§56 —
On drilling
Democrat
$4.16
The record did not hold. June 2026 production was 13,792,000 barrels a day, below October's peak 1, and the agency's December forecast put 2026 at 13.5 million barrels a day, "about 100,000 b/d less than in 2025" 2. The Baker Hughes count of U.S. oil rigs went from 478 in January 2025 to 449 on September 4, 2026 34. Chevron announced cuts of 15 to 20 percent of its workforce 5; ConocoPhillips, 20 to 25 percent of its employees and contractors 6.
And the number on the sign. The government's weekly average for regular gasoline was $3.192 in the second week of September 2025 and $4.157 in the same week of 2026 7. AAA attributed the climb to "volatility in the Strait of Hormuz" 8. The barrels came out of Texas. The price came out of the strait.
Sources
- U.S. field production of crude oil: 13,792 thousand barrels per day in June 2026 — Energy Information Administration, series MCRFPUS2 ↑
- 2026 production forecast at 13.5 million b/d, "about 100,000 b/d less than in 2025" — EIA, Today in Energy, 12 December 2025 ↑
- 478 oil rigs on 17 January 2025 — Oil and Gas Journal / AOGR rig count archive ↑
- 449 oil rigs on 4 September 2026 — Reuters via BOE Report, 4 September 2026 ↑
- Chevron to cut 15 to 20 percent of its workforce — KPRC Click2Houston, 12 February 2025 ↑
- ConocoPhillips to cut 2,600 to 3,250 people, 20 to 25 percent of its workforce — CBS News, 4 September 2025 ↑
- Weekly U.S. regular gasoline: $3.192 on 8 September 2025; $4.157 on 7 September 2026 — EIA via FRED, series GASREGW ↑
- Labor Day prices on track for a record, amid "volatility in the Strait of Hormuz" — AAA, 3 September 2026 ↑
Republican
DRILL, BABY, DRILL
The promise, from the inaugural address: "We will drill, baby, drill," with the oil described as "that liquid gold under our feet" 1. On the thing the slogan names, it delivered. The Energy Information Administration's monthly data shows U.S. field production of crude oil reaching a record 13,995,000 barrels a day in October 2025, up from 13,167,000 in January 2.
That is the best case for the phrase, and it is a real number: more American oil came out of the ground in a single month than ever before. If the measure of an energy policy is barrels, the first year of this one set the high-water mark. The measures a driver uses are on the other side.
Sources
- "We will drill, baby, drill"; "that liquid gold under our feet" — inaugural address, 20 January 2025 — The White House ↑
- U.S. field production of crude oil: 13,167 thousand barrels per day in January 2025; a record 13,995 in October 2025 — Energy Information Administration, monthly series MCRFPUS2 ↑
“I fill up at the same station every Sunday, so I keep the receipts in the glovebox. Last September, three nineteen a gallon. This September, four fourteen. And I figured, well, maybe we're drilling less. But no — the government says production hit a record in October, almost fourteen million barrels a day. It's just the rigs are down, and the forecast for this year is lower, and Chevron's cutting fifteen to twenty percent of its people. Sorry, I'm holding up the pump. If we're drilling a record, why does my receipt say a dollar more?”— Lou
“"Drill, baby, drill." And they did — record production, fourteen million barrels a day last October. Then the rigs went from four seventy-eight to four forty-nine, the government forecast this year lower than last, two of the biggest oil companies cut a fifth of their people, and the pump went up a dollar. Turns out the price of gas isn't set in Texas. It's set in a strait off Iran.”
“Gasoline prices are a global phenomenon, while record production is an American achievement, and it would be unfair to hold an American achievement responsible for a global phenomenon.”