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Page added on July 21, 2016
America’s biggest oil boom came under Obama
Donald Trump’s potential energy secretary took President Obama to task for trying to “destroy” the U.S. oil boom.
Harold Hamm, a shale oil billionaire, gave a speech on Wednesday night at the GOP Convention arguing that Trump will become the first president to achieve American energy independence. “President Obama chose not to get it, and he has tried to destroy this renaissance and all of its benefits,” Hamm said in Cleveland.
But the numbers tell a different story. Believe it or not, Obama has presided over the biggest increase in oil production in American history, even if he can’t take direct credit for it all.
Hamm is the leading contender to be Trump’s energy secretary, GOP fundraiser and oil exec Dan Eberhart told CNNMoney. Neither the Trump campaign nor Hamm’s Continental Resources (CLR) responded to requests for comment. Hamm’s possible role was also reported by Reuters.
The U.S. was pumping just 5.1 million barrels per day when Obama took office in January 2009, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Fast forward to April and the U.S. produced 8.9 million barrels per day. That’s an incredible 74% increase. In fact, in 2015, the U.S. pumped the most oil in 43 years.
The U.S. is now the world’s No. 1 petroleum producer when you count not just crude but also liquified natural gas. If you limit the ranking to just crude oil, the U.S. still comes in No. 3, just narrowly behind Russia and Saudi Arabia.
Related: World’s top oil producers
Prices have recently collapsed by more than half since 2014. It’s forced U.S. oil producers to pump less, because it’s less profitable. Daily U.S. oil production has decline modestly from the peak and more slowing is likely.
But the oil bust wasn’t fueled by the White House. It was actually caused by an epic supply glut that formed in part due to American shale oil.
“Oil prices have been depressed, but that’s not a function of policy. It’s a function of global dynamics: we produced a lot — and there wasn’t a lot of demand for it,” said Vincent Piazza, senior oil and gas analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence.
Related: U.S. oil boom not dead. It’s plotting a 2017 comeback
Obama: Friend or foe of oil?
Energy experts argue Obama’s policies overall have neither been a positive nor a negative for oil production.
Obama did place some restrictions on fracking, though he hasn’t moved to ban the controversial tactic as Bernie Sanders and other environmentalists want. In fact, fracking now accounts for half of all U.S. oil output.
The White House did place a temporary moratorium on Gulf of Mexico drilling after the Deepwater Horizon disaster. However, drilling in the Gulf of Mexico has rebounded and is on track to break a record next year.
On the other hand, under Obama and the GOP-led Congress, the U.S. also removed the 40-year ban on crude oil exports, potentially allowing production to increase once prices rise.
“I can’t say what the administration has done has been a negative for the industry overall,” said Piazza.
Eberhart, the GOP fundraiser, disagrees, saying the White House has displayed “hostility” towards the energy industry and made it harder to drill by adding regulations “at an alarming rate.”
“The increased production is despite President Obama, not due to President Obama,” Eberhart told CNNMoney.
Trump wants to DOUBLE production
Trump faces a tall order in trying to make the U.S. energy independent. Last year, the EIA predicted the U.S. would achieve energy independence in 2028 if oil prices continue a modest and slow rise.
The industry has made huge strides under Obama. The U.S. today has become more self reliant, importing about 10 million barrels per day, down from 14.5 million in 2006. But current imports still mean America relies on foreign oil for over half of its daily consumption.
Hamm raised eyebrows by making a bold promise: U.S. oil production could double under Trump. But that would equate to 17 million barrels a day, a huge amount in today’s world of excess supplies.
It would be hard to convince oil companies to drill at that pace unless it becomes a lot more profitable. For that to happen, prices will have to rise dramatically. But again, if the U.S. ramps up production by that much, oil experts warn that prices will drop.
“Unless you had a sustainable rise in demand and reductions from other countries, doubling production would just add to that oversupply,” said Piazza.
