Today's Excerpt: US Oil Production

An article in the 1/18 WSJ reported that US oil production “grew more in 2012 than in any year in the history of the domestic industry, which began in 1859, and is set to surge even more in 2013. … The shale drilling boom was first directed at natural gas production, but when a glut of natural gas drove down prices for the fuel, exploration companies redirected their efforts toward oil.”

On November 12 last year, the International Energy Agency (IEA) released its widely followed World Energy Outlook. The report projected that around 2020, the US could become the largest oil producer in the world. IEA's projections show US oil production rising to 11.1mbd in 2020. Within a decade, US oil imports could drop in half to just 4.0mbd according to IEA.

I track the four-week averages of US crude oil field production and imports:

(1) Crude oil production soared to 7.0mbd during the week of January 18. That’s the highest since early 1993. It is up nearly 1.0mbd over the past 19 weeks!

(2) Crude oil imports are down roughly 1.0mbd over the past seven months through the week of January 18 to 8.0mbd. That’s the lowest since March 1998.

Today's Morning Briefing: Energy Independence Dividends. (1) Declaration of energy independence. (2) Independence dividends include less spending on oil imports and defense. (3) Reshoring of manufacturing and a secular bull market in stocks are also big dividends. (4) Chinese can defend Saudis. (5) US oil output soaring. (6) US is the new Saudi Arabia of oil and gas. (7) Matt Damon’s dry hole. (8) Obama will fix the climate. (9) Carbon tax? (10) “Quartet” (+). (More for subscribers.)