Texas oil producers see the world’s appetite for U-S oil exports as a growing opportunity.
Oil exports have tripled since the presidential election, reaching a 1.5 million barrels a day, according to the Energy Information Administration.
Energy experts say one reason is rising world demand in higher-quality West Texas Intermediate Crude.
Another factor is the gambit by members of the Organization for Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) to cut output – so the world demand has widened as well.
American oil exporting remains largely new territory in the modern petroleum market. The Obama administration ended the nation’s self-imposed, four-decade ban on exports just 15 months ago.
Oil market Baron Lukas -- with Crudefunders, an oil and gas equity crowdfunding company that helps get rigs going again -- says improved technology is narrowing production costs.
Lukas tells NewsRadio KTRH that it's reasonable to see the U.S. becoming an energy-independent nation while its producers prosper on the world market.
Recent discoveries in Texas will likely extend for years the state’s might as an energy powerhouse. Newly identified Permian Basin deposits in West Texas, include, according to the U.S. Geological Survey:
--20 billion barrels of crude oil.
--More than 15 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
--1.6 billion barrels of natural gas liquids.