Us Oil Dependence Essay

UNITED STATES OIL DEPENDENCE As the world’s top consumer of oil, how much of that consumption is the United States able to satisfy with its own oil resources and how dependent is it on imported oil? According to the U. S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), of the oil consumed in the United States in 2008, approximately 57% was imported. Despite popular belief that most of this imported oil would have come from the Middle East, nearly half originated in the Western Hemisphere in countries such as Mexico, Canada, Venezuela, Brazil and Argentina.

Although the United States is one of the top five crude oil producers, as you can see in the chart below, more than half of the oil consumed by Americans is imported. Net imports have generally increased since 1985 while U. S. production fell and consumption grew. According to the EIA, in 2008, while the United States consumed more than 23% of the world’s petroleum, it produced only about 10%. The United States “consumed 19. 5 million barrels per day (MMbd) of petroleum products during 2008 making [them] the world’s largest petroleum consumer…[and] third in crude oil production at 4. 9 MMbd” (EIA). In 2008, the United States imported 12. MMbd of crude oil and refined petroleum products, while it exported 1. 8 MMbd, resulting in net imports (imports minus exports) equaling 11. 1 MMbd. Most of the petroleum consumed in the United States was refined domestically. Where do U. S. oil imports come from? Some may be surprised to learn that nearly 50% of U. S. oil imports came from the Western Hemisphere (North, South, and Central America and the Caribbean including U. S. territories) during 2008. Only approximately 22% of U. S. imports of crude oil and petroleum products originate in the Persian Gulf and Middle Eastern countries of Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the United

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Arab Emirates. The largest suppliers of net oil imports to the U. S. are Canada and Saudi Arabia (EIA). Sources of Net Oil Imports: Canada (20. 1%) Saudi Arabia (13. 8%) Venezuela (10. 5%) Nigeria (8. 8%) Mexico (8. 7%) Lower U. S. Petroleum Imports Expected in the Future The U. S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) expects that net imports of U. S. oil products will decline from 12. 1 MMbd in 2007 to 8. 3 MMbd in 2030. Growth in United States oil consumption is projected to remain relatively stable until 2030, while increased U. S. il production in the Gulf of Mexico, among other places, in combination with an increase in biofuel production, is projected to minimize the need for importation. DELETE THIS. U. S. petroleum import dependence is projected to fall from 58% in 2007 to 40% by 2030. The United States Oil Exportation Despite the fact that the United States is the world’s largest importer of oil, it also exports nearly 2 MMbd of oil, though nearly all of it is refined products. The reason for this is logistics. Exporting some oil and replacing it with imported oil is sometimes the most economically beneficial.

An example of this is the situation concerning the U. S. Gulf Coast region. Often, it makes more economic sense to export the U. S. refined oil products from that region to Mexico instead of shipping it to the more distant areas of the U. S. due to lower-cost gasoline and refined oil product imports available to those areas from Europe. Crude Oil and Total Petroleum Imports Top 15 Countries December 2009 Import Highlights: February 25, 2010 Monthly data on the origins of crude oil imports in December 2009 has been released and it shows that three countries exported more than 1. 0 million barrels per day to the United States (see table below). The top five exporting countries accounted for 71 percent of United States crude oil imports in December while the top ten sources accounted for approximately 87 percent of all U. S. crude oil imports. The top five sources of US crude oil imports for December were Canada (2. 051 million barrels per day), Mexico (1. 063 million barrels per day), Nigeria (1. 020 million barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (0. 886 million barrels per day), and Venezuela (0. 772 million barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order, were Algeria (0. 36 million barrels per day), Iraq (0. 325) million barrels per day), Angola (0. 266 million barrels per day), Brazil (0. 181 million barrels per day), and Colombia (0. 179 million barrels per day). Total crude oil imports averaged 8. 133 million barrels per day in December, which is a decrease of 0. 576 million barrels per day from November 2009. Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum in December, exporting 2. 649 million barrels per day to the United States, which is an increase from last month (2. 527 thousand barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum was Mexico with 1. 04 million barrels per day. Crude Oil Imports (Top 15 Countries) (Thousand Barrels per Day) CountryDec-09Nov-09YTD 2009Dec-08YTD 2008 ________________________________________ CANADA2,0511,9841,9382,0331,956 MEXICO1,0639511,0961,1261,187 NIGERIA1,020948771869922 SAUDI ARABIA8868379891,3941,503 VENEZUELA7728099651,0281,039 ALGERIA336219277235312 IRAQ325458448519627 ANGOLA266408449553504 BRAZIL181261294208231 COLOMBIA179216254148178 RUSSIA16816923254116 KUWAIT160287185194206 AZERBAIJAN14774757873 CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE)93109649567 ECUADOR86150174252214 Note: The data in the table above excludes oil imports into the U. S. terr

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