Does the U.S. have a worse business climate than Turkmenistan?

Does the U.S. have a worse business climate than Turkmenistan?

Posted: 12 Mar 2012 06:10 AM PDT

When it comes to energy policy, is the United States worse than Turkmenistan? How about Russia, where a contract is a contract only when President-elect Vladimir Putin so decides? Is it less-congenial than Brazil, where according to Reuters, Chevron executives seem likely to face criminal charges over a leak of 2,400 barrels of oil, 0.1 percent the size of BP's 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill?
In a speech Friday, ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson (pictured above left, with Putin) said the U.S. compares unfavorably from an energy policy standpoint not just to those countries, but also to China, Argentina and Kazakhstan. The backdrop is a humongous, high-stakes boom in U.S. oil and gas drilling, and a superlative election-year battle between the U.S. industry and the Obama Administration. Both sides think the bonanza will much improve the U.S. economy and its balance of payments, but after that their respective fact sheets barely coincide.
I won't parse the whole flurry of industry and Administration statements. But Tillerson's speech -- delivered at the IHS CERA annual oil conference in Houston -- caught my eye both because he runs the industry's most successful company, and for his atypical rhetorical flourishes. You can watch yourself.