The Hill News

Over the past three years, we have seen a dramatic rebound in America’s oil and natural gas production after a hiatus of almost 40 years.  This has occurred despite falling output in Alaska, the moratorium on deep-water drilling imposed in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico oil-rig blowout last year, and extremely low prices for natural gas.  New technologies for extracting oil and gas from deep under the ocean floor as well as shale formations have been largely responsible for the country’s fossil fuel renaissance.

All this is good news for America’s consumers. Though gasoline and diesel prices have jumped 25 percent over the past year, absent the 11 percent increase in oil production from U.S. fields, consumers might be paying even more.  At the same time, falling oil imports chopped about $20 billion off America’s trade deficit last year.  Abundant new supplies of natural gas at low cost have reduced the home heating and electric bills for millions o! f American households.

In a sluggish economy, energy-producing states like Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, North Dakota and Louisiana are benefiting from the job and income growth associated with the resurgent oil and gas sector.  Each of these states currently posts unemployment rates below the U.S. average of 9.1 percent and each has posted job gains over the past year, led by energy.

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