American Energy Independence a FairyTale?

[lockmat]

Someone please help me understand.

They said if we produced more oil here we could be energy independent.

We are and yet OPEC is still affecting us drastically.

If Saudi can do what they're doing and still cause our energy companies to fall to our knees, it doesn't seem to me that we can truly be independent.

What's holding us back? Did they forget to factor in competition in energy exports?

[lockmat]

I guess I could have just google it, but it still makes for a fun discussion.

Here is a decent article.

http://www.pri.org/stories/2015-01-21/why-energy-independence-doesnt-actually-mean-much-all

[Ross]

Total independence is a myth. It could only be achieved with strong controls on imports, otherwise, the prices here to make independence possible would attract more imports seeking more revenue. Given the mix of refinery capabilities, we ought to be exporting the light crude we produce and importing heavy crude that the refineries are optimized for.

 

Reducing reliance on imports will certainly not be helped by Obama's announcement that he wants to make much of Alaska a designated wilderness, prohibiting any additional energy development there. Once the Trans Alaska Pipeline throughput drops below 200-300,000 barrels per day, it becomes uneconomic to run, and will be shut down, which initiates the demolition process, stranding large quantities of resources on the North Slope.

 

 

[samagon]

in a global economy, with a global commodity like oil, what you hope to achieve when you say 'energy independence' is to produce enough energy locally so that global events don't have an impact on local prices.

 

when there's as much of it that can be produced anywhere around the world at any time, we can achieve the ability to keep the price from going up, but we can't keep it from going down.

 

especially when you consider how much it costs to produce oil in various places around the world. Iraq can pump a bbl of oil out of the ground for under a $5 bill. If they could ever get their poop in a group and stop fighting with each other about who gets the money, they could all be filthy rich (think Dubai rich).

 

Here's an interesting cost to produce, for most countries: http://www.reuters.com/article/2009/07/28/oil-cost-factbox-idUSLS12407420090728

 

point is, if we can produce enough to regulate the max price, that's 'energy independence'. At least, that's my interpretation.