Student Post: Oil: By the Numbers

  Due to the current oil production in the Bakken reservoir, it has become common to think that we have limitless amount of petroleum right under our feet.  While it might be right under our feet, there certainly is a limit on how much oil we can produce. The question then becomes, exactly how much oil is readily available, not only in the Bakken, but throughout the rest of the world. 

    The first chapter of the textbook stated that Americans use roughly 25% of the world’s oil. The problem comes with the realization that the United States has only about 5% of the world’s population.  From these numbers alone, it is clear that we must heavily rely on imported oil to live the lifestyle we are all accustomed to.  
  
  Where then does all this oil reside? According to the Central Intelligence Agency, the United States has the 13th largest proved oil reserves in the world, totaling around 21 billion barrels.  The Bakken formation itself is estimated to put out a total of somewhere between 2-4 billion barrels, with some estimates going much higher than that.  Although this seems like a enormous amount of oil, according to the United States Energy Administration Information, the United States consumes approximately 7 billion barrels of petroleum products every year, ½ of which is imported!  My limited math skills tell me that if we were to rely solely on domestic oil, we only have enough for 3 years.  Other sources say that the United States is sitting on about 10 years worth of oil, but nevertheless, it is apparent that we cannot sustain our petroleum needs by ourselves.  


    The CIA’s website states that Saudi Arabia has the most oil wealth, with around 263 billion barrels.  Second to Saudi Arabia is Venezuela, with about 211 billion barrels. It is interesting to note that the U.S. gets along well with Saudi Arabia, as has long-held ties with the House of Saud, & much of our oil comes from there. Our relations with Venezuela, however, are a different story. If you follow the mainstream media you would have noticed an anti Hugo Chavez sentiment over the last decade.  Could this be because he helped nationalize Venezuela’s oil, so that foreign corporations could not hold more than a 49% share of the oil wealth?  I would say that there is more than a small correlation between the media’s dislike of Chavez & how we has handled his country’s oil wealth for the benefit of his own people.

    Two other countries that are in the top 10 worldwide for oil reserves are Iran & Iraq. Iran comes in at 4th place on the CIA’s list, with around 137 billion barrels, while Iraq comes in at 5th place, with 115 billion barrels.  Don’t forget Libya, which has the world’s ninth largest oil reserves at about 46 billion barrels. I am no statistician, even though I did take stats I & II in undergraduate program, but the numbers indicate that oil interests might be a significant part of why we took over Iraq & Libya, & why we are preparing for war with Iran.  I did learn in statistics that ‘correlation is not necessarily causation,’ but not all the numbers lie.