How do we get off foreign oil?

[TEG]

Saudi prince calls for lower oil prices - CNN.com

(CNN) -- Saudi Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal said Sunday that he wants oil prices to drop so that the United States and Europe don't accelerate efforts to wean themselves off his country's supply. In an interview broadcast Sunday on "CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS," the grandson of the founding king of modern Saudi Arabia said the oil price should be somewhere between $70 and $80 a barrel, rather than the current level of over $100 a barrel.
"We don't want the West to go and find alternatives, because, clearly, the higher the price of oil goes, the more they have incentives to go and find alternatives," said Talal, who is listed by Forbes as the 26th richest man in the world...

 

[William13]

Although the Saudi royal family says they want a lower cost for oil, they have the ability to glut the market if they rally tried. Thus I don't believe they really care at $100. They benefit more from the uncertainty of the price than the actual price. The uncertainty decreases investment in alternatives. They do care about avoiding world economic meltdown from $200 oil. I am sure the threshold is lower but I don't know where.

 

[vfx]

Although the Saudi royal family ... They benefit more from the uncertainty of the price than the actual price. ....

Same with legislation. By approving incentives for renewables that only last a year or two it effectively limits the investments. Who wants to commit to a large scale project if there is not a long term financial commitment -even from a government? Solar panel makers, Turbine builders, etc., need the confidence that discounted prices will hold and not have to worry that the next administration will not continue the consumer discounts and loose massive sales numbers.

 

[richkae]

It is not in the best interest of the dealer to kill his customer.

 

[zack]

Correct. Parasites that kill their hosts are doomed.

 

[Nik]

http://green.autoblog.com/2011/07/11/plug-in-america-talks-electric-vehicles-with-the-air-force/
Report of interview at Plug In America with USAF officer regarding use of green energy and EVs. According to Autoblog, the interviewee:

urges the public to adopt EVs as their mode of transportation in order to help protect not only our environment, but national security as well. Goodrich says that $83 billion alone is spent on protecting oil transit routes. He makes a good argument for why we shouldn't be sending so much of our "$250 billion addiction to oil" overseas.

 

[smorgasbord]

As I recall, the US consumes 20 million barrels per day, of which around 5 or 6 million are locally sourced.

That's about right, according to Scientific American.

Here's the latest from the US gov:

April 2011 Import Highlights: Released June 29, 2011
Monthly data on the origins of crude oil imports in April 2011 has been released and it shows that two countries exported more than 1,000 thousand barrels per day to the United States (see table below). The top five exporting countries accounted for 68 percent of United States crude oil imports in April while the top ten sources accounted for approximately 88 percent of all U.S. crude oil imports. The top five sources of US crude oil imports for April were Canada (2,079 thousand barrels per day), Saudi Arabia (1,089 thousand barrels per day), Mexico (973 thousand barrels per day), Venezuela (902 thousand barrels per day), and Nigeria (856 thousand barrels per day). The rest of the top ten sources, in order, were Iraq (519 thousand barrels per day), Colombia (462 thousand barrels per day), Russia (288 thousand barrels per day), Angola (277 thousand barrels per day), and Brazil (210 thousand barrels per day). Total crude oil imports averaged 8,715 thousand barrels per day in April, which is a decrease of 318 thousand barrels per day from March 2011.

Canada remained the largest exporter of total petroleum in April, exporting 2,625 thousand barrels per day to the United States, which is a decrease from last month (2,666 thousand barrels per day). The second largest exporter of total petroleum was Saudi Arabia with 1,107 thousand barrels per day.

Apparently, Mexico was #2 thanks to their the Cantarell oilfield, but production there is on a terminal decline. That is, it has literally peaked and will be dry soon. Real soon. And now Venezuela is threatening to cut the US off.

At any rate, we produce twice as much oil domestically as we import from our number 1 importer, Canada. Matter of fact, we drill as much as we import from the top 4 importers (Canada, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, and Venezuela) combined.

 

[dpeilow]

BBC News - Lockerbie bomber Megrahi release was

There have been fresh allegations about the circumstances surrounding the release of the Lockerbie bomber.

A former Libyan foreign minister claims the release of Abdelbaset Ali al-Megrahi was discussed with the British government and linked to a contract for oil company BP.