I am republishing my blog post from yesterday on "The Shale Revolution" as I became aware of a problem with the email distribution this week.
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For that service I personally pay for their premium option to provide you the content under the BeeLine label without any advertising. I have never sought to monetize anything to do with my blog and have no desire to ever charge a subscription fee to access the content.
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Due to an error, my premium option was changed to the Follow.it basic option that is a free service but is delivered under the Follow.it name and also contains advertising.
A number of you got this week's content under that option.
Several others told me that they did not receive the emails at all this week.
For that reason, I am republishing yesterday's blog post.
If you missed Monday's post, "The Collapse of Connection" you can access it here.
I apologize for any confusion.
Thank you again for subscribing to BeeLine.
Despite the distribution problems, this month has seen the highest readership of my blog for any month since I starting writing over 15 years ago.
BeeLine has averaged almost 5,000 views per day so far in May, 2026 despite the hiccup.
I know many of you also forward my blog posts on through email to others which are not captured in the statistics covering the blog website.
That number of views may seem modest when viewed in the enormity of the social media space but it is gratifying to me that there are so many interesting in fact-based content that attempts to put the issues of the day in their proper context.
I sincerely appreciate all of you.
Thank you.
The Shale Revolution
(originally published May 20, 2026)
It is incredible to see how the United States has been transformed from the largest importer of oil in the world to the one of the largest exporters of oil over the last 20 years.
None of this would have been possible without The Shale Revolution.
In the 2005-2010 period the United States was importing as much as 450 million barrels of oil per month while exporting less than 50 million. A trade deficit of 400 million barrels per month.
Today the United States is a net exporter of oil that totals about 100 million barrels per month.
This is largely due to the shale revolution that, more than anything, has made the United States energy independent.
The United States has also become the largest oil producer in the world.
In fact, the United States now produces more oil than Saudi Arabia and Russia (#2 and #3) COMBINED.
It is also allowing President Trump to negotiate deals with Europe, China and others to buy our oil and gas and reduce our overall trade deficit.
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| Source: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/trump-says-china-wants-buy-oil-us-2026-05-15/ |
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| Source: https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/us-share-europes-lng-imports-increased-60-january-2026-01-30/ |
Natural gas from shale drilling has also saved American consumers trillions of dollars in energy bills over the last 20 years.
A recent analysis by UC Berkeley's Energy Institute at Haas concluded that cheaper natural gas due to shale drilling in the United States had resulted in around $5 trillion in savings for natural gas consumers since 2007.
When Donald Trump ran for President in 2016 he often referred to his energy policy this way,
"Drill Baby Drill".
At the same time, Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders were opposed to exploration of shale oil and gas.
Democrat-run New York is one of the liberal states that bans fracking exploration for shale oil and gas despite having some of the largest reserves in the United States within its borders.
When Barack Obama was President in 2012 he said that "we can't just drill our way to lower gas prices".
He said that at a time when gas prices nationally were $3.72 per gallon.
The Shale Revolution proved Obama wrong.
We did drill our way to lower prices.
This chart of U.S. crude oil production shows how it was done..
The United States is producing over twice as much crude oil as it did in 2012.
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| Source: https://ycharts.com/indicators/us_crude_oil_field_production |
Natural gas production in North America has increased from 65 BCF (billion cubic feet) in 2010 to 110 BCF day.
That increase is almost entirely due to The Shale Revolution.
This is the major reason as to why natural gas consumers in the United States saved $5 trillion over the last 20 years.
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| Credit: https://x.com/jackprandelli/status/2056845087653417019 |
For most of the last 15 years gas prices at the pump have been well below that $3.72 Obama-era price due to U.S. drilling of shale oil reserves.
Increased supply kept gas prices in check.
For some portions of the first Trump term, gas prices actually were below $2 per gallon.
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| Source: https://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/hist/LeafHandler.ashx?n=PET&s=EMM_EPMR_PTE_NUS_DPG&f=W |
Adjusted for inflation, that $3.72 price for a gallon of gas in 2012 would be $5.40 today.
Yes, gas prices are high right now due to what is going on with Iran but the enhanced national and economic security that the shale revolution has provided to the United States cannot be overstated.
It is yet another reminder how important it is on who we elect as our representatives.
If you think it is bad right now, you really have no idea how bad it could have been if the shale revolution was never allowed to evolve.
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