The chart above displays the daily crude oil output in America’s top four oil-producing states: Texas, North Dakota, Alaska and California over the last ten years (EIA data here). Here are some highlights:
1. After producing a relatively inconsequential share of the nation’s crude oil for many years (fewer than 100,000 barrels per day and only 1.5% of total domestic output), North Dakota’s oil production took off about five years ago when advanced drilling techniques including hydraulic fracturing started tapping into the vast resources of shale oil in the state’s Bakken region. In just the last five years, the state’s oil output has increased seven-fold, and North Dakota is now producing more than 700,000 barrels of oil per day, which is close to 11% of total US output.
2. In December of last year, North Dakota was producing so much shale oil in the Bakken region that it surpassed California’s oil production to become America’s No. 3 oil-producing state, and then just three months later in March of this year the Peace Garden State surpassed Alaska to become the nation’s No. 2 oil-producing state.
3. After more than a decade of flat oil production in Texas of about one million barrels per day, oil output in the state started gushing following the discovery an ocean of unconventional oil in the Eagle Ford Shale area of South-Central Texas (and increased output in the Permian Basin). Since the beginning of 2010, oil output in the Lone Star State has increased by 75% through July of this year, and the state’s oil production this month probably exceeded two million barrels of crude oil per day for the first time ever.
4. In the last five years, unconventional shale oil production in just the two states of Texas and North Dakota has added more than 1.4 million barrels per day of new domestic crude oil output, which has boosted total U.S. crude oil production to a 17-year high this month of more than 6.6 million barrels per day and reversed a nearly 30-year decline in domestic oil production.
Bottom Line: The increased output of unconventional shale oil over the last five years has delivered a powerful energy-based stimulus to the US economy – and the timing of that stimulus couldn’t have been more perfect. Along with the increased production of shale oil and gas has come a gusher of new jobs at a critical time when we’re trying to put Americans back to work. The states of North Dakota and Texas have been at the forefront of America’s job-creating energy revolution as the state oil output data above show.
Updates: In 2012, unconventional oil and natural gas activity supported more than 1.7 million U.S. jobs (direct, indirect and induced) and by 2020 that will increase to 3 million jobs, according to a recent study from IHS. By 2035, the number of shale-related jobs will double from the current level of 1.7 million to 3.5 million.
Daniel Yergin on the energy-based stimulus: “Without these energy resources, the disappointing economic picture would look worse, and so would the jobs numbers. Instead, the energy revolution is helping revitalize the economy and make the U.S. more competitive in the global marketplace.”
Who’s the president? That would be Obama, right?
Now don’t try to tell me that this was done ‘despite’ the President, because that would be the epitomy of hypocracy.
We’re seeing improvement in many economic indicators. This is another good one.
This is all happening on private land where Obama couldn’t prevent it even if he wanted to–and he wants to. This is happening in spite of the near 50% decline in drilling permits on public lands and last years 14% decline in oil production on public lands.
All of this was accomplished in spite of Obama’s agenda to shut it down.
Note that in Tx there is essentially no federal land since the state kept its public domain when admitted. In ND most of the land is private also, as indeed in the Marcellus area. Only the west end of the Bakken in Montana has significant federal land holdings. (In ND the major holdings would likley be Theodore Roosevelt Memorial park which is bad lands and off limits anyway. According to NODAKoutdoors.com 90% of the land in ND is privately owned.
So for the criticism to make sense there would have to be hot plays on the public land, or at least reports of some leases hitting it big, of which there have been none. Just for comparison MN is 30% public land in Mt is 40% public land. (26.5 USFS and BLM) the rest is Indian Reservations and National Parks and Military Bases
Why does the President deserve credit for this? He’s not in the oil/fracking business. None of this is happening on his land. He’s in Washington, not North Dakota or Texas. He’s not even in the same time zone. Why does he deserve credit?
President Obama is nothing more than the lucky sun of a gun who happens to be president. That alone is not a reason why he deserves credit.
For the same reason that Bush’s failures are now the responsibility of Obama…The good and the bad belongs to the president in office on the day we’re discussing the topic. Isn’t that what we’ve been told for yours now?
It is, but I don’t see how. There’s a cult of popularity that surrounds the government: they are somehow this omnipotent being that controls everything and, therefore, responsible for everything.
