Driven by expanding energy development from shale, America “today” is the world’s top producer of oil and gas and an explosion in exports is expected to follow, according to a new report from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

“Today, the United States is the world’s top producer of oil and natural gas. And the future looks just as bright,” according to Karen Alderman Harbert, president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Global Energy Institute.

She wrote in the July issue of the Ripon Forum, from the moderate Ripon Society, that both gas and oil are at peak production rates and will continue for years. An advance copy of the magazine was provided to Secrets. From her cover story:

“The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is forecasting that domestic crude oil production will soon surpass 11 million barrels per day and fluctuate between 11 and 12 million barrels per day out to 2050—a sustained rate 2 million barrels per day higher than the previous U.S. record of 9.6 million barrels per day set in 1970. Natural gas production also shows no sign of slowing down, with EIA projecting a 58 percent increase output by 2050. The United States is poised to become a large exporter of both fuels. Renewable energy is making substantial gains, and energy efficiency also continues to thrive in all sectors of the economy.”

The issue is devoted to “America's Energy Renaissance.”

Harbert said that by tapping into shale over the past 10 years has led to a 60 percent jump in oil and natural gas production.

The result has been a stabilization of prices for consumers and businesses and a boost for national security. She wrote, “North America has now emerged as an energy center rivaling the Middle East and Russia and helped to stabilize global energy markets. It is no surprise, then, that the United States since 2008 has risen from ninth to second place in the Global Energy Institute’s latest Index of International Energy Security Risk, a tool designed to facilitate a better understanding of global energy markets.”

She warned, however, that the U.S. domination in energy is threatened by poor infrastructure and threats to fixing that from environmental groups that oppose oil and gas.

“If you can’t move it, you can’t produce it,” she wrote.