How dependent are we on foreign oil?
As the U.S. considers new offshore drilling, a major motivator is reducing its reliance on foreign oil. Here's a look at where U.S. oil imports come from.
Oil helped fuel the United States' prosperous 20th century, and the growing country built its infrastructure with that in mind. But the sprawling suburbs and far-flung freeways ended up locking America into long-term dependence on the nonrenewable sludge, which passed coal as the nation's favorite fossil in 1951.
Oil shale, a sludgy sediment embedded in deposits called tar sands or oil sands (see photo at right), makes up nearly half of all Canadian oil output and is expected to grow in coming years, more than offsetting the country's dwindling production of conventional crude. In addition to reaping the benefits of the vast tar sands to the north, the United States also has the largest oil shale deposits in the world — holding up to 1.8 trillion barrels of petroleum — underneath the Rocky Mountains, especially Colorado, Utah and Wyoming.
Aside from its untapped oil shale deposits, the United States has about 21 billion barrels of proven oil reserves, which includes drillable reservoirs as well as oil-storage facilities like the Strategic Petroleum Reserve — underground salt caverns along the Gulf Coast that contain the world's largest emergency supply of crude oil. American oil usage would certainly drop if imports somehow dried up, but even at half of today's consumption rate, U.S. oil reserves would be used up in 60 years. Worldwide, half of all commercially available oil may have already been depleted; even conservative estimates expect oil production to peak by 2040.
WorldShares
lets you earn donations for your favorite nonprofit. Earn up to 20
points now.Learn More Earn Points
|
link:
Comments
How dependent can the United States possibly be on foreign oil when the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is gushing an estimated 100,000 barrels of oil per day into the ocean -- and this has been going on for over two months at this point? Do the math. . . the dependency on foreign oil story is a fiction.
19.5 million used a day. 9.78 imported + 4.89 domestic = 14.67 total. Where does the extra 4.83 million come from?
Also, the graph shows VERY different figures, at 20,000 imported and 5,000 domestic. Even if the scale is off, that's way more than twice (actually about 4x) imported versus domestic.
If you want to make people believe there's a problem (which there is), present your data properly, with fact checks, sources (yes I see the EIA cited), and speculation\explanation on.... More
Hi Fred, thanks for commenting and for pointing out the mistake in the graphic; it's now fixed. As for your question about daily U.S. oil use, the problem is you're comparing two different statistics. The U.S. imports 9.78 million barrels of crude oil every day and produces another 4.95 million, and consumes about 9 million barrels a day of that as motor gasoline. But the country consumes a total of 19.5 million barrels of net petroleum daily, which includes petroleum products other than crude.... More
It says 19 years later not 19 years ago. Sorry my bad.
Check your math we use 19.5 million per day but only import 9.78 and that is double what we produce? Where does the rest come from, if we don't produce it or import it? You should note that the 19.5 is not just oil usage. http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/cfapps/STEO_Query/steotables.cfm?periodType=Ann...
Also oil peaked in the 1970's and not 1990, 19 years ago. .... More
At present, the Canadian oil sands are the largest and dirtiest energy project in the world. To find out more: http://dirtyoilsands.org
The author would do well correct his inference that oil shale and oil sands/tar sands are the same thing. The organic matter in oil shale is known as kerogen, and it is part of the shale's solid matrix (e.g. oil shale appears to be a rock). The organic matter in oil sands is known as bitumen and it is mixed with the sand but not part of it (e.g. it appears to be a tarry substance with silt in it, kind of like a stiff toothpaste).
Thanks for pointing this out. We've updated the text so the distinction is clearer.




