32 Comments on "America’s biggest oil boom came under Obama"
Cloud9 on Thu, 21st Jul 2016 8:06 pm
For the pitch man there are no limits. Reality is a harsh mistress. Dreams shatter and hope fades.
penury on Thu, 21st Jul 2016 8:28 pm
Remember CNN leans strongly towards the Dems.
Anonymous on Thu, 21st Jul 2016 8:50 pm
CNN leans strongly towards a Complete Nonsense Network…
MikeX11.2 on Thu, 21st Jul 2016 9:37 pm
Polluter want’s absolutely No Restriction on DESTROYING YOUR WATER for Money.
Shocked! Shocked I tell you.
Plantagenet on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 1:19 am
Obama said he was against a Drill Baby Drill energy policy, but once he was in office he went big time for Drill Baby Drill and a boom in US oil production resulted.
Cheers!
Anonymous on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 2:50 am
Yea, plantadope, ‘obomber’ found time between multiple appearances on late-night talk shows, speaking at memorials for the victims of uS gun massacres, and, waging war against multiple countries(simultaneously), to drill a few thousand frak-wells. Whatever will you(and your craptastic nation) do once hes gone?
Kenz300 on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 7:33 am
Electric cars, trucks, bicycles and mass transit are the future…..fossil fuel ICE cars are the past…………
The sooner we transition to electric vehicles the better .
No more WARS for OIL…………….
Kenz300 on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 7:36 am
Fossil fuels need to be phased out as quickly as possible…….. Climate Change is real and it will impact all of us and future generations…
Watch The Climate Change Ad Fox News Didn’t Want Its Viewers To See
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/climate-change-ad-fox-news_us_57892a37e4b03fc3ee50c207?section=
PracticalMaina on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 9:51 am
Harold Hamm wants to poison the next generations. All so they can rush to the hospital for an asthma attack in an suv.
PracticalMaina on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 9:59 am
Why so angry repubs? You getting cramps from hiding in the closet?
http://nypost.com/2016/07/21/male-escorts-are-making-crazy-money-at-the-rnc/
Outcast_Searcher on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 10:00 am
“The industry has made huge strides under Obama. The U.S. today has become more self reliant, importing about 10 million barrels per day, down from 14.5 million in 2006. But current imports still mean America relies on foreign oil for over half of its daily consumption.”
This is in do way due to anything positive Obama has done about oil. But let’s pretend that correlation implies causation.
PracticalMaina on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 10:08 am
He made the EPA back off from protecting small town water supply. That is kind of a big deal…. When we choose oil over healthy clean water, what more can the oil cos want?
GregT on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 10:08 am
“The industry has made huge strides under Obama.”
The industry has more control over government, than government has over the industry. The hand that gives is always above the hand that receives. Obama is not the giver.
PracticalMaina on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 11:02 am
“Numbers don’t lie, unless we do Bush and Gore over.”
He certainly gave coal cos a hell of a deal mining off federal land, ditto for the oil companys, continued the nice tax breaks for the poor helpless Exxon ect. He put in an effort to protect oil bearing regions of Iraq for the benefit of these cos.
Look at the accidents the big energy industry has had under him and he still is not hostile. Fukashima, Lac-Megantic, BP Gulf spill, more recent rig explosions, the Cali ranch whatever methane leak, he oversaw the fracking boom. How many small nuclear leaks and petrochemical accidents have been in the states in the past year. The guy has been as pro energy industry as possible IMHO.
PracticalMaina on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 11:09 am
Short of denying science like the Trump is acting like he will do.
Plantagenet on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 11:10 am
@anonymous
Your suggestion that Obama personally drilled thousands of oil wells across the USA doesn’t make any sense. Clearly you don’t understand how the US government works.
Cheers!
JuanP on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 11:52 am
“It’s Official: Hillary Clinton is running against Vladimir Putin” at The Atlantic.
http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2016/07/clinton-trump-putin-nato/492332/
What could I say? I have no words!
