Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
14
$120
Net oil imports
Price of oil
12
$100
10
$80
8
$60
6
$40
4
$20
2
$0
0
1970
1975
1980
1985
1990
1995
2000
2005
2010
Figure 6.1
Changes in the amount of oil imports and the price of a barrel of crude oil, 1970-2010.
lasts forever. No amount of domestic exploration, in either the lower
forty-eight or in Alaska, can change this. Additional domestic oil fi elds,
both large and small, will no doubt be found, as has recently occurred
deep beneath the Gulf of Mexico, but the increase in America's depen-
dence on external sources of oil cannot be stopped.
Sources of America's Imported Oil
Because of the emphasis of American foreign policy on the Middle East,
many Americans believe the Persian Gulf region is the dominant source
of our imported oil. And the area does contain 75 percent of the world's
proven reserves. 2 However, although the dependence of the United States
on Middle Eastern oil was great in decades past, today it is less than 20
percent of our imports—perhaps 8 percent of all the oil we use (
table
6.1). The European Union imports about the same percentage of its oil
as does the United States, but 45 percent of it comes from the Middle
East, and we are politically obligated to support their oil needs.
Most of the world's oil is controlled by the twelve members of the
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), many of whom
believe that the United States and Western civilization in general are a
corrupting infl uence on human behavior and want to destroy them.
 
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