October Oil Numbers Released: Another $26.5 Billion Sent Overseas

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

U.S. Imported 350 Million Barrels of Oil in October

Pickens Highlights Extensive Supply of Natural Gas in U.S.; Urges Congress to Pass the NAT GAS Act to Dramatically Reduce Our Dependence on Foreign Oil

Pickens says, “America is the Saudi Arabia of natural gas. It’s time for us to use this precious resource and end the cycle of foreign oil dependency and addiction that is making us less safe and more economically insecure.”

Dallas – November 9, 2009 -In his eleventh consecutive monthly update on the level of foreign oil imports in the U.S., energy expert T. Boone Pickens said that based on the latest figures from the U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA), the U.S. imported 60 percent of its oil, or 350 million barrels in October 2009, sending approximately $26.5 billion, or $ 594,359 per minute, overseas to foreign governments.

“America’s dependence on foreign oil continues unabated and uninterrupted” said Pickens. “Month after month the oil import trends continue and we have yet to truly do anything about it. But, there is a solution that uses a domestic resource to make a real difference. All that is needed is for our leaders in government to embrace natural gas and pass the NAT GAS Act. America is the Saudi Arabia of natural gas. It’s time for us to use this abundant resource to end the cycle of foreign oil dependency and addiction that is making us less safe and more economically insecure.”

Pickens continued, “I’ve said many times that natural gas is the ideal bridge fuel for transportation. Smart use of our vast domestic natural gas resources can immediately reduce our dependence on foreign oil and buy us time to develop additional resources like fuel cells, batteries and hydrogen. With new drilling techniques and technology giving us access to the incredible reserve of natural gas contained in the shale fields, we have more than 100 years supply of natural gas.”

The NAT GAS Act of 2009, H.R. 1835, was introduced in the House of Representatives on April 1. The Senate version of this bill, S. 1408, was introduced on July 8 as a bipartisan bill by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT).

Pickens continued, “With so many benefits to using our own natural gas, the NAT GAS Act is not just good public policy, it is critical public policy. Americans should call their government leaders today and tell them you want true energy reform that uses natural gas.”

Since January 2009, the U.S. has imported more than 3.6 billion barrels of oil. A study released in June by the Potential Gas Committee, a group of academics and industry specialists supported by the Colorado School of Mines, estimates that we have more than 2,000 trillion cubic feet of natural gas reserves, the only available source that could immediately replace foreign oil as a transportation fuel.

— The Pickens team