Source: US Energy Information Agency, International Energy Annual Report.

Petroleum Production, Consumption and Imports, United States, 1949-2005

The United States has different levels of energy dependency (production over consumption) according to the source of energy it consumes. It is self-sufficient for coal but must rely on imports for natural gas and petroleum, particularly since it is well beyond peak oil, which occurred in the early 1970s. While the United States produced 69% the petroleum it consumed in 1970, this figure has dropped to 25% in 2005. This has obviously increased the dependency of foreign sources and the needs to ship oil to the United States from different regions of the world.

Through the 1960s and early 1970s, the price of petroleum was low and petroleum imports increased steadily (see above figure). With the first oil shock (1973), the price of petroleum increased substantially, temporarily stabilizing petroleum imports. As the price of petroleum remained relatively stable through the end of the 1970s, petroleum imports resumed their growth. In 1980 the second oil shock (Iranian Revolution) substantially impacted on oil prices. Petroleum imports were reduced significantly and domestic production increased as several oil fields in the United States became profitable in such a context of high oil prices. The oil counter-shock of 1986 shifted this trend and petroleum imports by the United States have increased steadily since then, with fluctuations mainly attributed to fluctuations in oil prices and geopolitical events (e.g. First Gulf War of 1991).

To insure stability in oil supplies, the United States rely on several suppliers. OPEC was representing between 75 to 80% of imports in the 1970s and 1980s. This share is now around 55%. The new suppliers are Mexico, Venezuela, Canada and Nigeria, which are not members of the OPEC and are well within the sphere of political influence of the United States (with Canada and Mexico as politically stable neighbors). In the context where national production is declining, the dependency level is increasing, forcing the United States to have a close eye on the political stability of its suppliers and on oil shipping lanes.