Primary preview: Gingrich on size of U.S. oil resources

In a 30-minute speech that’s running on television as a campaign ad in selected primary states, Newt Gingrich suggests the United States is awash in oil.

“Turns out, we may have more oil in the United States today, given new science and new technology, than we have actually pumped worldwide since 1870,” Gingrich says.

“We may, in fact, by one estimate, have three times as much oil in the United States as there is in Saudi Arabia.”

With the Ohio primary just over a week away and Republican candidates citing gasoline prices in their criticisms of President Barack Obama, PolitiFact took a look at Gingrich’s statement. We focused on his claim that the U.S. may have “three times as much oil in the United States as there is in Saudi Arabia.”

PolitiFact rated Gingrich’s claim Mostly False.