The XL pipeline raises the price of oil for US customers. Obama has raised domestic oil production to levels higher than Bush
From Polifact:
Here are the annual totals, in barrels produced, going back to 2003:
2003: 2,073,453,000
2004: 1,983,302,000
2005: 1,890,106,000
2006: 1,862,259,000
2007: 1,848,450,000
2008: 1,811,817,000
2009: 1,956,596,000
2010: 2,011,856,000
So, 2010 is definitely the highest since 2003. But weÂ’ll note a couple of caveats.
First, production levels actually have been quite stable over the eight-year period. Comparing 2009 and 2010 statistics, petroleum production only rose about 3 percent. And the level for 2010 is only 11 percent higher than for the lowest year in that eight-year period. So the increase the president is referring to is not particularly dramatic.
The second caveat is that the Energy Information Administration projects that production totals are poised to fall from their current levels over the next two years.
Domestic crude oil production, the agency says, is projected to decline by 110,000 barrels a day in 2011 and by an additional 130,000 barrels per day in 2012. The agency makes that projection based on expected production declines in Alaska due to maturing oil fields. Production in the Gulf of Mexico is also projected to decline. Both are partially offset by projected increases in the Lower 48 states, but on balance, EIA sees the numbers falling.
So Obama is right that American oil production is at its highest level since 2003, but weÂ’re taking the statement down a notch on our rating scale because the amount is projected to fall during each of the next two years, making it somewhat problematic to use the number as evidence that domestic oil production is on a healthy trendline. On balance, we rate the statement Mostly True.
me:
The increase in production for Obama is on the back of Bush's policies, not his own. As you well know, Obama absolutely hates fossil fuels, he even disobeyed a court order from a federal judge in Louisiana to allow drilling to resume in the Gulf after the BP oil spill.
And BTW, how do you figure the XL Pipeline will raise the price of oil? You'd rather get it from the middle east than Canada?