Texas quietly rendering Saudi Arabia geopolitically Irrelevant

"He loves righteousness and justice;
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord."
Psalm 33:5

This website hasn't done foreign policy in a long time, but this story is too good to ignore:

Half of Saudi Arabia’s oil production was torched over the weekend thanks to a drone strike.

It remains in question as to who is responsible for the attack — Yemen’s Houthi rebels claimed responsibility, but U.S. intelligence is reported to believe Iran is ultimately behind it (and the President indicated this on Twitter, too).

Nevertheless, roughly 5.7 million barrels per day of oil are out of commission.

Had this happened a decade ago, the world might have spun into a frenzy. But after a Monday morning cost-per-barrel spike of 14 percent — which is largely being chalked up to uncertainty — prices dropped almost four percent.

Todd Staples, President of the Texas Oil and Gas Association, told The Texan, “Events like this are certainly meaningful and impactful but the good news for consumers is that hopefully the impact on price will be moderated somewhat, and that is largely due to the resurgence of the American energy industry.”

Saudi Arabia is responsible for roughly 12 percent of worldwide oil production. With half of that temporarily gone (Saudi Arabia said after the attack full production levels would return in two to three weeks time), America (18 percent) and Russia (11 percent) are the only producers remaining above five percent of worldwide production.

So why did this significant hit to worldwide oil production not result in a worldwide panic? Well, Texas likely has a lot to do with it.

“Without the vast supplies that the State of Texas has provided to energy consumers, it’s wild to think about the largest attack and disruption on [oil supply] in history — and yet the price impact has been pretty marginal,” Nick Loris, an energy and environmental economist with the Heritage Foundation told The Texan.

Put differently, innovation is changing geopolitical reality.

This is unambiguously good.

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To be honest, the West Texas energy renaissance is the only reason to maintain Republican control of government (both state and federal).

For all of their other flaws, the GOP generally has the good sense to leave the energy industry alone.  Yesterday's news is the result.  Meanwhile, Democrats want to restore Saudi dominance.

On most issues, the difference between the parties is one of degree rather than kind.  Not energy development (with its geopolitical implications).  O
n energy, there really is a difference.

The GOP ought to tell that story.

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To be fair, both John Cornyn and Glenn Hegar were quoted in the Texan article cited above.

It's a start.

They ought to do a lot more.

Because this is the only unambiguously good aspect of the GOP's record.

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Bottom Line: We could use a lot more stories like these.