On June 6, 2013 and June 11, 2013 the House Natural Resources Committee held hearings on the Offshore Energy and Jobs Act (H.R. 2231). The proposed bill would open new outer continental shelf (OCS) land for leasing, unlocking an estimated 2.5 billion barrels of oil, and more than 7.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas for production.

The Department of the Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released an updated draft proposal for rules regarding hydraulic fracturing on federal and Indian lands. The updated proposal reflects public feedback on the initial proposal published in 2012.  This most recent draft includes new regulations on trade secret disclosure, and establishes new baselines for environmental safeguards and water quality monitoring mechanisms.

The Department of Energy (DOE) released its Draft Advanced Fossil Energy Solicitation, outlining a proposed loan guarantee solicitation for innovative and advanced fossil energy technologies that avoid, reduce, or sequester air pollutants or anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. The program would provide up to $8 billion in loan guarantees. This program is part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, which includes actions designed to reduce domestic greenhouse gas emissions.

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) held a series of public scoping meetings across the U.S. regarding the Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) to analyze the impacts of geological and geophysical activity in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals voted to uphold California’s Low Carbon Fuel Standard (LCFS) and ruled against a lower court ruling that the LCFS violates the Constitution’s Commerce Clause. The LCFS requires the oil industry to reduce the carbon intensity of transportation fuels by at least 10% by 2020. Using a life cycle analysis, the LCFS caps the average carbon intensity of transportation fuels in California’s market.

On May 22, 2013 the House voted 241-175 to approve H.R. 3: The Northern Route Approval Act, which seeks to approve the construction, operation, and maintenance of the Keystone XL Pipeline. If enacted, the bill would allow for the construction of the pipeline without a presidential permit, and would greatly streamline other permitting processes normally required by the Secretary of Interior and the Army. The bill still needs to be approved by the full Senate and the President before it can be enacted into law.

Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) introduced legislation this May proposing increased U.S. oil production in order to enact full sanctions on Iranian oil imports. Proponents of the bill hope to attenuate Iran’s economy, which collects approximately 70 percent of its revenue through oil exports, and to cripple its controversial nuclear program. Inhofe’s bill, the Iran Sanctions Implementation Act of 2013, calls for the U.S. to produce 1.25 million more barrels of oil per day to displace oil imports from Iran and ease potential disruptions in global markets.

The DOE Office of Fossil Energy has released the Ultra-Deepwater and Unconventional Natural Gas and Other Petroleum Resources Research and Development Program 2013 Annual Plan. The goal of the Program is, broadly, to maximize the value of domestic resources of natural gas and other petroleum resources. 

In the U.S. Energy Information Agency’s (EIA) Annual Energy Outlook 2013 (AEO2013), which presents yearly projections and analysis of energy topics based on current conditions, projected domestic crude oil production ranges from 6-8 million barrels per day for the next 30 years. However, using greater supply assumptions, domestic crude oil production could be sustained at approximately10 million barrels per day between 2020 and 2040.