Ryan Lance, CEO of ConocoPhillips, said that oil and natural gas are here to stay. (Daniel Hersh/MNS)
WASHINGTON – The idea that the world is running out of oil and natural gas is so 20th century, according Conoco Phillips CEO Ryan Lance.
“[Natural gas and oil] is here today, and it’s here for the long term,” Lance said Wednesday at a talk hosted by the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
In the last five years, the United States has increased oil and natural gas production to the point that it is now the world’s largest producer. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, North American crude oil production has increased by 2.54 million barrels per day since 2008.
“This is the first inning of a nine-inning game,” Lance told an audience of more than 50 people. “We’re here for the long term. Our advantages aren’t from scarcity, they’re from success.”
With the United States drilling for oil and natural gas from rich landforms such as the Permian Basin in Texas or the Williston Basin in North Dakota, North America has surpassed Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world’s leading oil producer.
Lance explained that with the new surplus of resources, the United States will become a net liquefied natural gas exporter by 2016 and a net crude oil exporter by 2020.
By producing so much surplus oil, the United States would supply all the local demand, and then be able to export the excess, thus reducing the world price and giving local businesses a competitive advantage.
In the early 1970s, U.S. companies were prohibited from exporting crude oil overseas because of oil shortages. President Barack Obama has taken some steps toward lifting the ban, but has not ended it.
Frank Verrasstro, senior vice president of CSIS, noted that the change in U.S. energy production is relatively recent.
“Things have changed,” Verrastro said. “If we had made policy decisions five years ago, we would have gotten it wrong…We will be an exporter of gasoline.”
