Mills: Texas leads the charge in energy security

Alex Mills

By Alex Mills

Texas is leading the charge in making America more energy secure, according to new study released this month.

“The United States is now producing more oil and natural gas than any country in the world, and American oil and natural gas production volumes are at record highs,” the study published by Texans for Natural Gas said.

“The United States is poised to export more energy than it imports for the first time since the 1950s; during the past decade the U.S. energy trade deficit fell by $363 billion, while the non-energy trade deficit rose by $343 billion,” the study said.

Texas is the leading producer of oil and natural gas, accounting for 40 percent of U.S. oil production and 25 percent of the nation’s natural gas production.

The Permian Basin, the largest oil producing region, recently surpassed Saudi Arabia’s Ghawar as world’s top producing oilfield. The Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas is the second highest producing oilfield in the U.S.

The report also said Laredo surpassed Los Angeles as the nation’s top trade port in March, and the Houston-Galveston Port District became a net export of crude oil and petroleum production last year.

Liquified natural gas (LNG) export facilities have become a large part of the export trade from the Gulf coast, and it is getting larger. Cheniere, a major LNG export company, opened it first train of their Corpus Christi LNG facility in March, with a second train expected to be completed by the end of the year. “Each of these projects represents billions of dollars in economic activity for the Texas economy,” the study said.

“The Texas-led shale revolution is helping to strengthen America’s position as a global leader, slashing the trade deficit and generating billions of dollars in economic benefits for the state,” the study pointed out.

Improvements in efficiency in production and development techniques have reduced costs and made energy production more environmentally-friendly. “According to a report from April 2019 – which analyzed data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the EIA – annual methane emission from production in the Permian Basin fell by 200,000 metric tons from 2011 to 2017, even as oil and natural gas production increased by 124 percent. Overall, methane emissions intensity – emissions per unit of production – in the Permian dropped by 57 percent from 2011 to 2017. Nationwide, the combination of more efficient production and increased use of natural gas has helped drive total U.S. greenhouse gas emission to the lowest level since 1992.”

The study said it is crucial for industry to continue to develop new pipelines and export infrastructure.

“Texas is known around the world for its prolific energy production, and as global demand for oil and natural gas increases in the coming decades, the Lone Star State is well positioned to capitalize on that opportunity – helping to make America even more energy secure in the process,” the study concluded.

Alex Mills is the former President of the Texas Alliance of Energy Producers