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Morning Edition: "The Frackers" author on what more U.S. oil means for geopolitics

Yesterday the U.S. Energy Department announced a milestone last seen nearly two decades ago: the United States produced more crude oil in a month than it imported.
Morning Edition spoke with Wall Street Journal reporter Gregory Zuckerman, author of The Frackers, about the geopolitical implications of that increased domestic energy production. Zuckerman (not to be confused with the other Wall Street Journal reporter with a book that has the word “frack” in the title) said U.S. oil production made the current sanctions on Iran possible.


“I do think that the temptation to not participate in the sanctions of Iran would have been much greater had it not been for this fracking and energy revolution in the United States,” he said. “That’s not to say that we wouldn’t have had partners and allies in the effort but not everyone would have participated like they are today.”
Growing domestic oil production has also given the country more energy security, he said – “independence” is too strong a word – at least temporarily.
“I don’t know frankly how long it is going to last,” he said. “Maybe it lasts five years or ten years. But for that period, it’s going to be very healthy for us.”

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