In recent years, the United States has become much more self-sufficient when it comes to energy. A surprising decline in US petroleum consumption paired with increased production have combined to erase much of the American dependence on foreign oil imports. This week, the US reached another energy milestone when it was announced that America is now a net exporter of natural gas.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the US exported an average of 7.4 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day in November. Over the same period, only 7 billion cubic feet per day was imported. It has been almost 60 years since the US exported more natural gas than it imported.
The news on natural gas comes three years after US oil imports balanced for the first time since the 1950s. In 2013, US crude oil production was greater than the amount of oil imported for the first time in decades.
The increase in US oil production is due largely to fracking and other new technologies that allow oil that was previously not recoverable to be harvested profitably, even when the price of oil is low. Shale oil production has risen even as prices fell. According to CNN, fracking now accounts for more than half of US oil production and has increased US output to a 43-year high. Since low oil prices have actually depressed production, US oil output can be expected to increase further as prices rise.
American oil production has increased to the point that US oil companies are now exporting oil for the first time in 40 years. In December 2015, Congress lifted a 1975 ban on exporting domestically produced oil. Six months later, oil exports averaged more than half a million barrels per day and US oil was being shipped around the world.
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US is Now a Net Exporter of Oil and Natural Gas by: @captainkudzu https://t.co/z4PwpVlDo0 pic.twitter.com/HyS21iskE1
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) December 1, 2016
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