The International Energy Agency made headlines Monday when it declared in its World Energy Outlook 2017 that the U.S. could be a net exporter of oil within a decade. The IEA also projected that the U.S. is set to become the world’s dominant oil and gas production leader for decades. Is that a realistic assessment? Is the U.S. on the cusp of achieving energy independence for the first time in nearly 70 years? A dozen years ago, the notion that the U.S. could achieve energy independence would have drawn scoffs from most energy analysts (including myself). After all, U.S. oil production had been in decline since reaching a peak of 9.6 million barrels per day (BPD) in 1970. By 2005, U.S. oil production had fallen to 5.2 million barrels per day. But U.S oil demand continued to grow, so crude oil imports soared as production declined. By 2005, net […]