The U.S. is paying a steep price for its dangerous addiction to imported oil.
Syria’s bloody civil war and unrest in Egypt are two of the many factors that have driven the price of oil above $110 per barrel for the first time in six months. Despite the fact that domestic oil production is on the rise, so is the amount of money Americans are spending on imported oil: more than $34 billion in August.
Regarding oil from OPEC members specifically, the most current figures – which are from the month of May – indicate that 39 percent of U.S. oil imports that month – some 115 million barrels of oil – were imported from OPEC countries. That’s almost $12 billion for OPEC oil in a single month.
If we keep up this pace – and the price of oil remains at these levels – Americans will spend $400 billion to buy imported oil in 2013. Does that make sense?
Here’s an idea that does: why don’t we sequester OPEC oil?
Total Oil Import Numbers – August 2013
308 million barrels of petroleum imported
52% of US supply
$111.28/barrel average price
$34.3 billion total cost of imports
$768,424.46/cost of imports per minute
OPEC Import Numbers – May 2013
115 million barrels of petroleum imported from OPEC countries
39% of US oil imports
$11.8 billion total cost of OPEC oil