The Washington Post reports a new dynamic in energy geopolitics, one that can be credited to technologies and know-how developed by U.S. oil and gas companies. Over the last few years, the focus of energy exploration and production has shifted away from the Middle East to countries in the Western Hemisphere such as Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and the U.S.
“From Canada to Colombia to Brazil, oil and gas production in the Western Hemisphere is booming, with the United States emerging less dependent on supplies from an unstable Middle East. Central to the new energy equation is the United States itself, which has ramped up production and is now churning out 1.7 million more barrels of oil and liquid fuel per day than in 2005.”
In a statement that echoes T. Boone Pickens’ call for increased American energy security, The Post quotes Ruben Etcheverry, chief executive of Gas and Oil of Neuquen, a state-owned energy firm in Argentina that is positioning itself to develop oil and gas fields in Patagonia:
“There is a new geopolitical shift, and those countries that never provided oil and gas can now do so. For the United States, there is a glimmer of the possibility of self-sufficiency.”
The importance of oil produced in the Middle East is still considerable. But unlike decades past, it is no longer all-important.
Oil produced in Persian Gulf countries — notably Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Iraq — will remain vital to the world’s energy picture. But what was once a seemingly unalterable truth — that American oil production would steadily fall while the United States remained heavily reliant on Middle Eastern supplies — is being turned on its head.
Read more HERE.