As I said John the oil patch doesn’t care much for the govt’s fiscal and tax policies. But as far as its relationship with us we ain’t got no big complaints.
From:
http://energycommerce.house.gov/sites/r ... report.pdf“Historically crude oil production on federal lands was consistently under 20% of total U.S. production until the late 1990s (under a Democrat POTUS) when annual production surged on federal lands (primarily offshore) rising to over 30% in the early 2000s and reaching a high point of about 37% in FY2010.3 As a result of recent production increases on non-federal lands, a question is raised as to whether non-federal lands will regain a more dominant position of roughly 80%-85% of total U.S. crude oil production. The fact remains, however, that there are 5.3 billion barrels of proved oil reserves located on federal acreage onshore and another 5.6 billion barrels of proved reserves offshore (nearly all in the Gulf of Mexico).
Taken together, U.S. federal oil reserves equal about 43% of all U.S. crude oil reserves, which are estimated at 25.2 billion barrels, according to the Energy Information Administration (EIA). Proved oil reserves are amounts accessible under current policy, prices, and technology. Crude oil production on federal lands is likely to continue to make a significant contribution to the U.S energy supply picture and could remain consistently higher than previous decades, but still fall as a percent of total U.S. production, if production on non-federal lands continues to rise at a faster rate.”
IMHO the symbiotic relationship between the oil patch and the federal govt (regardless of who is president) is undeniable. The right and left propaganda notwithstanding. BTW: After income taxes oil and NG royalty income is the largest source of revenue for the govt.
Loki - Sorry to add to the list but I did leave out another small tidbit: President Obama issued the permit that allowed Shell Oil to embarrass themselves in the Arctic Ocean recently. I really don't take much comfort in exposing the two-faced positions of our "liberal" politicians. But when you know the facts it's difficult to listen to the deceitful propaganda from both sides used to keep the population divided on the energy issue. As result instead of conversations being focused on real solutions it deteriorates into an "us vs. those bastards" debates. And that allows the politicians to win and the people to lose IMHO.