United States oil politics

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About 40% of the energy consumed by the United States comes from oil[1]. The United States, with about 5% of the world's population, is responsible for 25% of the world's oil consumption while only having 3% of the world's proven oil reserves [2]. The United States, as of 2006, imports more than 65% of the oil it consumes.

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[edit] The United States and Iraq

Ex-CIA director James Woolsey and U.S. Senator Richard Lugar wrote: "Energy is vital to a country's security and material well-being. A state unable to provide its people with adequate energy supplies or desiring added leverage over other people often resorts to force. Consider Saddam Hussein's 1990 invasion of Kuwait, driven by his desire to control more of the world's oil reserves, and the international response to this threat. The underlying goal of the U.N. force, which included 500,000 American troops, was to ensure continued and unfettered access to petroleum."

[edit] The United States and Saudi Arabia

As of 2005, Saudi Arabia has 25% of the worlds proven oil reserves (the world's largest oil reserves) and has the worlds fourth largest natural gas reserves.[1] Saudi Oil accounts for about 13% of U.S. oil imports.

Former U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia, Chas Freeman, said of Saudi Arabia, "One of the major things the Saudis have historically done, in part out of friendship with the United States, is to insist that oil continues to be priced in dollars. Therefore, the US Treasury can print money and buy oil, which is an advantage no other country has. With the emergence of other currencies and with strains in the relationship, I wonder whether there will not again be, as there have been in the past, people in Saudi Arabia who raise the question of why they should be so kind to the United States."[2][3]

[edit] The United States and the Soviet Union

Richard Heinberg, a professor from Santa Rosa, California argues that a newly declassified CIA document shows that the U.S. used oil prices as leverage against the economy of the Soviet Union:

"The Memorandum predicts an impending peak in Soviet oil production 'not later than the early 1980s' (the actual peak occurred in 1987 at 12.5 million barrels per day, following a preliminary peak in 1983 of 12.5 Mb/d). 'During the next decade,' the unnamed authors of the document conclude, 'the USSR may well find itself not only unable to supply oil to Eastern Europe and the West on the present scale, but also having to compete for OPEC oil for its own use.' The Memorandum predicts that the oil peak will have important economic impacts: 'When oil production stops growing, and perhaps even before, profound repercussions will be felt on the domestic economy of the USSR and on its international economic relations.'"

"...Soon after assuming office in 1981, the Reagan Administration abandoned the established policy of pursuing détente with the Soviet Union and instead instituted a massive arms buildup; it also fomented proxy wars in areas of Soviet influence, while denying the Soviets desperately needed oil equipment and technology. Then, in the mid-1980s, Washington persuaded Saudi Arabia to flood the world market with cheap oil. Throughout the last decade of its existence, the USSR pumped and sold its oil at the maximum possible rate in order to earn foreign exchange income with which to keep up in the arms race and prosecute its war in Afghanistan. Yet with markets awash with cheap Saudi oil, the Soviets were earning less even as they pumped more. Two years after their oil production peaked, the economy of the USSR crumbled and its government collapsed."[4]

[edit] Dependence on foreign oil

American dependence on oil imports has grown from 35% in 1973 (the first year reliable data were collected) to 60% by the end of 2006. The Energy Information Administration projects that U.S. oil imports will remain flat and consumption will grow, so net imports will decline to 54% of U.S. oil consumption by 2030[5] The top five suppliers of crude oil and petroleum products to the United States in 2006 were: Canada, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, and Nigeria.

[edit] The Carter administration

1973 energy crisis, Carter Doctrine

[edit] Domestic oil Politics in the United States

[edit] U.S. officials who have worked for the oil industry

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/saudi.html
  2. ^ The United States and Saudi Arabia: American Interests and Challenges to the Kingdom in 2002
  3. ^ When will we buy oil in euros? | Business | The Observer
  4. ^ http://www.museletter.com/archive/cia-oil.html
  5. ^ How Dependent Is the United States on Foreign Oil? - eia.doe.gov
  6. ^ COMPANY NEWS; Baker and Mosbacher Are Hired by Enron - New York Times
  7. ^ Biography: Robert G. Card
  8. ^ A Dirty Dozen
  9. ^ FindLaw - Employment Agreement - Tom Brown Inc. and Donald L. Evans
  10. ^ http://www.corpwatch.org//article.php?id=11458
  11. ^ Spotlight on Enron's law firm
  12. ^ A Dirty Dozen
  13. ^ http://dir.salon.com/story/politics/conason/2002/12/03/bush/print.html
  14. ^ This article is unavailable - HighBeam Research
  15. ^ http://dir.salon.com/story/politics/conason/2002/12/03/bush/print.html
  16. ^ Aide who doctored global warming report joins Exxon - World - Times Online
  17. ^ That Page Not Found (404 Error) - Sierra Club
  18. ^ http://www.corpwatch.org//article.php?id=11458
  19. ^ SEC Info - Schlesinger James R - 5 - Seven Seas Petroleum Inc - For 12/31/01