Can we get Texas gas prices down? First step: Stop threatening to kill oil drilling
If the rising price of gas gives you fits, don’t even look at the projections for the summer and perhaps beyond.
In Fort Worth, we’re paying an average of $4.18 a gallon. Around Texas, record prices are nearly as high. and it’s likely to get worse before it gets better. The summer driving season and the unpredictability of the war in Europe could push prices even higher, some analysts warn.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the ensuing sanctions upon the Russian oil industry are unquestionably a factor. Not as much as the Biden administration wants you to believe — prices soared dramatically long before the invasion — but enough that the volatility will probably continue.
At the moment, we’re pretty powerless to fix it. What we can do is prepare for the next crisis to reduce prices long-term.
That means more drilling for oil. Companies need assurance that new production will be allowed and valued. Some may need help unlocking credit as climate scaremongers hound financial companies to turn away from investment in oil.
This matters a great deal in Texas. Drilling is a capital-intensive endeavor, and companies need to know they’ll be able to access it.
The industry is not blameless, of course. Big oil companies are enjoying high profits without plans for significant new production.
But constant talk from political leaders about driving the industry out of business doesn’t exactly entice them to make big new production investments. It’s perfectly rational for oil companies, looking at the current energy and climate debate, to conclude it should generate profits now. After all, progressives don’t want there to be a future for the industry.
Candidate Joe Biden said of new production: “No more drilling on federal lands. No more drilling, including offshore. No ability for the oil industry to continue to drill, period, ends, number one.” As president, he quickly shut down a major pipeline project.
If your industry was the subject of such talk and action, how would you have reacted?
It’s important that energy policy be reality-based. The Biden administration’s best advice for consumers who are hurting — just go buy an electric car! — is so unrealistic, it’s insulting. Such vehicles are still much more expensive, and the car market is a mess. Suggesting the average consumer can just take on a huge new payment in a time of crushing inflation is classic out-of-touch Beltway thinking.
It also ignores the long-term issue of where we’ll get the power for all those vehicles. Fossil fuels generate more than 60% of American electricity. But Washington progressives live in a theoretical fantasy land on energy.
Even as we work to transition to new sources, our need for petroleum isn’t going away. Our current gas pinch has no quick fix. But we can learn from it and ease the pain next time by pushing for more domestic drilling, lifting regulations that make gasoline refining difficult and costly — and simply being realistic about our energy needs.
This story was originally published May 10, 2022 at 2:01 PM.
