George Bush isn't the first politician to predict "energy independence" when fuel prices jump and consumers turn the heat on Washington.
"Energy independence" has been a political slogan since the Saudi Arabian oil embargo of 1973-74 that protested U.S. policies toward Israel.
Energy independence for Americans is utterly impossible, and numbers tell the story:
· Proven U.S. oil reserves are just under 23 billion barrels, compared to Saudi Arabia's 241 billion barrels of proven reserves (and possibly twice that).
· In March, the United States produced 5.5 million barrels per day at home, but needed 12.8 million barrels imported daily to meet demand, which is some 60.2 percent of our daily need, with 20 percent from Saudi Arabia.
· Americans consume more than 20 million barrels (42 gallons per barrel) of petroleum each day. That's 25 percent of world consumption of 82 million barrels, although U.S. reserves are less than 5 percent of the world's 1.2 trillion barrel reserves.
So, even with new oil discoveries, the American thirst for gasoline relies on significant imports.
Going from filling 60 percent of our daily domestic oil needs with imports to zero percent imports to become entirely energy independent as the world's largest user of crude is sheer fantasy.
To speed waste, President Bush has ignored aggressive conservation measures and is canceling the $2,000 tax deduction for economy hybrid cars but retaining the $25,000 tax deduction for gas-guzzling Hummers.
In June and July 1974, I traveled in Saudi Arabia coast to coast, visiting Saudi homes, talking with Saudi oil executives, touring the great oil fields and refineries in Dammam and Dhahran on the Arabian Sea. (I was there again in 1990-91 for Gulf War I.)
In 120 degree temperature, I flew on an Aramco Fairchild F-27 propjet to see a new find in the Rub al-Khali (the Empty Quarter), the world's largest continuous desert with stunning coral-colored sand—a well whose "sweet" oil could be poured into diesel engines without refining.
Then, I had a meeting at his summer palace in mountainous Taif with the man behind the embargo, King Faisal bin Abdulaziz, who was assassinated less than a year later.
Americans should forget about blaming Saudis for high gasoline prices. Oil is Saudi Arabia's major export, and Saudis will use oil to their advantage and not exhaust their national asset to satisfy U.S. driving habits.
Americans can blame their reliance on Saudi oil with unrestrained consumption and for believing politicians that promise "energy independence" by drilling a few more wells.
Pat Murphy
