Interactive map reveals our global oil useage by barrel, money
The Rocky Mountain Institute has created a nifty interactive map that shows you where the U.S. gets its oil from, along with how much - and who - the U.S. pays for its oil. Based on the thickness of the lines, you can see just how much black stuff is coming from where. The map goes as far back as 1973, the year of the first oil crisis, and is accompanied by a graph charting usage and dollars since then. As you'll notice in the pic above, we give a whole lot of money to Saudi Arabia, as well as our Canuck friends up north.
Additionally, RMI has included information on oil production in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and the Outer Continental Shelf (in the Gulf) There are some interesting factoids to be found: ANWR drilling wouldn't start until 7-12 years after it's opened up, and peak production - up to 1.9 million barrels-per-day - isn't expected to commence until 20-30 years after that. Thus, drilling in the OCS probably won''t have any impact on fuel prices until 2030. Follow the link to check it out for yourself. Hat tip to reader Rick!
[Source: Technology Review]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Sea Urchin 10:09AM (1/10/2009)
If only D3 did not fight CAFE that line that comes to us from saudi arabia would not have been there.
If it wasn't for D3 there would be no First Iraq war, no Second Iraq War, no September 11, no Middle Eastern wars at all. As simple as that. Now to be fair one has to add Toyota to that list as well with their tanks.
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LDMAN 10:37AM (1/10/2009)
Partly true, but let us not forget that the automotive industry is only responsible for part of the US' dependence on foreign oil.
There was a lot of of money to be made also for the Oil industry, power generation, etc.. and no real incentive or will to invest in (as in Europe) in Nuclear and other renewable energies.
The whole Middle-East love and hate relationship has to be taken in the historical / political context. The US has propped up a lot of autocratic regimes in that region (Saudi Arabia, Sadam's Iraq, and The Shah of Iran to name a few).
Fifty years later or so there is a mess and a time bomb ready to explode in that region and some of the responsibilities (I am not saying blame) have to be shouldered by the US or the West in general (the first Gulf war was due to misread signals between both Sadam and the US).
Truth is that most Middle-Eastern countries will resemble Somalia if it were not for oil but at the same time the US exports military hardware, goods, know how, etc.. to this region and even maintain strategic bases in the region.
Prior to 9/11 most Gulf Arab countries pumped billions of their oil money back into America as it was perceived as a safe haven.
Post 9/11 and after the whole media blown Dubai Port issue (http://www.nytimes.com/2006/02/28/opinion/28flynn.html) this new situation cooled the investment flow from the Gulf into America (now going to Europe, Africa and Asia).
There was always a bit of a give and take in that relationship but unless we could replace all gas pumps by hydrogen filling station, zero dependence on foreign oil for the US or the West is not achievable.
adam 11:09AM (1/10/2009)
Why on earth would you blame the Detroit 3 for decades of bad policies from our government? The reason we still buy so much oil from the Middle East is because its cheep and they won’t let us drill for oil here. (Where we have an abundance by the way) If we would have started to drill here 20 or even 10 years ago we wouldn’t be complaining about the fact that it wouldn’t affect the market for 20 years…
The Detroit 3 has a lot wrong with their business model but fighting CAFE standards isn’t there problem. CAFE is an over reach by the government into private companies anyway, so I applaud them for fighting back.
happy_penguin 11:47AM (1/10/2009)
While you're at it, let's blame the D3 for the Toyota Sequoia, Toyota Tundra, Nissan Armada, Nissan Titan.....
Sea Urchin 11:59AM (1/10/2009)
Adam, bad policies by the government? Yes you are correct there, but why would government act that way? Because they are bought by these people. You may notice that MOST senators that have auto plants vote agains all CAFE measures, because auto people are telling them, if you vote YES, we will go to another state, if you say you believe in Global Warming we will leave, if you do not call saudi arabia our biggest ally in the middle east you are screwed.
adam 12:23PM (1/10/2009)
LOL......Yeah… well some of that does go on but that just shows you the integrity of the politician… but what goes on even more than that are these environmentalist groups taking people and companies to court over these issues and threatening politicians that if they don’t vote for an issue then they will smear their name as “against the environment” or “in the pocket of corporations”. You see there is a difference between environmentalism and believing in conservation. When the government gave precedence to environmental groups to sue in the name of all people for the environment, which is where the major turning point was. And most of the politician that are being bought out are in bed with these groups not so much corporations.
McLovin 1:00PM (1/10/2009)
I think you left the consumer out of your equation. No one put a gun to our collective heads and made us buy Hummers, Excursions, Sequias and Durangos in droves.
Judy Zik 1:05PM (1/10/2009)
What a lark. Blame it on the D3. Never mind the fact that Consumers wanted those big vehicles and bought them. If they hadn't built them Toyota and Nissan would have. That massive new Toyota plant in Texas wasn't building Hybrids.
Here is a unique idea. How about we all take responsibility for our own actions for once. How about instead of blaming Detroit or Big Oil we put the blame in the laps of the Consumers who chose to drive up to the gas pumps in Suburbans and not use their Votes to change things. We all knew about the environment and air pollution not to mention the shady politics of the Middle East. Saddam, Iran, Afganistan were all originally funded and armed by the American government. A government that continues to prop up dictators and thugs around the world with money and arms as long as they are seen as being "on our side". Some of us chose to ignore those things. Even now that Canada's oilsands have become America's biggest supplier I doubt very many have any idea what the oil companies are doing to this planet to get it. If you can stomach it look it up. It is easy to find. Just google "Biggest Environmental Crime In History".
