Didn't know 13 mil b/d was twice the
approx. 10 mil b/d that the Saudis and the Russians each produce. Nor that
California was farther from Texas than Saudi Arabia, Venezuela, Brazil, Columbia, Iraq, Guyana, Nigeria, and Ecuador. Apparently Texas is as well since it imports more foreign oil than California.
Multiple members and the three articles I have posted have already explained this more than sufficiently but Dunning-Kruger is a powerful effect. Knowing that, I'm posting this for the benefit of others. No amount of uneducated statements or frivolous hijacking of the term "fact" will free the US from the need of importing millions of barrels of oil every day.
The US is not self-sufficient in oil. A large percentage of the oil it produces cannot be used domestically. It is light oil which the US does not have the refining or logistical capacity for. Unless the US is willing to invest
tens of billions over the next 2-3 decades, this is not going to change, no matter your willfully ignorant understanding of the matter or repeated chants of "mein nahi manta". Did you think that the US was importing 8 mil b/d, 60% of what it produces, just for kicks?
40% of US domestic refinery demand needs to be met through imported heavy oil.
Saudi Arabia produces less oil by design, to keep oil prices at Nash Equilibrium, maximizing its profits. It has a standing production capacity of 12 million barrels per day which it has never decided to use despite zero competition. It uses the sitting excess capacity to plug in for fluctuating demand, as best suited for them. This does not include hundreds of tapped and untapped wells which the Saudis have left alone for now. It would be dense to assume that the second largest and the cheapest to extract oil reserves in the world are producing at 10 mil b/d because they can't produce or sell more. It is the same case with the other 6 countries which have larger and cheaper to extract oil reserves than the US and still choose not to.
US is not an Oil heavy economy. The US oil industry employs less than 5% of Americans, while its direct
and indirect industries account for around 7.4% of its GDP. Higher oil prices will only benefit direct industries, that too not by a lot given higher extraction costs in the US.
Everyone else in the US will pay more, making the vast majority of the US economy suffer. Believe <7.4% Vs >72.6% is math that you can grasp. Who did you think was going to pay for the higher fuel costs? Other countries, like the tariffs?
Even if you could wish the US down to zero need for oil imports and have it subsidize oil prices across the country, the 3.9 trillion dollars of imports would have a lot to say on how independent the US is from the global oil prices and supply chain.
