Amidst attacks on U.S. energy production and continued global instability, the U.S. oil and natural gas industry managed to not only meet but exceed expectations in 2023. The industry broke production records and supplied critical energy resources at home and abroad, all while reducing methane emissions.
Oil and Gas Industry Continues to Innovate Amid Record Production
In 2023, the oil and natural gas sectors continued to innovate and reach record breaking levels of production. After becoming a net energy exporter in 2019, the United States has emerged as a behemoth in the global energy market, hitting prolific levels of oil and natural gas production and exports in the past year.
Source: The New York Times
Source: The New York Times
U.S. liquified natural gas (LNG) had a tremendous year with the United States becoming the top LNG exporter in the world.
Source: Energy Information Agency
These record-breaking levels of production have not come at the expense of Americans as some activists claim. To the contrary, record energy production levels have successfully been able to meet both domestic and international demand, providing crucial energy security at home and abroad, all while keeping prices stable.
Data from the Environmental Protection Agency also showed stunning drops in total methane emissions across the board, meaning that even with record production, U.S. operators continue to produce oil and gas responsibly and with an eye toward methane reduction.
In particular, natural gas has led the charge in driving massive emissions reduction in the power sector, showing that natural gas is one of the best tools that industry and policymakers have in their toolbox for widespread emissions reductions.
In 2023, the American oil and natural gas industry continued to prioritize environmental progress. Voluntary initiatives like the Environmental Partnership, which represents nearly 70 percent of U.S. onshore oil and gas operations, showcases the industry’s commitment to responsible operations through innovation and collaboration.
In their 2023 report, the Environmental Partnership highlighted an additional 14 percent reduction in total flare volumes and a 2.4 percent reduction in flare intensity from the previous year – building on the work to cut flaring intensity nearly in half in 2022 – even as U.S. oil and gas production grew.
Source: The Environmental Partnership
The dedication to emissions reductions does not stop there. At the global climate conference COP28, 50 of the largest oil and gas producers in the world including ExxonMobil, Occidental Petroleum, Shell, Repsol, BP, and EQT signed an UN-sponsored pledge to all but eliminate methane emissions from their operations by 2030.
Administration Hurdles Ignore Important Role of Industry
These accomplishments and innovations are even more impressive when taking into account the uncertain regulatory environment under the Biden administration and the onslaught of attacks from activists. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the administration’s illegal actions regarding onshore and offshore leasing.
The Biden administration was met with widespread pushback from industry and bipartisan lawmakers as the White House aggressively blocked offshore energy production, threatening energy security, consumer prices, and emission reductions goals.
Much of the criticism was focused on the administration’s refusal to release a timely or comprehensive five-year program for offshore oil and natural gas leasing. Once the program was finally released – 450 days late – it included the fewest number of lease sales in history.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, blasted the move:
“…this Administration has once again decided to put their radical political agenda over American energy security, and the American people will pay the price.”
Similarly, Jeff Eshelman, President and CEO of the Independent Petroleum Association of America weighed in saying:
“A plan with only three leases in five years will not only hamper American production but jeopardizes our energy security and will result in hundreds of millions of dollars of lost revenue to coastal states and the federal treasury.”
Adding to the regulatory circus of offshore leasing, the administration’s efforts to use the Endangered Species Act to limit Lease Sale 261 under the guise of protecting the Rice’s Whale also resulted in widespread criticism and legal challenges. Ultimately, a federal appeals court ruled against the Biden administration and ordered the Department of Interior to hold a lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico before the end of the year.
These moves, and others like it, resulted in record low levels of…
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