The Congressional Research Service, recently released a report, "U.S. Crude Oil and Natural Gas Production in Federal and Non-Federal Areas." (Report will be embedded below the post)
In that report is a little nugget which shows the increase in oil and natural gas production has occurred on non-federal land and production on federal land has, in fact, decreased.
Via IBD:
"All of the increase (in oil and natural gas production) from FY2007 to FY2012 took place on non-federal lands, and the federal share of total U.S. crude oil production fell by about seven percentage points," writes Marc Humphries, the government specialist in energy policy who authored the report.Another point made in the 13 page report:
During this period, oil production on federal land fell from nearly 1.7 million barrels a day to 1.6 million. At the same time, the share of overall production on federal lands shriveled from 33% to 26%.
The difference is found in offshore production. Onshore production actually increased modestly from 2007 to 2012, but offshore dropped from 1.4 million barrels a day to 1.3 million.
The story is similar with gas. Production on federal land decreased from 5.5 trillion cubic feet to 3.7 trillion cubic feet. The federal share collapsed from 27.8% to 15.5% of the total. In the case of gas, both onshore and offshore output on federal land have fallen, with offshore tumbling 50%.
Meanwhile, private output booms. Oil production on non-federal land grew from 3.4 million barrels a day to 4.6 million and gas rose from 14.4 trillion cubic feet to 20.2 trillion.
• When comparing fiscal year 2010 with 2007, growthin the federal share of production was about 82% of the total. On federal lands, there was an increase in production from FY2008-FY2009 and another increase in FY2010, but then declinesin FY2011 and FY2012, which brought production below FY2007 production levels.
The conclusion from the report:
There are substantial oil and natural gas reserves and resource potential in federal areas, many of which are already accessible. Production from these areas will likely continue to make a significant contribution to the U.S. energy supply picture, but any rise in production, as projected by the EIA, will be outpaced by faster rising production in non-federal areas. A more efficient permitting process may be an added incentive for the industry to invest in developing federal resources, which may allow for some oil and gas to come on stream sooner, but in general, the regulatory framework for developing resources on federal lands will likely remain more involved and time-consuming than that on private landThe report suggests an area that Congress should address:
Another major issue that the 113 th Congress may seek to address is streamlining the processing of applications for permits to drill (APDs). Some members contend that this would be one way to help boost energy production on federal lands.
The full report below.
