Liberal Forum

PhiloBeddo » Today, 10:55 am » wrote: ↑

Today, 10:55 am

There has to be a way to sell oil at domestic prices in the USA while selling oil at global prices to the rest of the world. Being energy independent should have some advantages. It's kind of like instate and out of state tuition. Locals should pay less.

We are not so "energy independent" as you might think from listening to politicians and "journalists."

The US proven reserves are not terribly impressive compared to the US appetite. We will almost certainly not be a net exporter in perpetuity, The main reason we are currently a net exporter is to weaken Russia by taking their customers in Europe away. Delivering to China is much more expensive. 

The US has less than 5% of the world's proven reserves. It consumes 20% of the world's oil on a daily basis. The math is the math: We are using at 4+ times the rate that we are holding. China uses 15%, and India uses 5.3%.But they both have 5 times as many people. 

This isn't a good thing or a bad thing. It's just a thing. We could double our proven reserves next week. Or someone else could. Oil is funny like that.