Results tagged “energy development”

As we've mentioned on this blog many times, energy development is a primary driver of job creation. Developing the nation's abundant oil and natural gas resources could create tens of thousands of additional jobs.

A new Gallup poll proves this point and demonstrates that energy-producing states are among the best in job creation.

A congressional proposal to raise the liability limit from $75 million to $10 billion on the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund could threaten the viability of deepwater operations, significantly reduce U. S. domestic oil production, and harm U.S. energy security.

As J. Hunt Perkins points out in a Lexington Herald-Leader op-ed, there's something wrong with an energy policy that promotes offshore drilling but at the same time, proposes to place higher taxes on the oil and the natural gas industry.

A new Rasmussen poll shows voters support offshore drilling more than ever.

The national Rasmussen Reports telephone survey found that 72 percent of registered voters favor offshore drilling, and only 12 percent are opposed. Rasmussen says this is the highest level of support for offshore drilling in the past three years.

U.S. Steel Corp. is offering tangible proof that energy development can create jobs. This week the corporation announced it's considering expanding its Lorain, Ohio, steel tubing plant and adding a new steel coating line to a joint venture near Findlay, Ohio.

One of the primary reasons for the new investments is the company's proximity to the Marcellus Shale formation, where energy companies are using steel piping to drill for natural gas.

With an unemployment rate of 10.4 percent, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, was the ideal setting for a job fair last week, featuring 50 employers including members of the oil and natural gas industry.

Sitting atop the Marcellus Shale formation, county residents have the opportunity to join an industry that already supports 9.2 million American jobs and is poised to create more.

Are you perplexed by the administration's energy policy? You're not alone. Many observers have noticed a disconnect between the administration's various energy proposals.

As William F. Shughart II points out in an op-ed titled, "The President's Bipolar Energy Policy," the administration included federal guarantees in the proposed 2011 budget for new nuclear power plants, but also it proposes to eliminate funding for the nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.

Today, the preliminary results of Central Gulf Lease Sale 213, held in New Orleans, were announced. 

The sale received 642 bids on 468 leases--34 percent higher than last year's Central Gulf Lease Sale 208--and garnered $949 million in high bids, up from $703 million in last year's sale.

As the ranking Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee, Rep. Doc Hastings (R-WA) is in a position to closely observe and act on the administration's proposed energy policies. 

Today in an op-ed published in The Washington Times, he provides an explanation for what he calls the administration's "mixed signals" on offshore energy production.

Tomorrow Interior Secretary Ken Salazar will defend his agency's proposed 2011 budget before the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. Salazar calls it a "tough choices budget" requesting about $12 billion for the Interior Department (DOI), which is a slight decrease from 2010. (Environment & Energy Daily)

API is closed today due to the weather. The heavy snowfall has made travel - including commuting - to and from the nation's capital extremely difficult and even dangerous. Today, I'm working from a remote location where I have heat, electricity and connectivity, making me much more fortunate than many of my colleagues who live in areas with downed trees and power lines.

An editorial in today's Investor's Business Daily discusses the administration's pattern of delay when it comes to developing U.S. domestic oil and natural gas resources.

Every credible projection of future U.S. energy demand through 2030 predicts that this nation will need more energy in the coming years, including more oil and natural gas. How is the administration addressing this need?

The President delivers his State of the Union address tomorrow, and we expect the focus to be on jobs, as it should be with 15 million Americans out of work. We welcome the President's move to job creation and the economy and extend our hand to work together toward this worthy goal.

We also hope the President takes the opportunity to recognize the potential of energy development to create more jobs; not only jobs from producing more so-called "green energy," but also from producing more American oil and natural gas.

API announced today that U.S. well completions--the number of oil and natural gas wells and dry holes--in the fourth quarter of 2009 climbed by 19 percent over the third quarter.

Just 10 miles off the coast of Louisiana, a New Orleans company has made one of the largest Gulf of Mexico energy discoveries in decades. McMoRan Exploration Co. reports that its ultra-deep well in its Davy Jones prospect was drilled in shallow water--only 20 feet deep--down to more than 28,000 feet beneath the ocean floor where the company found huge amounts of natural gas in a 135-feet thick sand formation.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar today announced the imposition of new regulatory hurdles that could slow or prohibit drilling for oil and natural gas on energy-rich federal lands.

In what has become increasingly familiar double-talk from this administration, Sec. Salazar spoke of the importance of domestic oil and natural gas, while making it more difficult to produce this oil and gas, put more Americans back to work and help restore our nation's economy.

As we approach the end of year, it's time to take stock of 2009 and pause long enough in our holiday preparations to look forward to 2010. While none of us can predict the future--my snow globe doesn't double as a crystal ball--there are three organizations that have made projections of oil demand in the coming year.

• The Energy Information Administration (EIA), a division of the U.S. Department of Energy, projects that oil demand will rise by 1.1 million barrels a day in 2010. 
• The Organization of Oil Exporting Countries (OPEC) similarly predicts that demand will increase 0.8 million barrels a day. 
• The International Energy Agency (IEA) has stated that world oil demand will rise by 1.5 million barrels a day to a total of 86.3 million barrels a day.

The administration recently held a Jobs Summit to help determine the best way to put Americans back to work as quickly as possible. Today, API chairman and Devon CEO Larry Nichols authored an op-ed in The Hill that discusses how the U.S. oil and natural gas industry can be a part of the jobs solution.