Quote:
Originally Posted by TrapX
Not correct. Fracking leases were cancelled in Jan 2021. New leases were blocked. That immediately reduced the supply of natural gas. Those sites were scuttled, and cannot simply be "turned back on" without a lot of work and investment. Since the previous investment in those sites was trashed, and threats to further restrict fracking leases were made, the energy companies would not invest in that area again.
So with less natural gas, oil was needed to fill the previous demand. But oil drilling leases were also not renewed. New leases were blocked. Same story as fracking - less production.
Now the US is no longer a net exporter of oil and gas. We need to buy it on the global market. That means any one of many countries can raise prices and the US pays it. No choice there.
Russia raises prices for energy and the world has to pay it. That's how the current administration's energy policy has given Russia and the Arabs control over part of our economy.
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"New leases were blocked" means new "spigots" were not turned on. The supply of natural gas was not reduced, it simply was not increased. (Yes, also not replaced when existing sources dried up).
Note that the US was a net exporter in 2021. If the "spigot" was shut off in January then it would have had immediate effect on production yet 2021 production was greater than 2020.
Look, I have no argument with the idea that petroleum sources have not expanded at the rate they had in the past. My argument is with the idea that current production was immediately diminished in January 2021. The current situation is not a result of decreased US production. The current situation is a result of a continuing increase in demand and, to a far greater extent, the
threat of a decrease in the world supply, largely due to Russia.
Again, I have not seen any 2022 numbers for US production but the 2021 numbers showed an increase, not a decline.