Fracking has helped the U.S. move closer to its goal of energy independence. U.S. oil output tops imports

In the decades-long fight for energy independence, the United States has scored a major symbolic victory.

In October, for the first time since February 1995, the U.S. produced more crude oil than it imported, the Energy Information Administration said this week.


EIA, the Energy Department’s nonpartisan statistical arm, said U.S. crude oil production averaged 7.7 million barrels per day in October while 7.6 million barrels per day were imported. In addition, EIA said total net petroleum imports, which includes products like gasoline and diesel, were at the lowest point since February 1991.

The news is the latest signal that the United States, thanks to new technology and a boom in unconventional oil production, is closer than ever to controlling its own energy destiny, an elusive goal sought by every president since Richard Nixon.

But the U.S. is far from being completely energy independent even if oil imports are dropping. Analysts note that the country is still affected by swings in oil prices, which are set on world markets.

Still, new data suggest that North America is making major strides. The International Energy Agency, for example, predicted this week that the United States will continue moving “steadily toward meeting all of its energy needs from domestic resources by 2035.”

EIA predicts that U.S. crude oil production will increase steadily in the coming years, from 6.5 million barrels per day in 2012 to 7.5 million barrels per day in 2013 and 8.5 million barrels per day in 2014. And imports will continue to decline, with net imports of crude oil and petroleum products falling to 28 percent of total U.S. consumption in 2014, which EIA calls “the lowest level since 1985.” Net oil imports peaked in 2005 at more than 60 percent of U.S. consumption, EIA says.

The White House was quick to pat itself on the back over the new data, which was a welcome bit of good news after weeks of bad press over the rollout of the Obamacare website.

“This milestone is a result of both increased production and administration policies, like increased fuel-economy standards that cut oil consumption, cut carbon pollution and cut consumer bills,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said at the opening of his daily briefing with reporters. Carney called the development “big news” and a “significant milestone” that reflects President Barack Obama’s “all-of-the-above” energy policy.

But many analysts — as well as Obama’s opponents — are quick to point out that the White House can’t take all the credit for the uptick in oil production since the increase is due, in large part, to new techniques for tapping into shale.

The oil industry was among those quick to rain on the White House’s parade.

“Credit for the rise in American energy production goes to the men and women working every day to develop oil and natural gas here at home. … Domestic oil and natural gas production is only on the rise thanks to development on state and private lands,” Kyle Isakower, vice president of regulatory and economic policy at the American Petroleum Institute, said in a statement.

EIA spokesman Jonathan Cogan said the uptick in U.S. production “has been primarily driven by development of crude oil resources in shale and other tight rock formations, especially in North Dakota and Texas.”

EIA first predicted in March that production would surpass imports.

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