Still, when one thinks of the mischief that could have been prevented had the U.S. not projected such weakness on the world oil markets over those years.
* Would Ukraine have avoided invasion if the U.S. could put Russia’s petrotyrants on the defensive?
* Would Iran have not chanced taking its oil earnings to build a nuke if it could see we could ‘bury’ them on the oil markets?
* Would the Saudis have gotten started earlier on developing their economy, and thus preventing terrorism to take root, if the U.S. had more oil? Or if the U.S. had the clout to put them out of business?
* Would Ecuador and Indonesia have joined OPEC at all if its clout as a producer were in question?
* Would Venezuela have turned into a hellhole were it not for its heyday of huge oil earnings?
So many serious possibilities.
Peak oil, baby, peak oil.
Drill Baby, Drill!
A country that imports 9.4 million BBs of oil a day should not be exporting oil. Makes no sense.
Not exactly true. Our wells produce a lower grade or crude that our refineries don't want, so we sell it oversees. Most of the oil we refine for our domestic market is actually still being imported. It's naive to simply add up what we import and what we export and say we're now independent.
Venezuela is an exception. We buy high grade crude from them and sell low grade crude to them, but we also refine it for them. Remember they bought Citgo. It wasn't for the gas stations. They have a huge refinery in Louisiana.
THIS from the gCaptain marine website backs that up.