A Fossil-Fuel Boom in the Americas

The U.S. is leading a revival of exploration and drilling in the Western Hemisphere

By Walter Russell Mead. Excerpt:

"From the Arctic Circle to Tierra del Fuego, politicians of all stripes have embraced the Trumpian rallying cry of “drill, baby, drill.” In Argentina, President Javier Milei’s pro-market government is accelerating the development of shale reserves that some compare favorably with America’s Permian Basin. Argentina has the potential to outproduce some members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and investments in the pipelines and processing facilities necessary to transform the country into a major exporter are proceeding rapidly.

In Guyana, offshore rigs are beginning to produce large quantities of oil, with exports up 54% in 2024 to almost 600,000 barrels a day, and are expected nearly to triple by 2030, when daily output capacity is expected to reach about 1.7 million barrels. The new oil wealth has made Guyana’s economy one of the fastest growing in the world.

Even the hemispheric left is embracing oil and gas. Brazil’s socialist President Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva is doing everything he can to promote fossil-fuel growth in his country. State-owned oil company Petrobras is projected to increase production by a third, reaching a billion barrels a year by 2030. The goal is to make Brazil the world’s fourth-largest oil producer, and to do that the left-leaning government is willing to open areas near the mouth of the Amazon for drilling."