We have huge quantities of untapped resources from Alaska to the OCS, and the Shale Oil deposits in the Western Slope of the Rockies. Are you saying that our oil companies if allowed to fully exploit those resources would suddenly feel free to charge more per barrel for new discoveries over and beyond the prices of their current domestic production?
I think it more likely as our production as against our demand shrinks, we lose bargaining leverage in the global market, particularly as against coercive players in that market, such as OPEC, and China etc. If we could ramp up production that would lower their ability to dictate terms, and hence a lower equilibrium price would result.
No, they wouldn't. My point is that nobody is going to produce oil in the U.S. for $25 per barrel -- mainly because the cost of doing business in the U.S. makes it impractical to do that. If 100% of the oil we used came from domestic sources, the price of oil is far more likely to be $300 per barrel than $25 per barrel -- just as the cost of anything is substantially higher if it is produced here in the U.S. than overseas.