Oil Dependence Research Paper

The United States’ foreign oil dependence is a major problem. America’s dependence on foreign oil poses dangerous risks to not only our economy but also our political climate. Changes in our accessibility to foreign oil could potentially lead to major changes in the lives of U.S. citizens. It is crucial for efforts to be made in order to decrease foreign dependence on oil as it takes power away from the U.S. and places it with governments that may be dangerous or unstable. Foreign dependence on oil could potentially have major consequences and impact the lives of U.S. citizens. The United States is quickly becoming increasingly dependent on imported oil. The amount of oil that the U.S. imported in 1973 was almost double the amount imported …show more content…
One choice would be to concede to the wishes of the oil supplier, therefore giving them complete power to take advantage of our dependence. Another choice is to sacrifice peace between the two nations and use military means in order to end the boycott. Lastly, the U.S. could just suffer the damage that the boycott would inevitably have on the economy, and the panic that consumers would be subjected to. The success of global oil trade relies on the cooperation of all participating nations. If negotiations surrounding oil trade with Libya broke down and failed, Europe and America would then have to share the oil from the remaining suppliers. If this were to be a prolonged issue, the American and European people would need to begin rationing and conserving oil. This would include airlines needing to schedule less flights, lowering speed limits on highways,and even switching some utilities to coal which lead to more pollution than oil consequently making a different problem to deal with. This hypothetical is especially probable as relations between the U.S. and arab countries are not great. Many threats have been made by Arab nations to use oil as a weapon against their enemies,