Thanks to the dramatic increase in our domestic capabilities to produce oil and natural gas, the U.S. can now pivot away from a goal of just energy independence to instead flex market power to reset the geopolitical status quo in energy. And, for the long-term goal of ultimately finding alternatives to today's necessary dependence on hydrocarbons, that requires abandoning research approaches that have failed to deliver. To advance both these goals, Congress and the new Trump administration should radically expand energy exports and completely restructure federal energy research and development programs.
The majority of the world's hydrocarbon trade is dominated by nation-state companies, often directed by authoritarian regimes that wield energy riches as weapons of influence and intimidation. OPEC and Russia, for example, account for 70 percent of world oil traded today. The U.S. now has the opportunity to upset this global status quo.
Read Full Article »