America’s shale oil boom is a major contributor to the world’s reduced oil prices and our lessened dependence on imported oil despite President Obama saying that we cannot drill our way to lower gas prices. U.S. oil production continues to increase despite lower oil prices and a drilling slowdown—new wells are down 28 percent since June 2014 when oil prices were over $100 per barrel. Despite the reduction in drilling, the amount of new oil pumped from wells drilled in January is estimated at 515,000 barrels per day—just 8.5 percent less than the wells drilled in June 2014.(i)
