Update April 9, 2011

Again as ALWAYS the Republicans, and Sarah Palin especially, continue to tell whoppers to try and make the American Consuming and Voting Public that President Obama and the Democrats are causing huge spikes in gasoline prices due to drilling moratoriums. Additionally Palin wants you to believe that all of this is causing us to rely on oil imports more heavily from “foreign regimes in dangerously unstable parts of the world.” LOL Okay! Once Again Palin’s Stupidity and Motor Mouth continues to show that she in FACT is a Moron and if she isn’t, then she is flat out lying to everyone… Maybe it’s both?

Palin, March 15: “The evidence of the President’s anti-drilling mentality and his culpability in the high gas prices hurting Americans is there for all to see.”

The Indisputable FACTS!

First of all, U.S. oil production in the Gulf of Mexico last year was 1.64 million barrels per day — a record, despite the spill and moratorium. We confirmed that it was indeed a record year for Gulf oil production based on EIA data (since 1981) and Department of Interior data (dating to 1947), as provided by EIA spokesman Jonathan Cogan. The increase is also credited to improved technology and increased experience in deepwater drilling for the steady climb in Gulf production.

Fadel Gheit, a former Mobil Oil executive who is now a senior energy analyst at Oppenheimer & Co. was asked about the impact of the deepwater moratorium, Gheit said the moratorium had a “negative impact on production, but not as much as the politicians would like us to believe.” The impact of the moratorium on gas prices? “Nothing. Zero,” he said.

It’s important to note that even before the oil spill and the moratorium, the EIA projected in April 2010 that oil production in the Gulf would decline this year. Before the spill, the EIA expected the Gulf to produce 110,000 less barrels per day in 2011. As we said, it is now expected to decline by 240,000 barrels a day this year. The difference is 130,000 barrels per day. 

But domestic production elsewhere will partially offset the decline in the Gulf. EIA estimates that the net result will be a decrease of about 110,000 barrels per day — which amounts to six-tenths of 1 percent of the total 19.30 million barrels per day that the U.S. is expected to consume this year. Gheit said such a relatively small decline “doesn’t even move the needle” on gas prices. He blamed global events — not the president’s policies — for rising gas prices.

While Republicans have criticized Obama’s energy policies, the president has touted — as he did in a March 11 press conference — that oil production rose last year.

Obama, March 11: “Last year, American oil production reached its highest level since 2003. Let me repeat that. Our oil production reached its highest level in seven years. Oil production from federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico reached an all-time high.”

Obama is right on both counts. EIA data shows that total domestic production of crude oil was 5.51 million barrels per day, including 1.64 million barrels per day from the Gulf of Mexico. Historical EIA data shows that the last time the U.S. produced that much total oil was in 2003, when it generated 5.68 million barrels per day. (We already addressed that 2010 was indeed a record year for the Gulf.)

The Oil Import LIES of Sarah Palin!

Do we remember this quotation just above by the Tundra Twit? “foreign regimes in dangerously unstable parts of the world.” Does “Fear Mongering” come to mind with such an outlandish statement?

There is no question that the U.S. for a long time has relied on importing oil from dangerously unstable parts of the world. But has Obama allowed us to become “increasingly dependent”? No.

First of all, net imports are trending downward. Our reliance on imported liquid fuels — as the EIA calls oil and other petroleum products — declined to less than 50 percent of U.S. consumption in 2010. And, despite an expected uptick this and next year, it will decline through 2035. The EIA’s 2011 Annual Energy Outlook, released December 2010, projects our reliance on imported liquid fuels will drop to 42 percent by 2035.

There are approximately 34 countries listed by the State Department as “Dangerous” when checked on March 18, and the U.S. imported oil products from half of them in the last three years — including Mexico and Saudi Arabia, two of our major suppliers, according to EIA figures.

The U.S. imported about 5.4 million barrels of petroleum and other liquids per day from those 17 nations in 2008. That was about 42 percent of the 12.91 million barrels per day that the U.S. imported that year. And the U.S. imported about 4.8 million barrels of petroleum per day from those same countries in 2010, or 41 percent of the 11.75 million barrels of petroleum it imported each day last year.  Oops! Just where is the “Increased Dependency” according to Ms. Palin? IT WENT DOWN in 2010!

Oh Ms. Palin… Didn’t you know that the U.S. actually imports more petroleum from our northern neighbor, Canada, than it does from any other country?And Canada does not appear on the State Department’s list of “dangerous or unstable nations.” Nor do Venezuela, Russia, Angola, Brazil, the United Kingdom, Ecuador, the Virgin Islands or Kuwait, which are all in the top 15 countries from which the U.S. imports oil and other petroleum products.

You ARE Nothing But a LIAR Sarah Palin!