Drill, Baby, Drill Strategy Won’t Lower Gasoline Prices, Will Enrich Big Oil

North Dakota Oil Derrick. AP Photo.

This is a good news, bad news story, which the media, characteristically, gets half right.

The AP reports today:

U.S. oil output is surging so fast that the United States could soon overtake Saudi Arabia as the world’s biggest producer. Driven by high prices and new drilling methods, U.S. production of crude and other liquid hydrocarbons is on track to rise 7 percent this year to an average of 10.9 million barrels per day.

This will be the fourth straight year of crude increases and the biggest single-year gain since 1951….

The increase in production hasn’t translated to cheaper gasoline at the pump, and prices are expected to stay relatively high for the next few years because of growing demand for oil in developing nations and political instability in the Middle East and North Africa.

So much for consumers benefiting from Drill, Baby, Drill. But hey, at least America can be #1 again:

The Energy Department forecasts that U.S. production of crude and other liquid hydrocarbons, which includes biofuels, will average 11.4 million barrels per day next year. That would be ...

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