JuanP on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 12:00 pm
I think that energy companies should be exempted from paying taxes, all liabilities for spills and other crimes, and should be more heavily subsidized, too. I am for burning and using up all the resources we can for as long as possible. Let’s try to keep this shit going for as long as possible regardless of the consequences. Screw the young and future generations! I don’t have any kids so I don’t care.
People should start having more kids, too, so we can make more soylent green when we run out of other food sources, too. The younger they are the better they’ll taste!
rockman on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 12:18 pm
“…under Obama…the U.S. also removed the 40-year ban on crude oil exports…” And the blantant lie continues: according to FEDERAL GOVT NUMBERS the US exported 167 MILLION BBLS OF OIL in 2015 prior to the POTUS lifting the so-called “ban”. Just as oil was exported under every POTUS since the “ban” was made law. In fact in the 80’s, right after the “ban” was passed, the US exported over 600 MILLION BBLS OF OIL accordfing to the EIA stats:
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=mcrexus2&f=a
Since the “ban” went into effect we’ve exported about 1.5 BILLION BBLS OF OIL.
But the 167 million bbls of oil exported under President Obama’s administration in 2015 pales in comparison to the 1 BILLION BBLS OF FINISHED PETROLEUM PRODUCTS EXPORTED during the same period. That includes the export to foreign buyers of 7.3 BILLION GALLONS of gasoline produced in the US just during 2015. In fact during President Obama’s administration about 40 BILLION GALLONS of gasoline have been removed from the US market and sent to foreign buyers.
“…nothing the administration has done has been a negative for the industry overall,” said Piazza.” Which includes the coal miners of the western leases owned by the FEDERAL GOVT: The yearly max was reached in 2012: 259 BILLION POUNDS of US coal exported. BTW: much of that went to the EU.
In fact under President Obama the US hit an all time high amount of coal exported in a single year: “124 million tons of coal were exported from the country in 2012.
For export destinations, EIA reported India was one of the few countries taking on more U.S. coal, bringing its total share of U.S. coal up 4 percent to 9 percent in 2015. Coal exports to the rest of Asia fell.”
rockman on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 12:21 pm
Juan – “Let’s try to keep this shit going for as long as possible regardless of the consequences. Screw the young and future generations!” Spoken like the vast majority of US fossil fuel consumers. From you lips to Dog’s ear. LOL.
PracticalMaina on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 12:39 pm
Obama also opened up the arctic apparently, leave nothing for the devil.
PracticalMaina on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 12:40 pm
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/capital-weather-gang/wp/2016/07/22/n-y-c-l-a-and-chicago-are-all-under-heat-advisories-plus-23-states-in-between/
Summertime and the livings dangerous…
rockman on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 12:58 pm
And actually that wasn’t the “biggest oil boom”. That began about 1940 when US oil production boomed 350% from 1 billion bbls to 3.5 billion bbls per year. During President Obama’s terms it increased only 70% from 2 billion bbls to 3.4 billion bbls per year. Granted the rate of increase was higher then but it appears that the decline rate will also be much higher.
Also worth noting that most of the early boom occurred when the inflation adjusted price of oil was only about 1/3 of what it was during President Obama’s term. Perhaps more realistic that he be credited for the 250% increase in oil prices that created the “Obama oil boom”.
The Rockman (one among many in the oil patch) will be ever grateful to the POTUS for whatever he might have contributed. LOL.
PracticalMaina on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 1:18 pm
Obama didn’t step in in any significant way to curb the widespread pollution that is disrupting our climate. If they can use executive actions to take our rights in the guise of security, why cant they bend Exxon Mobil over a barrel for the good of every global citizens health.
