Drilling bans mean foreign oil dependence
By Don G. Briggs, President – LOGA (Louisiana Oil & Gas Association)

With oil, natural gas and gasoline prices hovering near record highs and dependence on foreign crude above 60 percent, one would think something should be done to increase domestic oil and gas production, thus easing the pain to consumers. Though energy independence is not an achievable reality, easing the dependence is. To me, the most scary or insecure feelings I get when thinking about our country's dependence on foreign crude stem from the countries we are so dependent on - Venezuela, Nigeria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, etc. To be fair, we do import crude from a few balanced countries such as Canada, United Kingdom and the Virgin Islands, but for the most part, our precious energy dependence is on countries we would consider unstable.

Remember all the talk and political strife in recent years about lifting the ban on drilling in the Anwar Basin? The Minerals Management Service is the federal agency responsible for managing federal lands for oil and gas exploration and development. The MMS is the overseer, however, politics is the gate keeper.

The entire West Coast, the East Coast and the eastern Gulf of Mexico are areas that are withdrawn for exploration and development purposes. To give you an idea of the potential natural gas resources in these areas, the West Coast is estimated to hold 21 trillion cubic feet, the East Coast about 31 trillion cubic feet, the eastern Gulf of Mexico about 43 trillion cubic feet and throw in the mid-western federal lands of 346 trillion cubic feet, totaling 441 trillion cubic feet in potential reserves closed to oil and gas exploration.

Getting closer to home, there are three areas outlined in the Gulf of Mexico, which the MMS calls planning areas. The western Gulf of Mexico, off the Texas coast, and the central Gulf of Mexico, south of Louisiana, are planning areas that are open for exploration, while the eastern Gulf of Mexico planning area, off Florida's coast, is withdrawn for exploration. Roughly 25 percent of our country's energy flows from the western and central planning areas through the veins of pipelines to fuel our nation. It is no wonder why Gov. Kathleen Blanco and our congressional delegation worked so hard to increase Louisiana's share of revenues from oil and gas production in the Gulf.

California, Florida and the East Coast use their political clout to ban exploration off their respective coasts, however, they say, "Please keep drilling off Louisiana and Texas." It's the old saying, "Not in my backyard, but OK in yours." That may sound a little trite, but it's true. I tell you what you do: start campaigning to open drilling in the eastern Gulf planning area, the Seminoles will start chanting. In reality, the ban for the past decades has been good for the areas withdrawn from exploration, because with the technology of today, the footprint from drilling exploration would be minimal. Until such time there's better fuel to energize our country, it's time to ban the bans.

Don Briggs is president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association. His column appears in The Advertiser twice a month.