Oil: record production in the United States

2023-12-02 17:25:21

In the midst of COP28, oil production in the United States is reaching records. 13.2 million barrels per day come out of American oil fields, that’s more than Russia and more than Saudi Arabia. Good news for the American economy, very bad news for the climate.

Published on: 02/12/2023 – 16:25

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American energy policy is becoming difficult to follow. On the one hand, Washington announces in Dubai a plan to combat methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. But on the other, the country’s oil production is reaching unprecedented levels.

The trend is not new, the country had already exceeded the 12 million barrels per day mark at the end of the 2010s, but production collapsed with the pandemic.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine two years later boosted investment. Firstly because the war led to a sudden increase in the price of black gold, making American oil profitable. And then, from a geopolitical point of view, the United States has sought to reduce its dependence on other producing countries: we think of its Russian, Iranian or Venezuelan enemies, but also of sometimes cumbersome allies like Saudi Arabia.

For American consumers, after a long period of inflation, this is undoubtedly good news in the short term, but be careful, warns the New York Timesabundant and cheap oil risks sending the wrong message in the midst of a climate emergency.

Also read COP28: “The Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth”