2 ms·

In the short term. Historically the U.S. has avoided drilling much of its reserves preferring to use oil from foreign sources first, knowing that it would have

In the short term. Historically the U.S. has avoided drilling much of its reserves preferring to use oil from foreign sources first, knowing that it would have its own remaining if those ever dried up, either literally or because they became untenable to access for whatever reason. If the U.S. uses up its reserves and doesn't drastically cut its consumption, it's no longer a net exporter. One potential solution: Use local reserves in the short term while redirecting military spending toward building sustainable / clean energy infrastructure domestically to avoid a scenario in which the country runs out of domestic reserves and is no longer able to obtain oil from foreign sources.

adventured 8y ago
The US has at least a hundred years of oil remaining, and that's without properly exploring for oil off either massive coast using modern technology. That's also ignoring that gasoline is about to get demolished by electric cars, which will slash oil demand in a very dramatic manner. In likely terms, the US has enough oil for multiple centuries once it's no longer heavily used for transportation. And of course the US is neighbors with another huge oil producer up north that happens to have a small population. Mexico also likely has a lot of oil it's unaware of, near Texas, in the form of shale. Given it only has 500m people, North America is an energy reserves monster.
jerf 8y ago
"Historically the U.S. has avoided drilling much of its reserves preferring to use oil from foreign sources first," Historically, shale oil was not economically viable. This has drastically changed the equations because suddenly available supply has shot up, rendering the old calculations moot. (Note I am not implying anything further other than what I said. There are good aspects to that, there are bad aspects to that, and there will be disagreement about which is which. I'm just saying the old strategy has been obsoleted by practical shale extraction.)

adventured 8y ago

The US has at least a hundred years of oil remaining, and that's without properly exploring for oil off either massive coast using modern technology. That's also ignoring that gasoline is about to get demolished by electric cars, which will slash oil demand in a very dramatic manner. In likely terms, the US has enough oil for multiple centuries once it's no longer heavily used for transportation. And of course the US is neighbors with another huge oil producer up north that happens to have a small population. Mexico also likely has a lot of oil it's unaware of, near Texas, in the form of shale. Given it only has 500m people, North America is an energy reserves monster.

jerf 8y ago

"Historically the U.S. has avoided drilling much of its reserves preferring to use oil from foreign sources first," Historically, shale oil was not economically viable. This has drastically changed the equations because suddenly available supply has shot up, rendering the old calculations moot. (Note I am not implying anything further other than what I said. There are good aspects to that, there are bad aspects to that, and there will be disagreement about which is which. I'm just saying the old strategy has been obsoleted by practical shale extraction.)