No more disputes: United States has achieved energy security
There is no more disputing it: The United States has achieved energy security. The question now is how to keep it here for good.
Over the past decade, oil imports have fallen dramatically. In 2005, they reached their peak – 60 percent of domestic consumption. Imports are now down to 25 percent, and it is entirely possible that within ten years or so, there will no longer be any oil tanker shipments from overseas.
Could the United States produce as much oil as it consumes? And finally become energy independent?
Given that the economy is likely to be one of the big issues in the closing weeks of the presidential campaign – and maybe the biggest one – it’s worth understanding the important economic and security benefits that come from surging U.S. oil production. Once you do, you can get a sense of what our energy options are.
The United States is experiencing an oil boom, thanks to the use of technology that is re-energizing the oil industry by making it more efficient than ever. Witness the impressive gains in efficiency and safety we are seeing in oil and gas production in Ohio, Pennsylvania, North Dakota and South Texas. Instead of investing huge sums in deep-water drilling, companies are spending less but producing more oil and gas in shale.
Another reason we’re headed in the right direction is because we’re consuming less oil. Demand for oil has declined. The country has become more efficient in the use of oil, with improved mileage in new-model cars.
But does this mean that we’re going to become energy independent? Even if we no longer have to import oil from the Persian Gulf and other distant regions, the fact is oil prices are set on world markets, and we would not be immune from events taking place elsewhere.
A tanker accident in the Persian Gulf or volatility in Venezuela would affect oil prices in the United States. Indeed, spikes in global oil prices would be felt by American consumers at the gas pump.
What is different is that we’re more energy secure than we’ve been at any time in the past 40 years. The United States is not vulnerable to an oil blockade like the one that triggered an energy crisis in 1973. Consider where our imported oil is coming from. Canada is by far our largest supplier, exporting 3.5 million barrels a day in June. In other words, our largest oil supplier is our friendly neighbor and closest trading partner.
The second largest is Saudi Arabia, with 1.1 million barrels a day.
More importantly, energy markets in the United States are now closely integrated with those in Canada and Mexico, in what is now a North American market. And include Colombia in the energy picture, a big oil-producing country that is now our fifth largest source of imported oil. And, despite the virtual collapse of its economy, don’t rule out Venezuela, which is still a big exporter.
Developments on the energy front are having major consequences. We’re paying less for imported oil. We’re now a major oil producer in our own right, with far-reaching geopolitical implications around the world. The expansion of domestic oil and gas production has created hundreds of thousands of jobs, generated revenue, and produced great economic benefits, especially in manufacturing. That is why the rest of the world is looking upon us with envy.
John J. Interval is a professional petroleum geologist based in Bridgeville.