Anti-energy lefties dutifully recite the liberal talking point that allowing for offshore drilling in the US won’t have any appreciable effect on oil and gas prices. Nancy Pelosi went so far as to describe as a "hoax" any notion that offshore drilling could bring down the price of gas.
The theory goes that there simply isn’t enough oil available off the US coast to affect prices in a global marketplace. As this Boston Globe article states:
"But in the best-case scenario, Kaufmann said, the United States could only produce an additional two to four million barrels of offshore oil a day – not enough to shift the global supply-demand balance in a world market that now consumes about 86 million barrels a day and is growing fast."
OK – so a change of 4 million barrels per day will simply have no affect.
Tell that to people actually bringing oil to the world market. This NYT article describes how OPEC members are planning on cutting its oil production in an effort "to stem a rapid decline in oil prices in recent weeks."
Because, as stated before, 4 million barrels a day added to global supply will have no affect on pricing, surely OPEC will restrict production by at least 8-10 million barrels a day if they want to have an effect on prices, right?
Wrong.
"OPEC producers would effectively reduce their overall production by 520,000 barrels a day."
The announcement alone had an immediate impact on oil prices:
"Oil prices traded electronically in New York jumped $2 a barrel after the decision."
So, we are to believe that an additional 4 million barrels a day will have no impact on prices, while those actually bringing oil to the market recognize that a supply reduction of only half a million will impact prices.
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