DALLAS, TX: Innovative drilling techniques have produced a U.S. oil and natural gas boom, but the boom cannot be leveraged to the benefit of the U.S. economy without eliminating export restrictions. According to a new publication, there is a strong case for lifting the export ban on oil and natural gas, including lower energy prices, increased energy supply, and a boost to U.S. security and foreign policy.
The Institute for Policy Innovation’s “The Case for Permitting Crude Oil Exports” explains that the oil export ban, imposed during the 1970s oil shortages, is out dated and counterproductive in an age of dramatically rising U.S. oil production.
“Trade restrictions are almost always a bad idea,” said the publication’s author, IPI resident scholar Merrill Matthews, Ph.D. “The U.S. is the largest producer of natural gas and may soon be the largest oil producer. Meanwhile, several other major producers are using energy access as a foreign policy tool to enforce their will and create mischief.”
Matthews explores in the paper the numerous benefits of permitting crude oil exports, including:
- Stabilizing the supply of oil and gas;
- Creating an economic boom with more jobs and higher wages;
- Increasing government revenues;
- Lowering the trade deficit;
- Improving efficiency in the refining process; and
- Building energy security.
“What’s in the best interest of the U.S. is a healthy energy sector and efficient markets, where the price is a reflection of undistorted supply and demand,” concluded Matthews. “For 40 years, the U.S. economy and foreign policy have been constrained by politically repressive, oil-producing countries. That day could be coming to an end if we have the ability to export oil.”