T. Boone Pickens touts energy independence

LOUISVILLE, KY. You could have heard a pin drop during the presentation by keynote speaker T. Boone Pickens at the National NGV (Natural Gas Vehicle) Fleet Summit here in Louisville, KY, yesterday presented by Clean Energy along with other co-sponsors and organized by Gladstein, Neandross & Assoc.

Pickens, founder and chairman of BP Capital Management, best-selling author, energy advisor to U.S. presidents and winner of dozens of awards for his achievements, spoke to a spellbound audience on reducing America’s current dependence on foreign oil for more than 70% of its oil needs. His message was clear, blunt and urgent: the United States has to end its dependence on foreign oil now or prepare to suffer the consequences of high prices and even scarcity in the future.

“We have got to get off OPEC oil [which accounts for about 1/3 of the oil used in the U.S.], or at least cut it way down,” Pickens said. He went on to explain that China would soon have a refinery online and that Venezuela, no fan of the U.S., could then send its oil to China rather than the U.S. for refining, creating a serious oil shortfall in the U.S. This would be further exacerbated by the ongoing decline in oil production in Mexico.

According to Pickens, oil reserves are in decline worldwide, including in the Middle East. “Oil production is in decline at about 7% per year,” he said, adding that the only way remaining for oil-exporting dependent nations to balance their budgets in the future will be to raise prices. “The world uses about 85 million barrels of oil a day,” Pickens said. “The U.S. uses about 21 million barrels per day, or one-quarter of the world’s oil production. We had better look at the problem as us, as Americans. [In this case] we can’t think globally.”

For Pickens, natural gas is the linchpin in the plan to wean North America off foreign oil, but he was firm in his support for the development of various other domestic energy alternatives, as well. “I am for America,” he said. “We have to get off their resources and get on ours. Otherwise, in fourteen years, if we have no energy plan, we will be importing 75% of our oil and paying $300 per barrel.”

Unlike oil reserves, the U.S. is rich in natural gas resources, Pickens explained, which is what makes natural gas such an important part of the energy independent equation for America. “We have the largest natural gas resources in the world,” he said. The U.S. has “easily a 200-year supply” of natural gas reserves. “We are a world energy player,” Pickens said, noting that natural gas is not only abundant domestically, but cleaner and cheaper than diesel and gasoline.