US is now producing more oil than it needs

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Yes, but with oil energy independence comes at a price. The oil we are producing is only possible at the high oil prices we currently have, otherwise not profitable to produce. So OPEC just has to flood the market with cheap oil for a short period of time and it will set us back a few years.
 
I thought the price was environmental devastation and a planet not safe for living things? With wood for heat and solar for most of our electricity, I too am almost independent from oil energy. Didn't see an article in the news on that.
 
dmmoss51 said:
Yes, but with oil energy independence comes at a price. The oil we are producing is only possible at the high oil prices we currently have, otherwise not profitable to produce. So OPEC just has to flood the market with cheap oil for a short period of time and it will set us back a few years.
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1) that is a v badly written article...we are not oil 'independent'
2) the current price of oil IS cheap. While higher than the 1990s and early 2000s, it is less than it was in the 70s, corrected for inflation. More importantly, per capita and per $GDP oil usage are down close to 50% since then, so the economy is not seeing a big drag at current prices.
3) OPEC likes the current price where it is, if the price were much lower they would be bankrupt, if it were much higher, there would be too much demand destruction. At the current level, folks are still buying big cars/trucks in North America. At $5+/gal, they would rethink.
 
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Woodgeek, yes you are correct. I was just making the point that if people that read that article think .99 gas is on its way back they are mistaken. I know OPEC likes current prices but if they saw their demand drop due to the US production, flooding the market a little so the price got to where the US oil was unsustainable again and poof there goes our production and comes back their demand and higher prices. Independence will come from less fossil fuel usage and more alternatives not greater production, imo.
 
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We is the US, not the corporations. We are using less oil and producing more as well. The combined effect is reduced dependency. The less we have to rely on OPEC the better.
 
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begreen said:
We is the US, not the corporations. We are using less oil and producing more as well. The combined effect is reduced dependency. The less we have to rely on OPEC the better.
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My son contracts for a company that installs gas furnaces to pick up the old heating units. I ask him what most people are switching FROM as they put in gas ,he said almost exclusively OIL BOILERS and FURNACES. I guess thats good news as well.
 
Seasoned Oak said:
My son contracts for a company that installs gas furnaces to pick up the old heating units. I ask him what most people are switching FROM as they put in gas ,he said almost exclusively OIL BOILERS and FURNACES. I guess thats good news as well.
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As we discussed in an earlier thread, oil is dying as a residential heating fuel.....

https://www.hearth.com/talk/threads/home-heating-oil-the-bell-tolls-for-thee.110427/

Bottom line, <1% of new houses in the US get oil heat installed (about a total of 2000 oil heating systems are installed in new houses in a year across the whole US). Even in New England, that number is <5%, versus ~30% of new construction in 2002 and before.

I think oil heat is a total white elephant outside of New England today (hurts resale), and will soon be the same inside New England, perhaps with Maineiacs excepted.
 
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This is progress no doubt. But i think we would be wise to pursue a policy of Near Zero imports on energy.Probably could get most of it from efficiency. Its always easier to control your own destiny when you dont have so much dependence on other countries. An import tax would do wonders for domestic production
 
We're starting to get under way. Thanks to the new EPA mandates light vehicle fuel consumption is dropping sharply. 3000 miles on our Volt and only 12 gallons of gas burned so far.
 
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