U.S. Is Overtaking Russia as Largest Oil-and-Gas Producer in the world.

[dkf]

The U.S. is overtaking Russia as the world's largest producer of oil and natural gas, a startling shift that is reshaping markets and eroding the clout of traditional energy-rich nations.


U.S. energy output has been surging in recent years, a comeback fueled by shale-rock formations of oil and natural gas that was unimaginable a decade ago. A Wall Street Journal analysis of global data shows that the U.S. is on track to pass Russia as the world's largest producer of oil and gas combined this year—if it hasn't already.

The U.S. ascendance comes as Russia has struggled to maintain its energy output and has yet to embrace technologies such as hydraulic fracturing that have boosted American reserves.

"This is a remarkable turn of events," said Adam Sieminski, head of the U.S. Energy Information Administration. "This is a new era of thinking about market conditions, and opportunities created by these conditions, that you wouldn't in a million years have dreamed about."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303492504579111360245276476.html

[House of Roberts]

1. So, we're sucking the hard-to-get petroleum out while they are still

working on the easy stuff? What happens when we are really out? I mean, aside from the excessive carbon in the atmosphere?

The only thing I can come up with is US companies are scrambling to make the last dollars they can before international law bans petroleum use, because we went too far before realizing we had to stop.

[dkf]

2. Well we haven't touched the arctic yet. And there is probably more potential offshore.

But apparently we need a higher cost of gas to make fracking feasible.