Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey,
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, Flour and vogebam here. Doomsday scenarios what will
Speaker 1: we do when we run out of oil are nothing new.
Speaker 1: For decades, analysts and industry experts have been trying to
Speaker 1: predict when the world's oil supply might be critically low
Speaker 1: or dry up altogether, and what the results might be.
Speaker 1: The United States has been investing in renewable energy to
Speaker 1: help reduce its dependence on petroleum based fuels and thus
Speaker 1: the amount of oil it imports. In nineteen alone, the
Speaker 1: US invested fifty nine billion dollars, up from only six
Speaker 1: billion in two thousand four. But is weaning off of
Speaker 1: oil even possible? Let's consider the factors involved in this
Speaker 1: multi pronged question. Currently, the United States is the largest
Speaker 1: oil producer in the world, followed by Saudi Arabia, Russia,
Speaker 1: and Nada. Oil here includes crude oil and all other
Speaker 1: petroleum liquids plus biofuels. As of March eight two, the
Speaker 1: US Energy Information Administration or e i a S preliminary
Speaker 1: data for one suggest that the US had a total
Speaker 1: petroleum production output of about sixteen point six million barrels
Speaker 1: per day. But the US consumed about nineteen point eight
Speaker 1: million barrels per day, and you have to take into
Speaker 1: consideration that the U S exports oil as well. In one,
Speaker 1: the United States exported about eight point six million barrels
Speaker 1: of petroleum a day. That all went to around a
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy six countries plus for US territories, but
Speaker 1: there are imports of petroleum to the United States to
Speaker 1: that number was about eight point four million barrels per day.
Speaker 1: What that means is in one for the second year
Speaker 1: in a row, the United States was an net petroleum exporter,
Speaker 1: meaning we exported more than we imported, and these past
Speaker 1: two years have been the first time we've been in
Speaker 1: net exporter since at least ninety nine. Even when we
Speaker 1: do use less petroleum than we produce, we still import some.
Speaker 1: According to the e i A. That's to help supply
Speaker 1: domestic demand. The US also maintains a valuable stockpile of
Speaker 1: crude oil and its Strategic Petroleum Reserve, though there are
Speaker 1: strict rules on when that oil can be drawn down.
Speaker 1: Some experts say importing some foreign oil isn't necessarily a
Speaker 1: bad thing, even for net exporting countries like the US.
Speaker 1: The a S Director for Energy Markets and Security case
Speaker 1: case Autamori testified during a Senate hearing in saying, quote,
Speaker 1: even for net exporting countries, imports can still play a
Speaker 1: critical role helping overcome issues related to crude qualities, differences
Speaker 1: and refined product demand and domestic refining capacities, or geographical
Speaker 1: mismatches between production and consumption. So again, the real question
Speaker 1: that needs answering is how long can the global supply
Speaker 1: of crude oil last. The United States certainly isn't as
Speaker 1: reliant on other countries for crude oil as it was
Speaker 1: even fifteen years ago, when it was producing only around
Speaker 1: five thousand barrels a day. The e i A says
Speaker 1: that one often cited but misleading way to gauge the
Speaker 1: future of oil reserves is the reserves to production ratio.
Speaker 1: That's calculated by dividing the volume of total proved reserves
Speaker 1: by the volume of current annual consumption. But the e
Speaker 1: i A says that because proved reserves are based on
Speaker 1: known projects, they're not applicable for estimating total resource availability
Speaker 1: over the long term. Instead, it says global oil reserves
Speaker 1: should increase as new technologies come online at existing oil fields.
Speaker 1: And of course, there will be competition from renewable energy
Speaker 1: in the future. To consider two. The e i A
Speaker 1: explains its view of the future and its Annual Energy Outlook,
Speaker 1: which is a yearly assessment of the world energy market.
Speaker 1: Key points for the United States from one, which were
Speaker 1: released on March three, include that petroleum and natural gas
Speaker 1: are likely to remain the most consumed sources of energy
Speaker 1: in the US through but renewable energy is the fastest
Speaker 1: growing segment. Also, wind and solar incentives, along with falling
Speaker 1: technology costs, are creating robust competition with natural gas for
Speaker 1: electricity generation. Meanwhile, the shares of coal and nuclear power
Speaker 1: are decreasing. The report also expects the US to remain
Speaker 1: a net exporter of total liquids and a net importer
Speaker 1: of crude oil, even though our production of crude oil
Speaker 1: has reached record highs. The Biden Harris administration is working
Speaker 1: toward energy independence with several new green energy investments for
Speaker 1: the US, including the Building Performance Standards Coalition, the Methane
Speaker 1: Emissions Reduction Action Plan, the five billion dollar National Electric
Speaker 1: Vehicle Infrastructure Formula Program, and hundreds of new solar, wind
Speaker 1: and storage projects across the country. But to cut dependence
Speaker 1: on foreign oil altogether, the United States and the world
Speaker 1: must cut its addiction to oil entirely, and we're still
Speaker 1: a long way from that reality. Today's episode is based
Speaker 1: on the article will the US ever end its dependence
Speaker 1: on foreign oil? On how stuff Works dot Com? Written
Speaker 1: by Streets Throwitt and Sarah Glin. Brain Stuff is production
Speaker 1: by Heart Radio in partnership with houstuffworks dot Com, and
Speaker 1: it's produced by Tyler Klang. For more podcasts from my
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Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.