WASHINGTON — The United States is outproducing both Russia and Saudi Arabia in oil and natural gas markets, changing the equation of energy security for the U.S. According to the communications director for the Senate Energy and Commerce Committee, Robert Dillon, this increase in production and decrease in energy imports makes the United States a force to be reckoned with as it makes its way toward becoming an energy superpower.
Can you describe the landscape of America’s natural gas and oil resources?
Robert Dillon: “The US has seen a pretty amazing reversal of its fortunes when it comes to fossil fuel production; it wasn’t that long ago that everybody was predicting peak oil and that we’d be out of oil within a few decades. We were looking at companies investing millions into importing liquefied natural gas to supply the U.S. market from overseas.
The U.S. now has an opportunity to be an energy superpower and to use its energy as a strategic asset. You look at our sanctions on Iran and Russia; they’ve been successful because U.S. oil production has been so high that it’s been able to offset the loss of oil from most countries. Even if we’re not exporting now, the fact that we’re importing less means there’s more supply on the market so that our allies in Europe aren’t getting hit by as much economic pain [as a result of the U.S.] cutting off Iran and cutting off Russia. It allows the State Department and the administration flexibility in how it obtains its geopolitical goals. No longer is it necessary to send boots on the ground when you have this economic weapon or strategic asset. “
How have our relations with Iran and Russia changed since the increase in US oil production?
RD: “It levels the playing field. Russia doesn’t have oil pipelines that come to America, but they do to Europe and Europe are our close allies so Russia has been able to dictate terms to countries like Ukraine and Poland and the Czech Republic and even some Western countries because of its large portion of the energy flow to those countries. Right now what we’re doing is providing liquidity to the global market because we are taking less off [of it], which means there’s more oil for our European allies to get elsewhere besides Russia. What we support is actually being able to export directly to those countries. Why not send oil and gas to our allies? Once the U.S. market is saturated and our refineries aren’t using it because they’ve met demand, it should go to our allies. It should go to countries that are friendly and support us. Right now what we’re doing is buying oil and imploring our friends and allies to buy oil from countries like Venezuela, from Iraq, from places that are not necessarily on the same page as the US when it comes to democracy and human rights and our national security interests.”
How does the United States increasing our production affect our relationships with countries reliant upon oil revenue?
RD: “When you talk to Saudi Arabia, they’re not really worried about us. … I don’t think [increasing U.S. production] necessarily has to be a negative thing [for those countries]. The U.S. right now is exporting and understands how the global market works in oil. The U.S. being able to export its oil will just be more supply on the world market. It will lower oil prices, but that’s not a bad thing. Increasing supply and increasing market will help everyone. More domestic production from the US will lower prices, increase abundancy and be more secure than getting it overseas. There’s a big opportunity for the U.S. to be an energy superpower, but it has to recognize it, take the bull by the horns and take advantage of it.”
