Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
himself by refusing to name whom he had consulted in drawing up his
energy plan.
In fact, the Cheney energy plan's analysis of the problem of growing US
reliance on oil imports was incontrovertible. The contentious parts, ques-
tioned by the plan's critics, were the proposed solutions. The Cheney plan
almost totally ignored the demand side of the equation - the possibility
of influencing the consumption of oil by taxation or regulation. This was
in line with Cheney's remark, a few days before his report appeared, that
“conservation may be a personal virtue, but it is not a sufficient basis for
a sound, comprehensive energy policy”. In terms of energy security, the
Cheney plan was too attracted by the lure of diversification. It put too
much faith in getting more oil from Western hemisphere neighbours and
from the Caspian Sea, in the hope of buying less from the Middle East
and the Gulf.
Within four months of the Cheney energy plan, the attacks of September
11 2001 happened. They immediately put everything in a new light,
including the issues surrounding Middle Eastern oil. The attacks filled
Americans with horror, and the fact that the majority of the perpetrators
were Saudi citizens seemed evidence for many of how their country's close
partnership with Saudi Arabia had backfired. It appeared more than ever
to be a relationship of “oil for insecurity”. As time went on, oil may have
become a contributing reason for the invasion of Iraq: an Iraq free of UN
sanctions and with some new foreign investment, would put more oil on
to the world market. This in turn could help reduce Saudi Arabia's politi-
Source: International Energy Agency
Oil export flows from the Middle East
5.1
6.0
5.3
Suez
4.2
20.7
20.5
23.0
17.0
Hormuz
14.3
15.3
16.7
4.6
5.5
4.9
3.8
Malacca
Bab el-Mandab
3.9
Oil low, 2006 (mb/d)
Oil low, 2006 (mb/d)
to Far East
12.0
Share of world oil demand (%)
Share of world oil demand (%)
to Atlantic
basin markets
2006
2015 (reference scenario)
2030 (reference scenario)
from
West Africa
to Australia &
New Zealand
