The Energy
Information Administration (EIA) reported on Tuesday that the boom in natural gas
production in the U.S. reached a record high last year, increasingly
substituting for imported foreign oil.
Meanwhile, the U.S. oil production grew more in 2012 than in any year in the history of the domestic oil industry, which began in 1859, and is set to surge even more in 2013. The U.S. produced an average of 6.4 million barrels a day last year.
As a result, for the first time in recent memory, an energy-sufficient U.S., independent of foreign oil, could become a reality, unthinkable only a few years ago. The development will have huge geopolitical implications, especially in the Middle East.
The breakthroughs in the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, are driving the increase in U.S. oil and gas production.
Meanwhile, the U.S. oil production grew more in 2012 than in any year in the history of the domestic oil industry, which began in 1859, and is set to surge even more in 2013. The U.S. produced an average of 6.4 million barrels a day last year.
As a result, for the first time in recent memory, an energy-sufficient U.S., independent of foreign oil, could become a reality, unthinkable only a few years ago. The development will have huge geopolitical implications, especially in the Middle East.
The breakthroughs in the drilling technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, are driving the increase in U.S. oil and gas production.
Meanwhile, in an interesting and probably related news, the Dow Jones
Industrial Average reached a historic high on Tuesday, eclipsing the previous closing
highs set in October of 2007, before the financial crisis.
File photo: Natural gas production using ‘fracking’ method (Getty Images/money.CNN.com)
File photo: Natural gas production using ‘fracking’ method (Getty Images/money.CNN.com)
