Ben Shepperd,
PBPA President
Today, more than 1.2 billion people live without access to electricity and 3 billion people lack access to the types of fuels necessary to cook and provide food for their family. There is no question that this is a time for more focus on ways to deliver access to affordable energy to those struggling to pull their way out of energy poverty.
For those billions of people the world over, the focus on solutions to global emissions leaves them behind in basic human needs and further condemns them and their children to a less healthy, and less safe life.
This is not to say that we should not be focused on addressing our operations to the highest standard.
Operators in the Permian Basin can and have taken dramatic steps to reduce emissions of CO2 and methane. In fact, the Texas Railroad Commission notes a 75 percent reduction in flaring activity from August 2020 to July 2021 and we have seen a reported 77 percent reduction in methane intensity from 2011-2019.
These are gigantic steps to move toward more environmentally focused operations and PBPA members continue to innovate toward a lower carbon footprint all while the Permian Basin is producing record amounts of the energy that our world desperately needs.
While politicians gathered in Glasgow without representation from the two largest polluters on the planet, Permian Basin workers showed up to work to continue to fill the clear need for energy around the world. And American workers are continuing to provide people in the United States and around the world with the most responsible oil and natural gas produced in the entire world.
While American energy consumers have seen energy prices skyrocket as much as 25 percent in the last year, and other associated goods have increased in price, American leaders should be looking to our energy leaders, like those of us here in the Permian Basin, to meet our energy needs. Across the pond, Europeans have seen a natural gas price increase of 450 percent in less than a year and the general price of electricity has risen by 230 percent in the last year because of energy scarcity.
A few months back, we implored our American leaders to choose Midland over Moscow and despite those calls, today we are seeing the results of anti-domestic energy policies. Energy demands across our world will be filled by those with less of an interest in our needs or security, and with less care about our environment.
Americans do not have to settle for false choices. They do not have to settle for energy production or environmental stewardship. They deserve both—and PBPA and our members know that we can and do so much to move our world forward and we can continue to deliver results that lessen our environmental impact. This will continue to improve the quality of life for people around the globe.
This is a time for domestic energy, energy produced right here in the Permian Basin, to continue making our lives better to live, work, and raise a family.