DHH streamline plan angers area senior councils
February 22, 2012Financial seminar set for Saturday
February 22, 2012
The United States is expected to be the world’s top oil and gas producer by 2020, provided the federal government restores access to exploration sites, permits the industry to expand technology and realize that oil and gas is the primary energy source and key provider for a strong economy.
That projection was made by Louisiana Oil and Gas Association President Don Briggs as he presented his State of the Industry address to fewer than 200 members of the South Central Industrial Association last Tuesday in Houma.
Briggs was critical of the Obama Administration for its reaction to the April 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill that resulted in a six month moratorium on deepwater drilling and a de-facto ban on all offshore activity with the stalling of permits and lease sales during the past 21 months. He assured his listeners that changes are on the way that could open the industry to new opportunities in the future.
“Today we are truly in an evolution in our industry,” Briggs said. “The whole industry is changing before our eyes around the world.”
Briggs said that technology such as lateral drilling, opportunities in shale sites and increased demand for natural gas with alternative uses will place domestic extraction and processing on a new level of operation.
The LOGA leader offered expected charts on daily oil and gas production and noted consumption levels around the world. He specifically listed Middle East tension and concern about future access to the Strait of Hormuz that could completely change the business of global crude oil production, including where top exploration takes place.
“If Iran does shut [the Strait of Hormuz] down it would have tremendous impact on prices and we could easily see oil climbing up to $240 a barrel,” Briggs said.
Energy consumption is expected to increase due to hydraulic fracking, which is essential for the production of natural gas and oil from shale formations thousands of feet into the earth.
“[Business] is coming back,” Briggs said. “North America holds the world’s largest combined oil and coal and natural gas resources in the world, enough to fuel our need for the next 250 years.”
Non-conventional energy is attracting companies from around the world, according to Briggs and the expectation is that within the coming decades, the U.S. would be restored as an industrial powerhouse.
“Growth in our natural gas is changing everything for us,” Briggs said. He added that Louisiana is in competition for control of natural gas wanted to generate electrical power plants and other industries. “[Global countries] are starting to invest in the U.S. oil and gas non-conventional resources in the United States.”
During his State of the Union address in January, President Obama said he would not walk away from the promise of clean energy. Briggs played a clip of that speech and said wind, solar and bio-fuels do not compete with oil and gas and they promise what cannot be easily delivered and made cost effective. “Anyone who believes this administration cares about the oil and gas industry [is] truly confused,” he said while noting propaganda presented to the public by opponents to the industry.
The LOGA president said it is important that those in the business of oil and gas prepare themselves for the future, and added that a change in Washington could benefit the industry and future energy stability in America.
“We are an energy state,” Briggs added. “We care about the energy business.”
Louisiana Oil and Gas Association President Don Briggs says that
by 2020 the United States should be the world’s leading producer of
oil and gas.
