Policy adviser offers 11 steps to grow, extend US shale boom
At a time when many producers would prefer to see less oil and gas coming to the market and higher commodity prices, a Manhattan Institute policy expert dismisses the glut as transient and argues that now is the time to find and extract more oil and gas, particularly on the federal lands that have sat out the shale boom.
"Failing to press America's current energy advantage would be an enormous mistake. Demand forecasts indicate that any oil and gas glut is temporary," Senior Fellow Oren Cass wrote in "Step on the Gas! How to Extend America's Energy Advantage."
"U.S. energy policy, still based on an assumption of resource scarcity, is ill equipped to manage the new abundance." To counter this, he offered 11 policy suggestions to "amplify" and "extend" the shale production boom.
"The time to invest more is now, at the very moment that more investment seems superfluous," Cass wrote. "Smart policy today can ensure that the necessary pieces are in place to sustain U.S. energy leadership for decades to come. Doubling down will require the following steps: (1) amplify the boom; and (2) extend it."
He made a case that potential U.S. oil and gas resources are far greater than official estimates and that much of that resource is on acres, onshore and off, controlled by the federal government. (by Bill Holland, SNL)