The Answer to New Mexico’s Woes Is … Oil?

“U.S. crude,” The Wall Street Journal reports, “closed above $50 a barrel for a second day in a row on Wednesday and is up around 95% from its decade-lows reached earlier this year.”

Daniel Yergin, vice chairman of consulting firm IHS, recently told the Journal that the “big news in demand is growth in India, which now rivals China. India really is seen as the growth market for oil.”

BP’s annual energy outlook is predicting a global petroleum-demand increase of 20 million barrels per day by 2035, driven by “use in Asia for both transport and industry.”

It’s all good news for New Mexico, which ranks sixth among the states in oil production. Drilling in the Land of Enchantment hit bottom in 2007, but the fracking revolution has helped to more than double output since then.

Low prices during the last year and a half have induced layoffs, as well as a slight production decline that started in May 2015. But for the moment, the future looks bright. Prices have recovered. (Maybe they’ll even rise further.) The ban on oil exports has been lifted. And the oil industry has yet to tap the massive Mancos play in the northwestern part of the state.

With petroleum providing so much direct and indirect employment in New Mexico, as well as contributing about a third of the tax revenue generated here, it’s more important than ever to fight the eco-left’s anti-fracking hysteria and “keep it in the ground” nonsense. Sorry, “greens,” but oil is a huge part of our economy, and the latest indications are that it will be for a long, long time to come.