The Department of Energy's independent statistical agency is forecasting that the Obama Administration's drilling moratorium will reduce domestic oil production. The Energy Information Administration (EIA) estimates that the drilling moratorium will reduce crude oil production by an average of about 31,000 barrels per day (b/d) in 2010 and about 82,000 b/d in 2011.[a] Recently domestic oil production has been increasing, but the drilling moratorium will likely reverse that trend. EIA estimates a net reduction in domestic oil production of 26,000 b/d in 2011. According to the BP Statistical Review, the United States had the largest increase in domestic oil production of any country in the world in 2009,[ii] and that trend might have continued were it not for the oil spill and subsequent drilling moratorium. The lost domestic oil production as well as any increase in petroleum demand will need to be made up by increased biofuel production and by importing more oil from foreign countries.
