Ask the Fuel Expert

Today the news is full of uncertainty in the petroleum industry with the ongoing political turmoil across the North African continent. What will all this mean for American energy's security in the long term? In order to answer that question we may have to start thinking about using an American Continental approach to resolve our seemingly never ending oil dependency on overseas crude oil imports.

This may be “the” cathartic moment in which decisions will be made by our leaders with which we will have to live for a long time. The future of Middle East is hanging in the balance of being controlled by governments unfriendly to the West and oil is the currency that keeps that area important for our energy security.

Wikileaks recently published cables exchanged between Saudi Arabia Consul General John Kincannon and the US State Department and officials at the Department of Energy. Their full content can be found at:

http://www.wikileaks.la/us-embassy-cables-saudi-oil-company-oversold-abi...

These cables were sent at the end of 2007 with the looming oil crisis showing concerns that the crude oil reserves in Saudi Arabia may have been overstated by as much as 40%. The Saudi oil minister was throwing water on the oil speculators forecast of higher prices by threatening to increase their production. Most of the spare capacity for the production of crude oil in the world has been attributed to OPEC. This revelation could loosen the grip OPEC holds on crude oil pricing and the price we eventually for fuel at the pump.

Bob van der Valk