Energy Facts
Below are facts about South Carolina energy and factors that can grow our nation's energy and economic security:
Jobs and Revenue:
- More than 67,000 jobs are supported by the oil and natural gas industry in South Carolina and adds $4.6 billion to South Carolina’s gross state product, or 2.8% of its wealth.
- America’s oil and natural gas industry supports 10.3 million jobs throughout the economy and 7.6 percent, or $1.3 trillion, of GDP (2015).
- Increased domestic access to energy could generate $1.7 trillion in government revenue, create more than 530,000 new jobs by 2025.
- The national average for oil and natural gas industry salaries in the exploration and production sectors have been more than double the national average for all U.S. jobs.
- Oil and gas companies consistently deliver relatively high returns compared to other pension fund investments, even during lean economic times. South Carolina’s returns on its pension-fund investments rank number one in the country, at 22.9%.
Energy Usage:
- South Carolina's commercial and industrial sectors are major energy users, consuming 58% of the state’s annual energy, including 45% from industries such as mining, construction and agriculture and 13% from hotels, motels, restaurants and other service enterprises.
- Per capita electricity use in South Carolina is higher than the nationwide average, due in part to high air-conditioning demand during the hot summer months and the widespread use of electricity for home heating in winter.
- Transportation accounts for 41.8% of energy use in South Carolina, costing citizens millions of dollars every year. The vast majority of transportation energy (97% to 99%) is derived from petroleum.
Domestic Energy:
- The United States is estimated to have enough natural gas to meet 100 percent of current domestic demand for at least 90 years.
- America produces 5.4 million barrels of crude oil per day, 164 million barrels, per month, and almost 2 billion barrels per year.
- The United States produces 72 billion cubic feet (bcf) of natural gas a day, 2,200bcf per month and 26,000bcf per year.
- If American increases domestic access:
- The Gulf of Mexico could hold 3.8 billion barrels of oil and 21.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
- Opening the Atlantic coastline could make available 3.8 billion barrels of oil and 37 trillion cubic feet of natural gas.
- The National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska and adjacent state waters holds 896 million barrels of undiscovered oil and about 53 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered natural gas.
- Two new nuclear reactors could come online in South Carolina by 2016, if licensing and construction go as planned.
Energy Investments:
- Since 2000, the oil and natural gas industry has invested $2 trillion in U.S. capital projects to advance all forms of energy, including alternatives, while reducing the industry’s environmental footprint.
- Between 2000 and 2008, the industry invested more than $58 billion in new low and zero carbon emissions technologies.
- The oil and natural gas industry delivers $85 million a day in revenue to government.
- Unconventional oil and natural gas (from shale deposits and other tight formations using hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling) supported 2.1 million jobs in 2012, and is projected to support 3.9 million jobs in 2025, including 515,000 manufacturing jobs.
Canadian Energy:
- Canada is America's largest supplier of imported oil and natural gas providing 21 percent of the total (US Department of Energy - DOE).
- By 2025, production from Canadian oil sands could rise from about 1.4 million barrels per day in 2010 to approximately 3.5 million barrels per day.
- Canada possesses approximately 175 billion barrels of oil that can be recovered with today’s technology. Of that number, 170 billion barrels of oil, are located in Canada's oil sands (Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers - CAPP.
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