Surging oil and natural gas production in the United States and Canada is just shy of being enough to fulfill the region’s demand, a remarkable shift from the days of massive imports from the Middle East, according to an international energy report.
The latest Global Production Report from the International Association of Oil & Gas Producers said that North America is producing 83 percent of the oil it needs even at a time when all markets are experiencing greater demand.
And it is producing 101 percent of the natural gas that is needed, making it ready for exports.
The report said, “Growing oil production in North America could put the region on the path of self-sufficiency.”
It comes as the Trump administration is opening up federal lands to energy exploration in a bid to fulfill the president's promise to expand production. At the same time, former President Obama is seeking credit for the continued surge. He told a group in Texas this week, "Suddenly America’s like the biggest oil producer and the biggest gas — that was me, people.”
The news was cheered by the American Petroleum Institute.
In its analysis of the international report, API noted the advances in oil and gas production and offered two comments.
“North American oil supply is in the midst of a remarkable transformation. A decade of significant growth, fuelled by unconventional resources such as shale and tight oil, has brought major economic benefits to the region and put the United States on the path to being a net exporter of oil for the first time in decades” said Staale Gjervik of Texas-based XTO Energy Inc.
Dean Foreman, API’s chief economist, added that while natural gas production is high, there are needed policy changes to increase it even further.
“The bottom line is that the U.S. natural gas industry has achieved remarkable milestones but needs a level playing field that could make the difference between seizing, or squandering, this historic US natural gas opportunity,” he said.