More than 15 months after the Obama administration lifted its ban on offshore drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, oil and gas supply and service companies report they are suffering significant financial hardships from the government’s actions. The moratorium — as well as the slow pace of permitting that followed — have suffocated businesses, costing jeopardizing millions in business revenue and even forcing some to close their doors, according to a survey conducted by Greater New Orleans Inc. Louisiana, home to 88 percent of the country’s offshore rigs, has absorbed …
Whether he likes it or not, President Obama’s logic-defying but unsurprising decision to deny TransCanada the permit to construct a 1,700-mile long pipeline to deliver up to 830,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta, Canada, to Gulf Coast refineries put the ball in Congress’s court—and some Members are seizing that opportunity. On January 24, Representative Ted Poe (R–TX) and 11 co-sponsors, including Representative Dan Boren (D–OK) introduced the Keystone For a Secure Tomorrow Act (K-FAST) that would approve TransCanada’s permit submitted to the Department of State (DOS) on September …
Yesterday in Walt Disney World, the land “where dreams come true,” President Barack Obama appeared before Cinderella’s Castle to announce his latest plan to boost jobs in America–an effort to increase tourism to the United States. His announcement came one day after he flat out said “NO” to another plan that would have directly created at least 20,000 truly shovel-ready jobs–and 179,000 American jobs by 2035–while bringing more than 700,000 barrels of oil to the United States each day. That plan was the Keystone XL pipeline. Had the President approved …
UPDATE: The U.S. Energy Information Administration announced on Jan. 27 that data used for its study of oil and gas production on federal lands was “incomplete.” The EIA is currently reviewing information from the Department of Interior and will correct its report upon completion. — In his announcement rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline today, President Obama boasted that under his administration, “domestic oil and natural gas production is up.” Obama, of course, failed to mention that his administration can’t actually take any credit for the increase. The vast majority of …
When it comes to creating jobs, North Dakota has found the right formula. The state has the largest percentage increase in employment over the past year and was the fastest of all 50 to recover from the recession. The reason is simple: energy production. “North Dakota has been the poster child for what can happen when we unleash free enterprise and allow states to develop and commercialize their resources,” Heritage’s Nick Loris wrote recently on The Foundry. “North Dakota is drilling at record pace.” The state’s unemployment rate is 3.4 …
First, it was 20,000 jobs the Obama Administration delayed by punting a decision to approve the Keystone XL pipeline, which would bring 700,000 barrels of oil per day from Canada into the United States. Multiply that number by 10 and you have the amount of jobs the President is putting on hold by delaying a mineral lease sale in Ohio’s Wayne National Forest for oil and gas drilling. This decision kills jobs and denies Americans access to affordable energy. The Washington Examiner reports that Wayne National Forest already has 1,300 …
The Obama Administration announced it would delay the construction of the $7 billion Keystone XL pipeline that would bring in more than 700,000 barrels of oil per day from Alberta, Canada, to the Texas Gulf coast. What this delay really means is that President Obama is putting off an important election year decision in which two of his largest supporters—labor unions and environmentalists—are split on the issue. This tactic allows the decision to be delayed until after the 2012 elections. More importantly, this means a delay in access to easy …
Yesterday, the Department of Interior released its new five-year offshore drilling plan. Unfortunately, the program is far less expansive when it comes to opening areas to access, exploration, and drilling than it should be. The plan schedules 15 possible lease sales in the 2012–2017 time horizon—10 in the central and western Gulf of Mexico, two in the central Gulf, and three off the coast of Alaska. More glaring, however, is the areas that are still off-limits. The Atlantic and Pacific coasts, areas the Obama Administration once considered opening, remain closed …
As goes Williston, North Dakota, so goes the nation? That’s probably not a phrase you’ve heard before, but if we opened access to our domestic energy sources, Williston could be the poster child for jumpstarting economic growth in many areas of the country. In fact, the state of North Dakota has been the poster child for what can happen when we unleash free enterprise and allow states to develop and commercialize their resources. North Dakota is drilling at record pace, with oil production doubling from 2008 to 2010. MSNBC’s Brian …
The Obama Administration lifted the moratorium on new permits and drilling in the Gulf of Mexico, but the same problem persists as it has for over a year now. There’s not a whole lot going on down there. ODS-Petrodata Weekly Rig Count keeps tabs on rigs under contract and rigs without contracts in different regions of the world. It also shows the utilization rate for offshore platform drilling rigs. Here are the numbers. U.S.: 44 percent, Europe/Mediterranean: 97 percent, Worldwide: 83 percent. The fleet utilization rate for the U.S. Gulf …
