Pulitzer Prize-winning author Daniel Yergin, writing in today’s Wall Street Journal, seized on a development that is destined to reshape our country: America’s energy revolution. And the key driver? Natural gas.
Half a decade ago, it was assumed that the U.S. would become a large importer of liquefied natural gas; now the domestic natural gas market is oversupplied, thanks to the ability to produce shale gas through hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling technologies.
Increased natural gas production is only one of many outcomes from hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling. Since 2008, U.S. oil production is up 25 percent, the highest growth in oil output of any country worldwide in that time span. And of course there is the benefit to the economy.
So far more than 1.7 million jobs are the result, according to a report titled “America’s New Energy Future,” released Tuesday by my research firm, IHS. These jobs include people working on rigs in Pennsylvania or North Dakota, manufacturing equipment in Ohio or Illinois, and providing information-technology services in California or legal services to royalty owners nationwide. The number of jobs could rise to three million by 2020. The energy revolution will add an estimated $62 billion to federal and state revenues this year.
Read more HERE.