Hefner on the Topic of Energy’s Great Economic Stimulus for America
(Hefner was amongst the first to speak publicly of the huge economic advantages America’s natural gas is providing the country)
- 2012, April 9, Harvard University: “If you look at the $10 per Mcf or more that Asia and the European community are paying — $12 for natural gas in the European community or so and $15 or so in Asia, the United States is getting about a $250 billion to $260 billion annual uplift and that’s doing so much. It’s why, I think, our economy is going along and doing a bit better than people really understand.”
- 2012, April 11, New York Times energy conference: “Natural gas is providing an enormous economic stimulus. I don’t think it’s been recognized enough or even talked about enough. But, if you compare what we’re paying for energy in the United States, in natural gas prices – the $2 I mentioned – compared to the European community which is paying $12 or Asia, which is paying $15 to $16 an Mcf, we’re really getting a $250 billion annual uplift – an annual advantage over those economies.”
- 2012, April 17, George Washington University conference, Washington, D.C.: “We are paying, as we consume about 23 trillion cubic feet a year, $230 billion less for the natural gas that runs 25% of our energy system here in the United States…That gives us an incredible competitive advantage over Asia and Europe as the Europeans today are paying somewhere around $12 an Mcf for natural gas and the Asians are paying $14, $15, $16 per Mcf.”
- 2012, April 18, E Street Landmark Theatre, Washington, D.C.: “We’ve got a fuel that’s fueling 25% of the total energy used in America and right today it’s costing $2. And in Europe it’s costing $12 or so, plus or minus. And in Asia it’s costing $14, $15, or $16. That’s giving today the United States of America a $250 billion or $260 billion competitive advantage for our economy versus the Asians and the Europeans. And I think it’s that significant reduction in the cost of 25% of American industry that’s really driving our economy and keeps it going. It’s not understood well enough and in enough depth by economists, but I do believe that that’s what’s adding jobs and that’s what’s continuing to grow our economy although slowly, but at least we’re a big part of that, because a quarter of a trillion dollars annually is a lot of money.”
- 2012, April 24, Interview, Metro Networks, Texas: “I think that one thing I would like to add is that the reason the U.S. economy is doing so well compared with Europe and our Asian competitors is that natural gas has gone down about $10 an Mcf over the past several years and that’s giving the United States about a $230 billion annual uplift compared to our Asian trading partners and our European trading partners.”
- 2012, April 24, Interview, WIOD-AM, Miami-Fort Lauderdale: “Natural gas in this country costs about $2 per Mcf and the Asians are paying $14, $15, or $16 and the Europeans plus or minus $12. So because natural gas power is 25% of the American needs, we are getting about $230 billion or $240 billion dollar annual benefit over Asia and Europe.”
- 2012, April 24, Interview, WALR-FM, Atlanta: “America’s natural gas is giving the country a terrific American economic revolution because the price of natural gas has come down, the equivalent of about $230 billion annually over the last several years. And that’s giving us an incredible advantage over our European and Asian competitors because the Asians are paying over $12 an Mcf more than we are for the same product and the Europeans are paying about $10 more.”
- 2012, September 6, Interview, KECO-FM, Elk City, Oklahoma: “We have the independents [energy firms] alive and well here. They’ve brought on the innovation of shale gas and now shale oil. And all that is giving us a quarter of a trillion dollar advantage – buying our energy for a quarter of a trillion dollars less every year to run a quarter of our economy than the Europeans or Asians are paying, because the Europeans pay $12 or so per Mcf for natural gas and the Asians pay $15 to $17 per Mcf and we’re paying about two and a half or three. So, that gives us a $10 per Mcf advantage. And the United States runs a quarter of its economy on natural gas. So, it’s a huge economic advantage. And, that’s the beginning of this Renaissance I’m talking about, where the United States will have the opportunity to take an energy leadership role and build its economy in this next unleashing of economic vitality as a result of going, once again, to a better fuel – natural gas.”
- 2012, October 3, Interview, Naoatsu Aoyama, The Asahi Shimbun (Japan’s leading newspaper): “Natural gas prices have fallen because we’re drowning in natural gas and that gives us about a $10 per Mcf advantage over all Asians and almost that much over the Europeans. So, if you think of how much gas we use, and we use it to run about a quarter of our economy and we buy that natural gas for a quarter of a trillion dollars annually less than you would have to pay for it or that Europeans would have to pay for it today, I think that’s really the underlying sources of economic advantage that keeps the American economy kind of just struggling along right now — on a slow struggle toward growth.”
- 2012, October 23, Video comments, meeting of Singapore’s International Advisory Panel (IAP) on Energy: “Our natural gas is $2.50/$3.00-plus an Mcf, which is at least $10 per Mcf less than our European trading partners and our Asian trading partners. So, we’re approaching a $250 billion annual advantage in buying one-quarter of the fuel it takes to run America. Just think of that – a quarter of a trillion dollars annually we have as an advantage. And, I think that’s what’s powering our economy forward. And then add in the differential between WTI and Brent and the six-plus million barrels of crude oil a day we’re producing here in American and consuming at lower cost; it gives the American economy an incredible, powerful force moving it forward.”
- 2012, November 7, Speech, “Shale & Unconventional Gas” conference, London: “The U.S. will be blessed with relatively inexpensive natural gas for the foreseeable future, giving America at least a quarter of a trillion dollar annual advantage over its European and Asian trading partners, as well as fueling a domestic industrial renaissance.”
- 2013, January 7: “Fracking is less harmful to the environment than many, many industrial processes. We must remember that this nation is trying rebuild an industrial economy that needs increasing quantities of lesser expensive energy, which is exactly what the new unconventional natural gas and oil development in America is doing for our country. What people still fail to understand is the significance of the unconventional development to economic growth in America. Unconventional development of domestic oil and gas is today adding at least one, if not two, percentage points to our annual GDP, and, in total, requiring at least a million jobs. Europeans are complaining now because they can’t compete with America in the development of chemical or industrial growth because of our “cheap” domestic energy. Currently, we are paying ourselves about a third of a trillion dollars less to run our economy than our Asian or European trading partners. What an advantage!”