The "Idle" Oil Field Fallacy

Many questions have been asked recently about the meaning of the word "idle."

Some members of Congress have asserted that "idle" describes oil company leases for tracts of land where no active drilling is underway. They're wrong.

Buying a lease for several million dollars gives a company the right to explore for oil or natural gas. If, after numerous tests, a lease is believed to contain oil or natural gas, the company must delineate the potential oil or natural gas field, get permits, and finally start the drilling process.  Then they have to get it to market, which could require the building of a pipeline. 

Exploring and producing oil doesn't happen overnight. It can take years. But the chances of finding domestic oil can be increased if oil companies are allowed to look where it is believed to exist. Right now, many of those areas are off limits and are in the center of a political debate.

API president and CEO expressed his thoughts about oil exploration and production in a Wall Street Journal op-ed. It explains why the word "idle" is a red herring in today's debate over energy policy.