Even before Obama’s war on fossil fuels, offshore drilling has been severely curtailed for decades.
That is until this week after the Trump administration announced authorization of new offshore drilling, including a billion acres in the Arctic.
What’s most significant about this is that the oil bust from a few years ago forced efficiencies among American exploration companies that has them now running lean and efficiently.
And it’s on that premise that many analysts expect American shale to destroy OPEC finally.
That’s BEFORE the offshore drilling option which, when added to the existing shale plays, represents an American energy independence explosion.
Winning.
Here’s more from Hotair…
“Energy superpower” is the same term an S&P analyst used today to describe America’s exploding shale industry, predicting that the U.S. will be a top-10 global oil exporter by the end of Trump’s term. Today’s decision makes that even more likely. The catch: Although righties love the idea of more drilling, voters in coastal states like North Carolina and Florida tend not to because it poses environmental risks (right, BP?) and damages tourism.
A 2016 poll of Florida found support for offshore drilling at 32/47, a steep decline from the 44/39 split of two years earlier. Rick Scott, normally a Trump ally, put out a statement today noting that “I have asked to immediately meet with Secretary Zinke to discuss the concerns I have with this plan and the crucial need to remove Florida from consideration.”
North Carolina and Florida are both crucially important to Trump in 2020 and he has no margin for error in the latter given the influx of Democratic-leaning Puerto Ricans after Hurricane Maria. Maybe it won’t matter, as the new drilling policy is still 18 months away from being finalized and many years away from drilling actually beginning in the new waters given the lack of infrastructure out there right now. But it’s a risk politically.