Davy on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 1:19 pm
Juan, the cockroaches are slithering out of the nooks and crannies in fear and loathing of a Trump presidency. I love it! Trumps got everyone from the neo-cons to the corrupt and inbred liberals on both coast worried sick. He has stirred the pot of discontent. This is what we need now and that is to bitch slap the status quo into a confrontation with reality. I like Trump not because of who he is or what he stands for. I still can’t figure out fully who or what he stands for. I am not sure he knows. Trump just knows he wants that top spot. I think for Trump it is winning the game more than anything. I sure do like his destructive change influence even if he does not get elected he will have made an impact.
Apneaman on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 1:24 pm
Outcast_Searcher, so all of the increase in extraction just happened on it’s own and the nation’s executive has no say in it? If your the one making the assertion that None of the increase had anything to do with Obama, then the burden of proof is on you. We shall patiently await your evidence.
Apneaman on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 1:28 pm
Fracking 2016: Obama Administration Approves Drilling Off The Coast Of California
“President Barack Obama’s administration “is once again putting California’s beautiful coast in the oil industry’s crosshairs,” Miyoko Sakashita, director of the Oceans Program at the Center for Biological Diversity, the group that brought the lawsuit, said in a statement. “Our beaches and wildlife face a renewed threat from fracking chemicals and oil spills. New legal action may be the only way to get federal officials to do their jobs and protect our ocean from offshore fracking.”
http://www.ibtimes.com/fracking-2016-obama-administration-approves-drilling-coast-california-2376672
onlooker on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 1:38 pm
Yes the corrupt in this country are being made uncomfortable by this newcomer who while being corrupt himself does not want to play ball with everyone else. So yes anything to shake us up for this temporary calm/complacency before the storm. Social upheaval is just part and parcel of the changes coming. My only worry is Trump seems a bit too much on the us against them meme. That attitude is not conducive to maintaining violence at bay.
Apneaman on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 1:46 pm
Obama Admin Approved Over 1,500 Offshore Fracking Permits in Gulf of Mexico and Mainstream Media Has Ignored It
http://www.desmogblog.com/2016/06/28/obama-administration-offshore-fracking-mainstream-media
Apneaman on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 2:12 pm
President Obama approves East Coast oil exploration, threatening endangered marine life
http://www.greenpeace.org/usa/president-obama-approves-east-coast-oil-exploration-endangering-138000-marine-animals/
BAU will continue apace and any serious threat to it will be dealt with by any and all means the PTB deem necessary.
All this left (enviroment) right (Energy) squabbling is nothing but an engineered distraction to keep the mindless sheep preoccupied while they shear every last piece off them.
Since climate change went full blown political in the late 1980’s fossil fuel extraction and use has only grown and so has the consumerism/footprint of the majority of those who claim to be “environmentalists” – if, as the polls indicate that 30-50% of citizens in the rich countries deem AGW a serious threat and they put their money where their mouths were, then we would have seen their consumption reductions show up in the aggregate numbers – that never happened. A pipeline here or a stand of trees there – the captains of extraction will give these concession up from time to time as simply the cost of doing business and knowing it’s how the game is played. Then they move on to the next one, because they never sleep – that should be obvious to anyone paying attention. Fact is that this world that was friendly to the humans is shifting to a new unfriendly world and the humans are going bye bye by their own hand. It’s already in the pipe and all the humans could do at this point is slow the pace or carry on and speed it up.
Apneaman on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 5:44 pm
WaPo puts out some good AGW articles, but like many many others they are playing both ends from the middle. Kunstler had it right when he “every thing goes and nothing matters”.
Oil Lobby Paid Washington Post and Atlantic to Host Climate-Change Deniers at RNC
https://theintercept.com/2016/07/22/oil-lobby-paid-washington-post-and-atlantic-to-host-climate-change-deniers-at-rnc/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QK8mJJJvaes
rockman on Fri, 22nd Jul 2016 7:40 pm
“…why cant they bend Exxon Mobil over a barrel for the good of every global citizens health.” Very easy answer: because they understand that the vast majority of US voters/fossil fuel consumer would not elect them if they did anything to deny their desire to burn hydrocarbons.
It really ain’t rocket science, us it? LOL.