There is an old saying about “necessity being the mother of invention.” For decades, experts have been declaring the US is “running out of oil” and that we all need to start driving smaller cars/electric cars, etc… Yet, in an example of Economics 101 the rising fuel prices over the past decade have spurred new exploration into alternative sources of petroleum/natural gas such as fracking. All one has to do is look at North Dakota who this year surpassed Alaska as an oil producer.
In a recent in this week’s Wall Street Journal, the latest findings that the US was showly and surely weaning itself off Mideast oil (without government intervention) between fracking, Canadian oil and the recent discoveries in Brazil. Certain U.S. natural gas producers are looking to start “exporting” natural gas to Japan and Europe (just like the Mideast).