Hart Energy was fortunate to present former president George W. Bush at its 6th annual Developing Unconventional Gas Conference & Exhibition in Fort Worth in April. The president followed up his remarks from the DUG podium with a 30-minute informal chat, to the delight of the 2,100 attendees. It was certainly a great privilege for me to sit down with the president.

He spoke about the ups and downs of the presidency, the dramatic early days after 9/11, his and his wife Laura's commitment to solving the AIDs problem in Africa, and much more. He appeared relaxed, and at times was quite humorous.

"If I had been worth a damn as an oilman out in Midland, I wouldn't be sitting here as the former president," he said to loud laughter.

What does he miss about being in the White House? Air Force One and a pastry chef on call 24/7, among other things.

I began by asking his thoughts about the concept of exporting natural gas as LNG. Should U.S. producers be allowed to do it?

"Yes," he replied. "I think the issue is whether or not we're going to have that much. First, it's a blessing that we have as much natural gas as we do.

"You keep hearing the phrase, 'We're addicted to oil.' What that means is that there are too many foreign policy issues that come to the Oval Office as a result of being dependent on other nations' oil. Thankfully, most of it comes from Canada. But when you're looking at getting resources from the Middle East—where they don't like us—that becomes a national security issue. Therefore, less dependency on oil from overseas is in our nation's best interest.

"Natural gas is a blessing in that it's domestic. The question is whether or not parts of our country are so anti-oil and gas that they're going to use false science to prohibit the use of hydraulic fracing," he noted.

"As extensive as the Marcellus shale play may be, a good energy policy would involve moving natural gas up East through pipelines and replacing subsidized heating oil. Some folks are saying that the water supplies would be forever polluted, but if that were the case, everybody in Texas would already be dead.

"This industry needs to stand up and say that the false sciences against hydraulic fracing are not in the nation's interest.

"I also believe we need to pursue nuclear power. I readily concede that it's going to be a little more difficult after the incident in Japan, but we…need to make the best use of that which is available, including natural gas and nuclear power."

The former president reminded the DUG audience of the powerful link between energy and GDP.

"In order to develop technology, you have to be wealthy," he said. "In order to be a wealthy nation, you have to be willing to grow your economy, and one way to do it is to make sure you have enough energy, and natural gas can help with that. I just hope reasonable minds prevail when it comes time for making policies."

We would say amen to that. But we know, as does Mr. Bush, that hoping for reasonable minds in Washington to prevail is an optimistic scenario—especially when it comes to hot-button energy policy at a time when voters are paying close to $4 a gallon for gasoline.

"Honestly, when it comes to politics, fight back. Remind people how important it is that we produce energy domestically.

"Also, supply and demand works. It's going to be interesting to watch how the high price of gasoline begins to affect people's minds. When I was president and the price of gasoline went up, everybody screamed, 'What are you going to do about it?' And all you can say is, 'I'll investigate.'

"Truthfully, the only thing you can do is increase supply. Remember, right after the price of gas went up there was an outcry of 'Drill baby, drill!'—People began to realize that constricted supply would affect the price of crude, which in turn affects the price of gasoline."

I asked the president what advice he would give this crowd of oil and gas executives. Without a second of hesitation, he fired back, "Use other people's money. Especially when you are drilling exploration wells."

Thank you, Mr. President.

Comments