For nearly 40 years, policy makers have talked about weaning the U.S. off imported oil from the Middle East to little or no avail because of America's huge thirst for energy.
Now, The Wall Street Journal reports that a rise of supplies from Canada, South America, as well as greater shale oil output at home could help the U.S. finally achieve that goal by 2035. See: WSJ story: Expanded oil drilling helps U.S.
The story focuses only on oil and doesn’t even factor in the possible impact of electric cars, and natural gas-powered trucks that are filtering into the complicated U.S. energy equation.
A recent study by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, which first hobbled the U.S. with a spike in gasoline prices in the 1973 oil embargo, noted that oil shipments from the Middle East to North America "could almost be nonexistent" in 23 years as renewable fuels and rising oil production make their way into the domestic market.
Even without Middle East oil being sold to the U.S., the region will still shape global oil prices in the future. But over time, the U.S. could pare back its attention on the politically volatile region, at least in terms of its energy and military policies.
The latest forecasts from the U.S. Energy Information Administration call for U.S. imports from the Middle East, Europe and Africa to fall to 2.5 million barrels a day by 2020, more than four million barrels a day now.
The supplies closer to home include: Canadian oil sands in Alberta, offshore reserves in Brazil, the Bakken fields of North Dakota, and the deeper waters of the Gulf of Mexico. Venezuela also contains vast reserves of heavier grades of crude. . .View Full Article
