Africa’s largest oil producer Nigeria is the fifth largest source of oil for the US. The recent violence in the country will have a significant impact on the price of crude. National instability plagues many of the world’s major oil producing regions, adding to market volatility and higher energy costs. Therein lies the incentive for the United States to keep working towards self-sufficiency in energy production. Sure, we need to keep exploring other technologies and sources of energy, but the fact of the matter is that we will continue to be reliant on oil for a long time. We need to tap into a reliable petroleum source that will help to stabilize the market and provide a reliable supply free from regional instability.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Of course oil prices are globally commoditized and where the drilling happens will have no effect on the price of oil. Whether we are drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge or not, instability in other oil producing countries will still cause speculators to drive our prices up--especially as the industrialization of India and China will very quickly cause demand to outpace whatever supply ANWR will provide.
Does it not make strategic sense to reserve the oil under ANWR for the next world war when global supplies may be cut off for an extended period? Even when the day comes that we replace 100% of our petroleum fuel use with renewable sources (which is unlikely as there's no such thing as a solar-powered B52 or a geothermal helicopter), we will still need oil as a raw material for manufacturing.
Unless you are proposing that the US withdraw from global markets once we become "energy self-sufficient," as long as that energy is based on oil we will still be experiencing the same price shocks.
Post a Comment