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posted by takyon on Sunday December 09 2018, @09:35PM   Printer-friendly
from the pump-and-dump dept.

The U.S. Just Became a Net Oil Exporter for the First Time in 75 Years:

America turned into a net oil exporter last week, breaking almost 75 years of continued dependence on foreign oil and marking a pivotal -- even if likely brief -- moment toward what U.S. President Donald Trump has branded as "energy independence."

The shift to net exports is the dramatic result of an unprecedented boom in American oil production, with thousands of wells pumping from the Permian region of Texas and New Mexico to the Bakken in North Dakota to the Marcellus in Pennsylvania.

While the country has been heading in that direction for years, this week's dramatic shift came as data showed a sharp drop in imports and a jump in exports to a record high. Given the volatility in weekly data, the U.S. will likely remain a small net importer most of the time.

"We are becoming the dominant energy power in the world," said Michael Lynch, president of Strategic Energy & Economic Research. "But, because the change is gradual over time, I don't think it's going to cause a huge revolution, but you do have to think that OPEC is going to have to take that into account when they think about cutting."

The shale revolution has transformed oil wildcatters into billionaires and the U.S. into the world's largest petroleum producer, surpassing Russia and Saudi Arabia. The power of OPEC has been diminished, undercutting one of the major geopolitical forces of the last half century.

I can see short-term benefits (avoiding another 1973 Oil Crisis), but am concerned about the long-term strategy. Given a fixed supply of oil, isn't the US just racing to deplete its resources and therefore setting itself up for a later "oil crisis"? The only hope I see is a huge and continued emphasis in transitioning to alternative energy sources (be it solar, wind, and/or nuclear) and thus ween itself from dependence on foreign supplies.


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  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by julian on Sunday December 09 2018, @11:45PM (4 children)

    by julian (6003) Subscriber Badge on Sunday December 09 2018, @11:45PM (#772133)

    I have faith that even conservatives will eventually be domesticated and, finally, civilized. The "conservatism" that is found among the youth, people 18-25 or thereabouts, is scarcely even recognizable as conservatism when compared to the Boomer and Gen-X paroxysm of impotent nativist rage we've seen in the last few elections. The kids are alright.

    The boomer/gen-x conservatism is dying out one suicide and drug overdose at a time. They're increasingly irrelevant, and they know it. The only reason they still win elections is because our Democratic Republic has some structural peculiarities which give them out-sized influence. We had to make a lot of compromises with the slavers to bootstrap the USA, and we're still dealing with the negative side-effects of that legacy.

    Oh, and they cheat. They cheat A LOT. To a first approximation all electoral fraud in this country is done by the GOP. And since they lack shame as well as honor, they turn around and accuse the Democrats of voter-fraud; a statistically insignificant crime which has never changed the outcome of an election the USA.

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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 10 2018, @12:20AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 10 2018, @12:20AM (#772146)

    If we ever get socialized medicine, perhaps you will get the meds you need free of charge; I know that Milennials are The Brokest Generation.

  • (Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 10 2018, @03:52AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 10 2018, @03:52AM (#772238)

    voter-fraud; a statistically insignificant crime which has never changed the outcome of an election the USA.

    You misspelled Russian interference.

  • (Score: 2) by Thexalon on Monday December 10 2018, @08:06PM (1 child)

    by Thexalon (636) on Monday December 10 2018, @08:06PM (#772528)

    And since they lack shame as well as honor, they turn around and accuse the Democrats of voter-fraud; a statistically insignificant crime which has never changed the outcome of an election the USA.

    I assume you're referring to the totally false claim that the Democrats just show up in droves at polling places with people paid to pretend to be someone else and vote multiple times or something like that.

    The GOP is smart enough, though, that when they commit election fraud, they do it via illegally manipulating absentee ballots [chicagotribune.com]. I've always considered absentee ballots to be one of the weakest parts of the election system: Nobody is ensuring that the absentee ballots are not coerced or sold, and there's nothing to ensure that an absentee ballot is not intercepted and altered between the person ostensibly casting the vote and that vote being counted. It's practically an invitation for shenanigans, and the only reason that the guy I just linked above got caught is that even the state Republicans thought it looked too fishy for comfort.

    --
    The only thing that stops a bad guy with a compiler is a good guy with a compiler.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 10 2018, @10:45PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday December 10 2018, @10:45PM (#772617)

      I see you didn't mention Brenda Snipes. Manipulation of absentee and provisional ballots are her specialty. Destruction of ballots, missing deadlines, refusal to report numbers, refusal to admit observers, hiding/misplacing ballots. I'm pretty sure she's no GOP operative.