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Fact Check: Oil production under Obama up only on private land

During his 11-minute speech in Cushing, Okla., this morning, President Barack Obama said, "Under my administration, America is producing more oil today than at anytime in the last 8 years."

Mr. Obama has made that claim a benchmark of his 'all-of-the-above' energy policy and has repeated it several times, including when he announced he was rejecting the Keystone XL pipeline.

According to a KRMG Fact Check, that claim is only partially true.

A recently released (and revised) report from the U.S. government's Energy Information Administration (EIA) (and analyzed by the Heritage Foundation) indicates that whether 'American is producing more oil' depends on which land is being drilled.

The EIA report revealed a 12-percent decline in production for coal, oil, and natural gas on federal and Indian lands from fiscal 2003 through fiscal 2011, its lowest point in nine years.

Yet during that same time frame, production on state and private lands has increased, boosting overall production numbers for the United States.

While oil and gas production is up in the United States on private and state land, it is down on federal land, which falls under President Obama's direction.

Nick Loris from the Heritage Foundation outlines four steps Obama has taken to limit U.S. oil production:

  • Withdrew areas offered for 77 oil and gas leases in Utah that could cost American taxpayers millions in lost lease bids, production royalties, new jobs and the energy needed to offset rising imports of oil and natural gas.
  • Cancelled lease sales in the Western Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic coast and delayed exploration off the coast of Alaska and kept other resource-rich areas off-limits.
  • Finalized rules, first announced by Secretary Salazar on January 6, 2010, to establish more government hurdles to onshore oil and natural gas production on federal lands.
  • Withdrew 61 oil and natural gas leases in Montana as part of a lawsuit settlement over climate change.

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