T. Boone Pickens was an in-studio guest on CNBC’s influential “Squawk Box” program to discuss the Pickens Plan and our need to switch to domestic natural gas from oil imported from OPEC to power America’s eight million heavy-duty trucks.
He said that oil prices will continue to rise because of diminishing supplies and increasing demand – especially in China. He said the U.S. has “done a good job” in increasing domestic production of oil, but “we are using 20 million barrels of oil a day, producing seven, and importing 13 million barrels a day.”
“We have to find one hell of a lot of oil to close that gap,” he said.
He said we have more oil equivalent in our domestic natural gas reserves than Saudi Arabia has in all of its oil reserves.
Boone explained that the NAT GAS Act (H.R. 1380) helps trucking companies pay for the incremental difference between the cost of an 18-wheeler burning diesel made from imported oil and a new truck running on domestic natural gas.
“This is a five-year program. After five years, it goes away.” Boone also said the private sector would take care of the re-fueling infrastructure
Boone said he was confident that the NAT GAS Act (H.R. 1380) will pass this year but, “if it doesn’t I’m not giving up. I’m going to see this over the finish line.”