent), Texas (14.3 percent), Oklahoma (14.1 percent), Alaska (10.3 percent), North Dakota (7.5 percent), New Mexico (7.5 percent), West Virginia (7.1 percent), Delaware (6.5 percent), Kansas (6.5 percent), Montana (6.4 percent), Mississippi (6.1 percent), Colorado (5.2 percent), Arkansas (5.0 percent), and Utah (4.9 percent)." Finally, it is important to point out that this study does not include a major benefit of the oil and gas sector. As described in the study: "These economic impacts represent all of the backward linkages of the U.S. oil and natural gas industry to its suppliers. They do not capture any forward linkages (i.e., the economic impact on production in sectors that use oil and natural gas as an input)." This is a major point to keep in mind. After all, oil and gas play the central role in providing energy that makes our homes and businesses run.
Additional Resources:
Red Mass Group: Senate Energy Tax Proposal Tone-Deaf to America's Needs
The Energy Collective: Study Finds No Groundwater Issues From Gas Well Fracking
Institute for Energy Research: Technically Recoverable Shale Gas Resources Jump 134 Percent