Louisiana Oil and Gas Association official addresses Crowley Lions Club

At the Crowley Lions Club meeting Tuesday, Gifford Briggs with the Louisiana Oil and Gas Association, spoke in support of the petroleum industry that serves a key role in Louisiana’s economy.

“Louisiana has only 3 percent unemployment compared with 8 or 9 percent for the rest of the country,” he said. “Presently, the United States is the biggest producer of oil in the world.”

Briggs went on to question the country’s dependence on foreign oil.

“We are producing 8.5 million barrels of oil per day and in six years we will double that output,” he said. “The gap between our production and consumption is shrinking and we’re in a much better position than we have been in some time. We could use this advantage to change who we have to rely on.”

Briggs also said that this change would help other aspects of the U.S. economy.

“A sudden growth in oil and gas production would directly lead to growth in other, emerging markets,” he said.

Briggs also touched on natural gas production, the Haynesville Shale and competition in the industry between the U.S. and foreign markets.

Briggs was upset about recent litigation against several oil and gas companies in the state. During recent appearances around Acadiana, he put much of the blame on an atmosphere which provided opportunities for “greedy” trial lawyers.”

To make his point, he played a clip from a Seinfeld episode in which the show’s characters joke about getting money from McDonald’s following the infamous spilled coffee case in the 1990s.

“It’s only three law firms that are trying to take money away from the hard working people of our state,” said Briggs.