Ben Shepperd,
PBPA President
This next year will prove pivotal for oil and gas in the United States. Because of energy insecurity brought on by an unwillingness to recognize that global demand exists and politicians the world over would rather deny their constituencies the benefit of abundant and affordable American energy, it seems that we are going to brave a winter with a global market that may be short of much needed energy to heat homes or fuel everyday needs.
And sadly, it doesn’t have to be this way.
As we have said time and time again, energy development in the Permian Basin and environmental stewardship are not mutually exclusive. Like the bulk of investment that has occurred in the renewables sector, largely by the oil and gas industry, the efforts to de-carbonize and operate with economic efficiency and environmental responsibility are also being led by oil and gas leaders.
World governments and think-tanks can bemoan these efforts but they are remarkable. Those same “leaders” are also moved by protestors destroying priceless works of art as part of their solution to bring awareness to climate change.
Oddly enough, these “climate revolutionaries” seem content to offer criticism with no real plan. These efforts almost perfectly demonstrate the criticism of “revolutionaries” a couple of generations ago, where Lennon and McCartney criticized destructive efforts that wouldn’t bring real change and said, “You say you got a real solution, well you know… We’d all love to see the plan.”
And this is the question we must ask of our leaders in 2023. Is not the solution to growing demand a responsible use of natural gas in developing countries that lack a way to energize their way out of poverty? Is it not using these responsibly developed, and better, hydrocarbons at their core, to reduce deforestation as a means to heat communities and cook food? Is it also not halting worse fuels like animal dung or coal plants in China that have much worse effects for those that use them and the global environment?
American energy, and in particular energy that is produced safely and responsibly in the Permian Basin, is also responsible for the manufactured goods that are vital for health care needs like sterile plastics, sanitizers, and medicines. During the pandemic, we all had a good look at what our world would be like without access to necessary medical goods, and we don’t need that to become the new normal.
We are proud of the work our members do to help bring light to the darkest corners of the globe and help advance mankind more quickly over the last century than nearly any commodity in history. And we will continue to work diligently to ensure that the responsible development of oil and gas can occur in the Permian Basin for the benefits of generations to come.