Jim Cramer: A Crude Awakening

Funny to listen to chatter about all the energy that's been discovered in this country and know we have no policy whatsoever to deal with it.

I saw staggering figures out of North Dakota yesterday about huge oil production increases there, 52% growth year over year, and in Texas, with a 31% year-over-year increase. These are amazing numbers.

You would think this would mean something to the American consumer but, in reality, it means little because the crude either can't easily get to the markets it needs to get to or it has to be exported because it is of such high quality that our refineries can't handle it.

The notion that crude has to be exported and that natural gas will be hard to export are issues the private sector cannot handle. Only the government, through an informed energy policy, can deal with these mismatches. Think about it: By insisting that everything be done totally in the private sector, we will be importing oil from Venezuela, a sworn enemy, and exporting it to who knows where because we don't have refining capacity.

Of course, building new refineries is nearly impossible in this country because the environmentalists are so powerful and pipeline construction is subject to a level of scrutiny that renders it uneconomic in many areas. For example, if you think there's a ton of oil to be had in North Dakota and Texas, you have no idea how much might be in Kern County, Calif. But you can't drill, can't get pipe permits and can't get permission to refine, so it doesn't matter.

This would not be such a shame if we didn't have so many energy "policies" in this country that are aided by the government but have not been economic -- solar and ethanol are the best examples of this. Of course, President Obama and his administration always say they are about encouraging anything that makes us energy self-sufficient, but the dirty little secret is this means anything but fossil fuels.