Amid U.S. Oil Bounty, a Growing Debate Over Exports

With United States crude oil production at a 24-year high and set to climb further, a national debate has emerged: Should the U.S. export its oil for sale overseas?

 

The question would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, when U.S. oil production was in a seemingly inexorable decline. Now the country is in the midst of an oil and gas boom made possible by new drilling techniques, including the combination of fracking with horizontal drilling, leading many to question long-standing government restrictions on oil exports.

 

In the latest chapter of the debate, a report from global research firm IHS released at the end of May argues that lifting the export ban and sending U.S. oil out to wider markets will boost domestic crude production by almost 30 percent and inject nearly $750 billion of added energy investment into the economy.