President Obama may have had an influence on oil production, but he is not responsible for it.
President Bush may have influenced the housing bubble, but he is not responsible for it.
President Clinton may have influenced the .com Bubble, but he is not responsible for it.
In Texas it is more than just the Eagle Ford, the Permian Basin (Midland and Odessa) and its region are booming also with the same sorts of stories about housing shortages that occur in every boom area. What it does show is that an area that was thoroughly drilled using old technology, now has potential using the new technology, plus of course in this region the infrastructure is pretty much in place for oil production.
It is amazing that Mr. Perry gets paid to post these statistics on a daily basis.
He posts it because morons like you are not aware of what’s going on.
We all get paid. The Fox-Koch-Illuminati pay me $250/day, plus a $5/comment commission. I get paid all in gold dollars, so my pants jingle when I walk past the poor.
How do I sign up? …..
Send your resume to:
Recruitment
ATTN: Internet Commentator Division
234 Main Street, Suite 487
City of Dis, 7th Circle of Hell, 06660
I’ll put in a good word for you
Sure, why not.
That’s funny. Would that be at the end of Apochalypse Road? Explains the smell of burning crude….and the persistent Sumerian endtime tales.
Huh…never thought of California being an oil producing state.
MP : For one, I look forward to your postings daily. If it wasn’t for the new DRILLING technology bringing prosperity & jobs to places like North Dakota , OBAMA would be toast. We’d have fewer jobs & higher Energy prices & less GOVT revenue {TAXES}.
California has been a huge oil-producing state, primarily in southern California and the southern part of the central valley (near Bakersfield). There are oil wells in Beverly Hills.
However, the state has banned offshore exploration for years. (The details are complicated, summarized at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offshore_oil_and_gas_in_California#Halting_new_offshore_leasing)
With offshore drilling, California’s production could rebound nicely.
http://blogs.reuters.com/photographers-blog/2012/10/23/witnessing-my-generations-gold-rush/
Interesting photojouralistic essay on the Bakken.
Thanks David, I just posted about this and gave you the “hat tip.”
The increased output of unconventional shale oil over the last five years has delivered a powerful energy-based stimulus to the US economy.
Okay let’s put this in perspective. Go to the state GDP accounts. Look up North Dakota (ND) in Table 1 and record that 2011 real GDP (latest available data) increased by $2.4 billion and national GDP increased by $190 billion. So ND contributed 1.3% of the increase in national GDP.
Now in fairness not all of the Bakken energy stimulus would be based in ND. Digging deeper into the data, mining (which includes the Bakken oil patch) contributed 2.8% of the percent change of the 7.6% increase in ND GDP. Call the oil patch 40% of the increase or $1.0 billion. A typical multiplier for upstream production is 3. So the total Bakken stimulus is $3.0 billion divided by $190 billion or 1.6%.
The Eagle Ford shale is probably half of the Bakken as production is lower and there is more upstream infrastructure in place. Call it a $1.5 billion stimulus.
I would not characterize a 2-2.5% Bakken/Eagle Ford contribution to 2011 national GDP of $190 billion as a powerful stimulus.
Pennsylvania and the Marcellus shale gas is an even more interesting case. There was no contribution from mining to GDP. I suppose the gas gain was offset by the coal loss.
In 2012, unconventional oil and natural gas activity supported more than 1.7 million U.S. jobs
Yergin is just a wee bit inconsistent with his multipliers. In March 2012, IHS-CERA prepares a report for the World Economic Forum stating that 148000 total jobs were created in the sector in 2011.
Now supposedly there are 1.7 million jobs in the sector. Where did the other 1.5+ million jobs come from? Parenthetically, Yergin thinks that 33,000 hospital jobs were induced by unconventional hydrocarbon production. Is he serious. Aren’t hospital jobs a function of population times utilization rate?
Capex (real private fixed investment) is flattening in the petroleum and natural gas sector. With no increase in capex, there is no employment multiplier.
It would really be nice if something was to be done with all this shiny new oil other than burn it up for nothing …
At the end of the day the oil — real finance capital — is wasted, there is nothing to show for it but some fleeting ‘fun’, some numbers on a computer and smog.
I guess that is as good as it gets …