Energy expert: NM oil production has lessoned potential for war

[bluewill + 4]

The full article is here-> Hobbs News Sun _ Sunday, February 10, 2019 _ 7.pdf

by CURTIS C. WYNNE

HOBBS NEWS SUN

"Lea and Eddy counties have made history by reducing the possibility of a

Middle Eastern war for oil, according to Daniel Fine, a research and

development energy expert at New Mexico Tech.

Why? Because oil and gas production eliminates this nation’s need to rely on

the Middle East for fossil fuel.

Having served in developing former Gov. Susana Martinez’s energy policy and

in the Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, Fine said he’s

currently writing an energy paper for a Washington, D.C. think tank.

 

“What has happened now, with President Trump’s policies and the

(Department of) Interior policies under (David) Bernhardt, is the chance of the

United States getting into a Middle East war to protect its interests in oil supply

and imports has evaporated, finished,” Fine said.

He dated the potential for war in the Middle East over oil as early as the 1970s.

“We have almost 50 years of tension and potential military participation in the

Middle East to provide us with imported oil from there,” Fine said. “The two

counties in New Mexico have eliminated this and have now played an important

role in peacemaking.”

He said the White House and the military have maintained positions on what

actions to take if America’s oil supply were threatened.

“In the 1970s Secretary of State (Henry) Kissinger said if we have to, we will

intervene militarily to obtain the supply of oil need. That was our dependence on

that oil,” Fine said.

Lea County is the third-highest oil-producing county in the United States and

the highest in the Permian Basin, which straddles the Texas-New Mexico state

line. Eddy County is the seventh-highest oil-producing county in the nation and

produces massive amounts of natural gas.

“So, Lea County and Eddy County and the Permian Basin have eliminated a

state of 67 years of war preparations and intervention to import that oil,” Fine

said. “We have the oil now in the Permian Basin. "

Hobbs News Sun _ Sunday, February 10, 2019 _ 7.pdf