putting America's energy resources to work

September 23, 2008

Meeting our nation’s energy challenges — and responding to high prices Americans are paying at the pump — requires that we pursue an integrated set of solutions. We must moderate demand by using energy more efficiently. And we must also increase supplies by responsibly developing energy resources from a variety of different sources and locations — including right here in the United States.  

It is estimated that there is enough oil and natural gas offshore and in non-wilderness and non-park lands in the United States — but currently ruled off-limits for production by the federal government — to fuel 50 million cars and heat nearly 100 million homes for the next 25 years.

A significant majority of Americans believe we should explore and produce these resources. For this to happen, however, Congress must act.

If Congress were to expand the areas available for active exploration, we could make more domestic energy available to Americans in the future, while sending a strong positive supply signal to markets today, potentially putting downward pressure on prices. It would also strengthen U.S. energy security by further diversifying Americans’ energy portfolio, and therefore mitigating the impact of a disruption in any one producing region of the world.

The energy industry has evolved tremendously with more than 50 years of worldwide offshore exploration and production experience. With the technological innovations developed by ExxonMobil and other companies, the United States’ offshore resources can continue to be developed safely and with minimal environmental impact.

For example, directional drilling enables us to develop large areas from a single location, minimizing the environmental footprint. Advances in subsea production ensure facilities remain safe and largely hidden from view. Technology currently in place in the Gulf of Mexico ensured there have been no significant spills during hurricane season over the past several years. We would apply these and other technologies elsewhere off U.S. shores, and preserve the safety, biodiversity and beauty of America’s coastline.

Some claim that energy companies are letting leased acreage “lay idle.” Not so. Companies like ExxonMobil incur real financial costs and risks when we pay the federal government significant sums to acquire and maintain a lease for a limited term. Naturally, we have every incentive — especially when prices are high — to explore and produce on the lands we lease as quickly as possible.

If leased acreage is promising, ExxonMobil is actively producing or evaluating it. The problem is that industry does not have access to some of the most promising acreage, so we are attempting to find new supplies from the limited offerings of the last ten years.

But drilling is only part of the solution to the energy challenges Americans face. It must be combined with improved efficiency, robust development of other economic energy sources, and other measures.  By pursuing an integrated set of solutions, Americans can achieve a prosperous, secure and responsible energy future.