America Well on Its Way to Winning Energy Independence

New statistics from the U.S. Energy Information Administration show America is winning its battle for energy independence. The EIA's fourth quarter 2011 report shows the United States supplied almost 58 percent of its crude oil and liquids consumption. And for the first time in recent history, net imports of liquids were less than 8 million barrels a day. Compared to 2006 numbers, America's position regarding consumption and supplies has reversed. In 2006, the United States imported 60 percent of its crude oil and liquids and only supplied 40 percent of its consumption. Harold Hamm, Chairman of the Domestic Energy Producers Alliance, said this reversal is monumental. "What seemed like a long shot six years ago is now a reality—we are significantly less dependent on foreign oil," Hamm said. "And it's all because of a paradigm shift in U.S. oil and natural gas production made possible by monumental advances in time-tested technologies applied in fields that were once thought to be unreachable." These major technological shifts include advances in horizontal drilling, which allows rigs to reach two miles into the ground and then spread horizontally by thousands of feet, coupled with advances in hydraulic fracturing technology, which creates paths that increase the rate at which fluids can be produced from rock formations. As a result of these new innovations in the field, the United States is now the third largest producer of oil in the world. For the first time in 62 years, the United States is a net exporter of petroleum products. And refined petroleum products just took the top spot as the United States' No. 1 export. Hamm said he thinks there's even more potential for America's abundant supply of oil and natural gas. "With the right set of national energy policies, the Americas can be completely energy independent by the end of the decade," Hamm said. "We can be the Saudi Arabia of oil and natural gas in the 21st century."

Melvin Wylie