The natural gas boom in the United State provides more benefits than just cutting carbon emissions. The untapped potential for natural gas could mean energy independence for the US from foreign oil sources. Over the next few years, crude oil production, biofuels, and overall U.S. consumption should be watched closely.
James Williams, an analyst from WTRG Economics said, “No matter who is elected, we will be more energy independent every year for the next decade, unless there are some extreme policy changes.”
U.S. consumption of petroleum has declined by more than 2 million barrels per day. The reason for the decline was mostly because of the weak economy. However, efforts to keep consumption down are underway. According to the Obama Administration, vehicles savings from 2025 will amount to 2.2 million barrels of oil a day.
Also, under the Obama Administration, the Clean Air Act requires manufacturing operations to cut carbon emissions almost in half. As a result, manufacturing companies have turned to natural gas to power their facilities. Natural gas is extracted by fracking, which has continued to grow. This create a demand for natural gas, which the U.S. has an abundant supply of.
Also, to watch is the total supply of liquid fluid come crude oil, natural gas liquids, biofuels such as ethanol, and even a gain in the refining process that produce. In the U.S. productions is at an average of 6.1 million barrels a day compared with the 4.9 million barrels four years ago, which happened despite the a decline in Gulf of Mexico production, which was made up for with additional production in places such as North Dakota, which was recovering oil and shale.
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