A good piece on some of the more misleading claims of the US oil industry lobby, debunked with actual facts and research.
[EX=http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/03/28/453894/debunking-american-petroleum-institute-claims-about-oil-issues/?mobile=nc]CLAIM: “More domestic production is critical to putting downward pressure on gasoline prices — supply matters.” – Jack Gerard, American Petroleum Institute President and CEO, March 26, 2012
TRUTH: To test whether more U.S. domestic production would lower gasoline prices, the Associated Press just completed an exhaustive analysis of 36 years of monthly U.S. oil production and gasoline price data. AP found that there is:
It's one of those things where the people pushing the message take advantage of the fact that global economics is just a bit beyond the ken of the average person. It seems on the face of it quite reasonable that increasing supply will reduce prices. However oil is a global commodity, and US production is a small slice of that, and the proposed increases are an even smaller slice. So increases in domestic oil production have a negligible effect.
I think that if peak oil is just around the corner, by far the more sensible thing for the US to do would be to keep our oil, so we have it later. Using up our reserves of oil at an increasing rate is incredibly short sighted. As a nation it would be far better to use up the rest of the world's oil, and save ours for later, when the need for domestic oil production will be a real necessity, not one driven by politics and short-sighted greed.
[EX=http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/03/28/453894/debunking-american-petroleum-institute-claims-about-oil-issues/?mobile=nc]CLAIM: “More domestic production is critical to putting downward pressure on gasoline prices — supply matters.” – Jack Gerard, American Petroleum Institute President and CEO, March 26, 2012
TRUTH: To test whether more U.S. domestic production would lower gasoline prices, the Associated Press just completed an exhaustive analysis of 36 years of monthly U.S. oil production and gasoline price data. AP found that there is:
“No statistical correlation between how much oil comes out of U.S. wells and the price at the pump. If more domestic oil drilling worked as politicians say, you’d now be paying about $2 a gallon for gasoline. Instead, you’re paying the highest prices ever for March.”
[/EX]
It's one of those things where the people pushing the message take advantage of the fact that global economics is just a bit beyond the ken of the average person. It seems on the face of it quite reasonable that increasing supply will reduce prices. However oil is a global commodity, and US production is a small slice of that, and the proposed increases are an even smaller slice. So increases in domestic oil production have a negligible effect.
I think that if peak oil is just around the corner, by far the more sensible thing for the US to do would be to keep our oil, so we have it later. Using up our reserves of oil at an increasing rate is incredibly short sighted. As a nation it would be far better to use up the rest of the world's oil, and save ours for later, when the need for domestic oil production will be a real necessity, not one driven by politics and short-sighted greed.