Do 'self-imposed handcuffs' limit the world’s top producer of oil?

"Drill, baby, drill!" was a 2008?Republican?campaign slogan first used at the?2008 Republican National Convention?by former?Maryland Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele, who would later serve as Chairman of the?Republican National Committee.

At the time of the election of Democratic candidate Barack Obama to the presidency in Nov. 2008, energy consumption in the U.S. in 2008 stood at 98.75 quadrillion British thermal units (quads), while production lagged behind at 73.15 quads.

America was dependent on energy imports.

Imports of energy reached 32.87 quads in the closing year of the George W. Bush administration; with exports at 6.95 quads. President Bush, it should be remembered, was a Texas oilman.

By the end of the second Obama administration in 2016, America’s energy exports had more than doubled to 14.12 quads.

Imports would continue to climb until 2017, when they peaked at 25.46 quads. By 2022, the second year of the administration of President Joe Biden, energy imports had declined to 21.47 quads.

In 2022, U.S. total energy exports were the highest on record, at about 27.41 quads, a 9.3% increase from 2021. Total energy exports exceeded total energy imports by about 5.94 quads, the largest margin on record.[1]

The United States has been a?net total energy exporter since 2019.

The United States is the world’s top producer of oil, with domestic production of crude oil, all other petroleum liquids, and biofuels and refinery processing gain of 20.30 million barrels a day in 2022.

Saudi Arabia ranks 2nd, with 12.44 million barrels a day and Russia 3rd with 10.13 million barrels a day. China ranks a distant 6th place among oil producing countries, with 4.45 million barrels a day of production.

In her list of five main promises, former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley said she would work to "empower American producers" to boost oil production in the U.S.[2]

In his energy plan Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has also called for more domestic production of oil, natural gas, and minerals while promising to scrap the Biden administration’s climate policies, which he says are stifling U.S. energy production and benefiting China. DeSantis further promised to withdraw the U.S. from the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

“The self-imposed handcuffs on oil, gas, and critical minerals extraction will be removed,” DeSantis said at a late-September campaign event in Midland, Texas, in the heart of the nation’s largest oil-producing basin.[3]

The numbers do not bear out DeSantis’ vision of America in bondage. ?Nor does his record as Governor match the campaign's rhetoric.

Haley has taken aim at DeSantis’ early opposition to fracking, the process of fracturing rock to extract natural gas, as well as offshore drilling in the State of Florida.?

DeSantis’ decision against fracking was part of an Executive Order issued during his first week in office as Governor, while the ban on offshore drilling had been added to the Florida State Constitution by voters in Nov. 2018, ten weeks before he took office.[4] ?

DeSantis now says he supports fracking everywhere in the U.S. The Tampa Bay Times summarized DeSantis’ position on Oct. 8, 2023, after Haley lodged her criticism.

“DeSantis supports offshore drilling and fracking, just not in Florida.”

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[1] U.S. Energy Information Administration. U.S. energy facts explained: Imports & Exports. https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=pet&s=emm_epm0_pte_nus_dpg&f=m

[2] H. Chi-Sing (June 8, 2023). Haley Campaign Press Release - Nikki Haley Vows to Cut Biden's 'Disastrous' Energy Policies, Increase US Oil Production. Fox News. https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/haley-campaign-press-release-nikki-haley-vows-cut-bidens-disastrous-energy-policies

[3] Dan Eberhart (Sept. 20, 2023). DeSantis Energy Plan Prioritizes US Economy Over Climate Advocacy. https://www.forbes.com/sites/daneberhart/2023/10/05/desantis-energy-plan-prioritizes-us-economy-over-climate-advocacy/?sh=265b6f4d5015

[4] Julia Belluz (Nov. 6, 2018). Florida passed this year’s weirdest ballot initiative: a ban on vaping and offshore drilling. Vox. https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/11/5/18055844/florida-amendment-9-vaping-offshore-drilling-midterm-election-results.