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La. oil producers warn that increasing domestic production won't be an instant fix
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BATON ROUGE - Calls for a ban on Russian energy imports were replaced Tuesday with calls for increased energy independence as another spike in rapidly rising fuel costs is imminent.
"We could probably get fairly close to being energy independent again on our continent," Mike Moncla, president of the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association, said. "But, [we've got to] open the Keystone pipeline. [We've got to] accept oil coming in from Canada."
For the U.S. to wean themselves off of foreign oil, Moncla says, getting more domestic rigs up and running is crucial. That process is already underway.
"For the last, really, probably last year, we've been doing nothing but increasing rigs," Moncla said. "We're doing that. With the commodity prices where they've been, that'll get oil companies back working again."
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, 601 crude oil and natural gas rigs are operating as of January 2022, the highest number recorded since March 2020.
The number of rigs in use has climbed each month since Sept. 2020, after nearly two years of dwindling figures.
Moncla cautions, though, getting more rigs operating or reopened in Louisiana and around the country is no easy task.
"You can't just put a rig back out," Moncla explained. "All the valves are rusted out. There's so much you have to invest to put the rig back to work as a contractor, not even an oil company.
Even then, more steps remain before drilling can begin.
"An oil company still has to go get a lease, get a rig, go drill it," Moncla said. "If they make a well, then they can produce it. If they don't, then it's a dry hole. There's a lot more to it than just, as you said, flipping a switch."
Right now, Moncla says, another challenge is finding proper rig staffing.
"Not just anybody can run a drilling rig," he said.
As production attempts to ramp up to pre-pandemic production levels, Moncla warns it will take a while, and once a rig comes online, it won't necessarily stay there.
"Every day, wells that were producing are now not," Moncla said. "New wells are coming on, so it's not like wells are just staying where they are, and every new well is more production. [There are] ebbs and flows in that production."
To eventually drive down prices at the pump, Moncla says increasing the number of rigs open and drilling leases allowed is key.
"We've got a lease ban offshore here in Louisiana where President Biden has canceled the last lease sell that we had," Moncla said. "There [are] a lot of moving parts, but we need to take the foot off of the throats of the oil and gas industry and let them go back to work."
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