The former head of U.S. intelligence warned Thursday that the shale boom doesn’t free the nation from Saudi manipulation of the global oil market, leaving the country at the whims of cartels.
“The American oil shale revolution has not fundamentally changed this dependence on other countries,” said Dennis Blair, former director of National Intelligence and head of the Navy’s Pacific command. “As both an oil producer and a consumer, we’re subject to economic harm whichever way the prices go.”
Blair addressed an energy security conference in Washington put on by the group Securing America’s Future Energy, of which he is a member.
The group brings together business chiefs with former leaders of the military to devise and advocate for changes to U.S. energy policy that would free the country from foreign dependence on oil. A report it issued Thursday seeks to challenge Saudi manipulation that he says is to blame for killing off jobs in the American oil patch.
“If [prices] move down, we lose jobs. If we move up, we lose wealth,” he said, referring to the current oversupply in the oil market that has caused shale oil and gas producers to lay off tens of thousands of workers due to low prices.
The Saudis and the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries have contributed by keeping production high during the supply glut. That was meant to force prices to drop so low that U.S. frackers, which employ more expensive drilling methods, would be forced out of the market.
“In a worldwide oil market, we are still at the mercy of fluctuations in Chinese economic growth or Saudi production decisions,” Blair said. “These are countries with governments that reject our values and very often wish us ill. And yet we still guarantee the security of places like the Middle East.
“There are two aircraft carriers there, tens of thousands of troops, right now, as we speak,” he said. “And yet OPEC countries manipulate production to kill off our oil shale production.”
Blair was promoting the group’s new report, which recommends a number of policy changes for Congress and the next president to consider. He says the achievements of the shale revolution won’t be fully realized unless steps are taken to combat OPEC’s manipulation of the oil market.
The report recommends that the government create a special commission to challenge OPEC market manipulation. The commission would directly confront OPEC members to become more transparent and act to support free-market principles.
Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D., who Donald Trump tapped be his presidential campaign’s energy adviser, has co-sponsored a bill in the House that creates such a commission.
Cramer, who addressed the conference Thursday, said even the threat of establishing such a commission sends the right signal to the market to change.