I should add don't get too comfortable with that big line coming from the North at rock bottom prices right now. That oil is really expensive to get so the companies are only interested in doing it if oil prices are high enough. With oil prices so low they are cancelling projects all over so supply will drop and prices will rise again soon.
Sea Urchin 1:36PM (1/10/2009)
Mclovin, i said this before, most people could not care less about environment, they need a huge car because the wife is fat, daughter has 2 chins and son has 4 butt cheek. They need a 4X4 because you need a precice control on Costco parking lot. These people do not send their children to fight wars, if they did they would not be driving these tanks.
So someone needs to do something, sadly it is up to our politicians.
Sea Urchin 3:42PM (1/10/2009)
Guys this is why we need CAFE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j3Xl68kP4wo
caddy-v 10:35PM (1/10/2009)
Seaurchin,
After reading your posts, most if not all are nothing but pure
nonsense and dribble. You must be a product of underfunded public
schools. How you come up with your idiotic, moronic, assinine,
garbage is beyond reasoning. And yet, you continue to make a fool
out of yourself.
John 10:16AM (1/10/2009)
"There are some interesting factoids to be found: ANWR drilling wouldn't start until 7-12 years after it's opened up, and peak production - up to 1.9 million barrels-per-day - isn't expected to commence until 20-30 years after that. Thus, drilling in the OCS probably won''t have any impact on fuel prices until 2030."
20-30 years is a ridiculous estimate and I would take RMI data with a grain of salt. They definitely have their own agenda. I have seen other estimates say their is 5-7 million barrels per day potential and can be pumped in 6-7 years.
I suspect the truth is in the middle.
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Rick 11:00AM (1/10/2009)
@ John,
Why is the stated time period ridiculous? It takes a long time to build up infrastructure, especially in a place where the work just comes to a grinding halt for days or weeks on end. Here's their mission statement:
Rocky Mountain Institute® (RMI) is an independent, entrepreneurial, nonprofit organization. We foster the efficient and restorative use of resources to make the world secure, just, prosperous, and life-sustaining. Our staff shows businesses, communities, individuals, and governments how to create more wealth and employment, protect and enhance natural and human capital, increase profit and competitive advantage, and enjoy many other benefits — largely by doing what they do far more efficiently. Our work is independent, nonadversarial, and transideological, with a strong emphasis on market-based solutions.
Seems pretty balanced to me. Prenty of leaning towards the Wall Street mongers, and thus those with political leanings of the drill, drill, drill mentality.
Sanders 11:48AM (1/10/2009)
John,
That map was published on MITs Technology Review site. Those people aren't slouches. I would trust the word of bunch of scientists and engineers vs. those who sit in some financially motivated political camp.
Mark H. 11:40AM (1/10/2009)
Not a whole lot is know about ANWR geology, is my understanding. However, I would say any notion of 5 - 7 millions barrels per day is almost laughable. That would be absolutely astonishing.
http://www.greencarcongress.com/2008/05/eia-anwr-oil-pr.html
One could also expect any peak production figure to last a fairly short time before production starts to drop rapidly. This is just one article I could grab quickly, but there are graphs of production out there -- you get a quick peak followed by a long, ever-declining, tail.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/06/AR2005060601742.html
torpeau 10:38AM (1/10/2009)
Many experts think CAFE restrictions helped to put the Detroit 3 in their current predicament -- hurt in union negotiations.
Oil is a commodity and the price is the same (other than transportation costs) whether a country like us gets it from the Middle East or a country like Norway supplies itself.
The world runs on oil and the problems in the Middle East happened because of that.
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nardvark 10:40AM (1/10/2009)
I RMI does some good work, but they have a vested interest in ANWR not being funded, so take keep that in mind when you read their pessemistic numbers...
There is an alternative economic reason to drill in ANWR, which is to keep the Alaskan pipeline functional. When Alaskan production drops below a certain threshold, there isn't enough pressure in the line to get over some parts of the terrain, and you have to build up oil and pump it in batches. Eventually the whole pipeline has to be decommissioned. Since we will drill in ANWR eventually (when oil hits $200 a barrel it will happen, period), it's better to have the pipeline in place and functioning with a trickle of ANWR oil, rather than letting it degrade and having to start from scratch for peak ANWR production.
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esteva03 10:44AM (1/10/2009)
oh so its kinda like i own a Bugatti Beyron right?
WÄHLEN AUTOBLOG!!!!
VOTE AUTOBLOG!!!
ELIGE AUTOBLOG!!!
http://2008.weblogawards.org/polls/best-major-blog/
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cFoo 11:26AM (1/10/2009)
The map is hardly "interactive", it's just a Google map with blinking lines. Here I am expecting to click on the line and get some cool facts. The lines aren't even the oil transport line. It's just some random blinking crap. The word interactive is so over used. This thing is more useless than some kid's high school Thinkquest project.
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JG 11:43AM (1/10/2009)
Exactly what I thought when I saw it, cFoo. Not interactive, just animated, and not very well at that.
Kind of a big yawn for me. Not exactly new or exciting information.