Barack Obama prefers an economic system where he and his cronies get together, pick the energy policies they like, and shower government largesse on them. Last year Republican pressure on Obama forced him to make a deal he hated: ending the 40 year, socialist ban on oil exports. The decision to export oil, even when prices are at a five year low, is already bearing fruit:
Somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico right now, the Energy Atlantic is headed for Louisiana to collect an historic cargo: the first exports from America’s shale gas revolution.
Waiting to steer the giant tanker into Cheniere Energy Inc.’s $15 billion Sabine Pass terminal is a fleet of tugboats that’s spent the past seven years killing time — some days holding emergency exercises, some days racing each other. They were all set to escort shipments of natural-gas imports, but the ships never arrived: unexpectedly, the U.S. started producing enough gas of its own.
“The boats are beautiful — you could eat off the floor in the engine room,” said Richard Ennis, head of natural resources at ING Capital. With the switch to exports, the tugs will at last have a job to do — even if it’s not the one they expected. They “may actually get a scratch on them,” Ennis said.
The surge in oil and gas output from U.S. shale drillers has the potential to transform world markets. At home, it’s left a chain of idle import facilities from the Northeast to the Gulf Coast, as energy companies pile onto the export bandwagon instead: $50 billion-worth of terminals are due to come online in the next five years.
Expansion of the American energy industry should be a major priority for Republican nominees.
AAN Staff
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