07-02-2005, 03:16 PM
I think this article is flawed. The basic premise seems to be that, by NOT buying petroleum products from the Middle East, the United States will have total control over the region. This is an illogical assumption.
Nevertheless, it is true that, with each passing year, the Middle East is becoming a less and less important supplier of petroleum imports to the United States. Here's a summary of the source of US petroleum imports for the 2004 calendar year:
16.3% Canada
12.7% Mexico
11.9% Saudi Arabia
11.8% Venezuela
8.7% Nigeria
18.9% Entire Persian Gulf (including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar, and United ArabEmirates)
I expect that, for the 2005 calendar year, Venezuela will pull past Saudi Arabia and be the third most important supplier of petroleum products.
Within a few years, US petroleum imports from Canada will probably exceed imports from the entire Persian Gulf (Canada is currently building an oil pipeline over the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Ocean. Once it is completed, we will start shipping huge quanties of oil by tanker to California).
Incidently, it's a little known fact that Canada has the second highest petroleum reserves in the world, with Saudi Arabia in first place. Iran is a distant third:
261.9 billion barrels - Saudi Arabia
178.8 billion barrels - Canada
125.8 billion barrels - Iran