Oklahoma’s Energy Dominance is Helping the U.S. Outpace China

by: Nick Archer

It’s no secret that Oklahoma is an energy powerhouse, but what people often gloss over the impact that this leadership is having on other parts of the Oklahoma economy and U.S. national security.

The Sooner State’s dominance when it comes to oil and gas production and transportation is well-documented, as evidenced by Cushing’s position as the beating heart of the U.S. oil trade. We are also the sixth-largest natural gas producing state, third-largest wind producer, home to ten hydroelectric plants, and a small but quickly growing solar industry. Our region also benefits from competitive wholesale power markets and best-in-class grid infrastructure. Not only does Oklahoma produce and transport enough energy to fulfill our own needs, but we actually produce three times more energy than we consume.

Our resource availability and grid capacity have made Oklahoma an attractive destination for critical industries like manufacturing and tech, which thrive on our superior infrastructure, affordable energy, and skilled workforce. This has helped our state lead the way when it comes to onshoring and building up an industrial base that had been eroding and ceding crucial leadership to China and other nations. It has also transformed Oklahoma into a tech hub that is building America’s lead over China in the AI race.

Across the state, leading companies are investing in the cutting-edge data centers that are powering AI and cloud tools that are being harnessed by advanced manufacturers, aerospace and defense companies, healthcare facilities and others to sharpen their competitive edge. These data center operations are helping to bolster our energy capacity by bringing their own power resources to the Oklahoma grid, building up our supply and helping to keep prices low for families and industries throughout the state.

The AI technologies fueled by our data center fleet are also being used by the energy sector itself to optimize the performance of production assets and the transmission network that gets electrons from point A to point B. Devon Energy is using AI to identify productive drilling locations that were previously unworkable while Chevron has deployed AI-enabled drones to improve its inspection capabilities. Additionally, Southwest Power Pool, the grid operator that serves Oklahoma, has implemented AI tools to accelerate the time it takes to get more resources online and strengthen grid capacity and reliability.

All of this innovation is unlocked by an energy abundance strategy that has been championed both at the state and federal level. When he took the reins of the Department of Energy, Secretary Chris Wright laid out an agenda to unleash a “Golden Era” of American energy dominance. Oklahoma has been a model for this agenda, whether it’s our additive approach to energy resources, embrace of advanced nuclear technologies, pro-growth permitting reform, or commitment to grid reliability and security.

For decades, Oklahoma has demonstrated that smart energy policy is the cornerstone of our economic and national security. We are now seeing our commonsense approach to energy dominance pay off as we court the industries and technologies that will propel our lead over our global competitors for years to come.