I'm not sure if it's technically defined as a town, burg, village, or something else, but Reydell, Ark., and its 29 inhabitants, sit right on the edge of Bayou Meto Wildlife Management area between Pine Bluff and DeWitt. As the crow flies, they're all very close to each other.
However, as the road curves, I was thankful for our--yes--low gas prices. There, I said it. Gas prices are not high. Further, the reason they aren't is because oil prices aren't. Oil prices aren't because, relative to supply, demand isn't.
This was just one of many topics discussed at the cabin among old friends who have known each other for, I shudder to say, almost four decades. These are good times driven by the ease of getting to know one another at a time when life's most pressure-filled moments revolved around deciding where to pre-game before going out for the night. In fact, when we were in college, the average price at the pump was 86 cents; adjusted for inflation, that's about $2.29.
As in college, I'm still easily baited into political debate, but when the comment came up--"no oil and gas drilling is allowed in America"--it was too much to not thrust my 25-plus year career in the energy industry into the mix.
It's understandable how industry outsiders may be uninformed. In fact, any American pointing beyond the wall socket to explain where power comes from is ahead of most Americans. For my part, I think Wi-Fi is magic, so I have some level of sympathy for the less informed on energy issues.
Here's the deal. For nearly three decades, I worked in renewable energy and the oil and gas sector. So my inability to steer away from terms like "molecule," "three states of matter" and "Btu content" derailed the conversation.
So I did what anyone would do. I declared victory and moved on to lower-brow entertainment on Netflix.
However, before that, I reminded or revealed that, as much as they didn't want to believe it based on the myth they've been fed, drilling does exist in America. I told them of last month's offshore lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico and that a couple of months before, Conoco's Willow Project on the Alaskan North Slope was moving forward despite an environmental lawsuit against the administration for moving it forward.
I revealed that the U.S. reclaimed the world's No. 1 producer title because a number of brilliant private-sector geologists and petroleum engineers cracked the code and figured out how to liberate oil from shale. That was during the Obama years.
Make no mistake, Obama was no friend of the industry. But guess what? It didn't matter. America continued as top producer during the allegedly fascist "drill, baby drill," giant oompa-loompa Trump years and has continued through the allegedly communist Birkenstock-wearing tree-hugger Biden-crime-family years.
It takes investors to drill. If drilling costs exceed the value of what's produced, it's a loser, plain and simple. Investors don't like losers. Also, most oil comes from private leases, which are generally regulated by states, not the federal government. What the president thinks about it is of little financial consequence.
According to Baker-Hughes, about 73 percent (439) of the 622 domestic rigs in the U.S. are located in Texas (309), Louisiana (42), North Dakota (31), Oklahoma (44), and Wyoming (13). These five ruby-red states don't give a hoot what a Democrat in the White House says. If it's not about federal land in their states; the president can just stay inside the beltway for all they care.
To be clear, if the goal is to get more U.S. oil producers to produce more U.S. oil, the price needs to be higher. And if oil prices go higher, gas prices will follow, because the two are inextricably linked. So be careful what you wish for.
The good news is that's not happening. About 18 months ago, some were predicting $10 gas. Yet I only paid $2.59 for my Reydell trip. That's more than during the covid quarantine, but far less than inflation-adjusted highs in 1980 when the Iran/Iraq war began ($4.25), Great Recession in 2008 ($4.40), or Russian invasion of Ukraine, when it reached nearly $5.
I was told there would be no math in this job, but my F-150 holds about 33 gallons, so a fill-up at $4 costs a full $50 more than it would cost at $2.50. Further, my Arkansas price at $2.59 is 50 cents less than the national average of $3.09. As Houston Nutt used to say, "That's half-a-hundred" and in this case, that's a lot.
Knowing this market history was part of the equation when I bought the truck, and I live with the ups and downs. I made my bed and sleep in it without complaint.
There are a couple of things that remain constant in our lives. The sun rises in the east. The only constant is change. We'll all die at some point. And while the president will get blamed for high gas prices, he won't get credit when they come down.
The fact is, he doesn't deserve blame or credit.
Tommy Foltz is an editorial writer for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.