Bob McCarty Writes

Two days after Gary Luquette met with members of the House Natural Resources Committee, the president of Chevron North America Exploration and Petroleum Company warned that gas lines, price hikes, fuel shortages and incidents of civil unrest could surface as components of a worst-case scenario resulting from reinstatement of the moratoria on offshore drilling.

Luquette’s ominous outlook for the future came in response to a question I asked him during a blogger conference call hosted by American Petroleum Institute officials at 10 a.m. Central today.

Asked to describe a worst-case scenario that might occur if the 111th Congress and President Barack Obama reinstated the offshore drilling moratoria that was lifted in September 2008, Luquette offered a glimpse.

“What we can look forward to is a heavier reliance upon foreign sources of oil to continue to sustain our way of living and our economy until the fuel mix transitions, long term, into something that represents a higher percentage of renewables and alternatives,” Luquette explained.

“Worst-case scenario is, if you’re highly dependent upon foreign sources of oil, you’ll be more exposed to price hikes…civil unrest…and disruptions,” he continued, “potentially going back to situations where you might not have enough product to meet demand and going back to some of the lines we saw back during the days of the Arab oil embargo.”

He added that reinstatement of the moratoria posed additional economic risks associated with jobs and revenue going outside of the country instead of staying inside.

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To read the statement Luquette made Wednesday before the House Natural Resources Committee, click here.

To read other BMW posts about the offshore drilling moratoria, click here.