With the focus on the Middle East, it’s easy to forget that America has a lot of oil on our own land. Alaska, Texas, California–and now North Dakota. Called the Bakken Shale deposit, it’s not new, but advancements in technology have made it more accessible than ever before. In fact, there’s a boom going on one hundred miles south of Canada. Unemployment is 4.3%.
The question is, can we ever keep ahead of our oil requirements? My personal goal is that the US should supply our needs rather than buy from foreign countries that fund terrorism with every dollar we throw at them. Our supply-and-demand relationship with the Middle East gives new meaning to ‘deal with the devil’. I don’t understand why it’s more important not to sully our pristine shorelines in California than pay money for oil that ends up killing our soldiers, our citizens.
Congress listen: It’s a no brainer. Open our pipelines and shut down American money funding our enemies.
How close are we? Here’s some data :
Country |
MM b/d |
| Saudi Arabia | 10.9 |
| Russian Federation | 9.9 |
| US | 6.7 |
| Iran | 4.3 |
| China | 3.9 |
| Canada | 3.2 |
| Mexico | 3.2 |
| United Arab Emirates | 3.0 |
| Kuwait | 2.8 |
| Venezuela | 2.6 |
| Norway | 2.5 |
| Iraq | 2.4 |
| Nigeria | 2.2 |
| Algeria | 2.0 |
So, North Dakota: Three cheers.
Oil Industry Booms in North Dakota
By BEN CASSELMAN
KILLDEER, N.D.—A massive oil reserve buried two miles underground has put North Dakota at the center of a revolution in the U.S. oil industry, a shift that has radically altered the fortunes of this remote area.
The Bakken Shale deposit has been known and even tapped on occasion for decades. But technological improvements in the past two years have taken what was once a small, marginally profitable field and turned it into one of the fastest-growing oil-producing areas in the U.S.
The Bakken Shale had helped North Dakota oil production double in the past three years, surging to 80 million barrels in 2009—tiny relative to the more than seven billion barrels consumed by the U.S. every year, but enough to vault the state past Oklahoma and Louisiana to become the country’s fourth-biggest oil producer, after Texas, Alaska and California. If current projections hold, North Dakota’s oil production could pass Alaska’s by the end of the decade. (more)
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