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Obama vs. Bush: The oil chart that will surprise you

The fossil fuels industry tells us that under the Obama Administration domestic oil production has fallen. One energy industry insider has produced a chart that shows otherwise.
Written by Kirsten Korosec, Contributor

Conventional wisdom and the fossil fuels industry tells us that under the Obama Administration domestic oil production has fallen -- which has in turn, hurt the economy and prevented job growth. A recent examination of annual domestic oil production tells a different story.

Robert Rapier, who writes the R-Squared Energy blog, recently finished a chapter on politics for his new book, which includes graphics to show movements in oil prices, production, imports and consumption throughout the last eight presidential administrations. Today, he published one of those graphics, which at the very least is thought-provoking, and is, as he describes it, "one of the more counter-intuitive graphics that you will ever come across."

In short, the graphic above shows that annual domestic oil production fell every year during the eight years of the Bush Administration. Meanwhile, production rose in the first three years of the Obama Administration. Rapier doesn't offer up his views (we'll have to wait for the book).

What do you think? Is Obama benefiting from Bush-era policies that took time to take effect? Or can Obama take credit?

My take: Advances in oil recovery technology and the development of shale oil plays, plus high crude prices were responsible for the rise.

[Via: Consumer Energy Report]

Photo: White House

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This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com

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