United States

 

U.S. Consumption

• We consume more than 20 million barrels of oil a day (2005), a 25% increase from 20 years ago
• Our daily consumption is equal to 945 Olympic-sized swimming pools filled with oil
• Annual consumption of oil is approximately 7,300,000,000 barrels
• 63% of all oil consumed in U.S. is imported, up from 35% in the 1970s
• Overall consumption is up 25% since 1970
• 15% of all natural gas consumed in the U.S. is imported (2005)
• We import 12,254,000 barrels of oil daily with 5,175,000 coming from
  OPEC members
• Americans use an average of 3.375 gallons of oil per person per day,
  three of those gallons are used for gasoline
• The American Petroleum Institute reports that the U.S. burns 140
  billion gallons of gasoline annually
• A one-cent increase in the retail price of gas takes $1.4 billion out of
  consumer’s pockets
• 99% of transportation fuels come from oil
• Coal, oil, and natural gas provide 85% of all energy consumed in U.S.
• Two-thirds of all electricity is generated by fossil fuels
• The Department of Energy estimates that in the year 2020 80% of our energy will come from fossil fuels
• The U.S. imports more than 8% of its refined product needs (mostly gasoline)
• Imports of energy products make up nearly 11% of all U.S. imports
• Demand for oil is expected to rise by 2% annually

U.S. Production

• The first productive U.S. oil well was drilled by Edwin Drake in 1859
  in Titusville, Pennsylvania
• 31 states produce oil and natural gas along with the offshore coastline
• U.S. Production in 1970: 10 million barrels a day
• U.S. Production: 5.7 million barrels a day (2005)
• Projected U.S. Production in 2025: 4.7 million barrels a day
• “Big Oil” (fully integrated companies involved in production, transportation and retail sales) drills only 15% of U.S. wells, produces only 18% of natural gas, and 32% of crude oil
• Houston-based Baker Hughes Inc., which has kept an accounting of rigs
  since 1944, reports that the number of rigs exploring for oil and natural gas peaked in 1981 at 9,151
• Baker Hughes reports that in 1959 2,074 wildcat rigs were exploring
  for oil and natural gas; in 2004 the number of rigs was 1,200 after a low
  of 975 in 1971.
• U.S. oil production peaked in 1970
• Prudhoe Bay on Alaska’s North Slope (about 60 miles from the controversial Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, or ANWR) is America’s largest oil field
• Prudhoe Bay was discovered in 1968 and is estimated to hold 12 billion barrels of oil
• Independents (primarily small companies only involved in production) drill 85% of wells, produce 82% of natural gas, and 68% of American crude oil
• 75% of all wells in America (about 450,000) are “stripper wells” (those
  that produce fewer than 15 barrels of oil per day), but together they produce more than a million barrels a day, 20% of domestic output
• The U.S. has 153 refineries, down from a high of 319 in 1980
• A new refinery hasn’t been built in the U.S. for more than a quarter century
• Total drilling costs tripled between 1990 and 2004
• According to the Independent Petroleum Association of America, more than $31 billion was spent on drilling costs in 2001 compared to $11.5 billion in 1991

U.S. General Oil & Natural Gas Stats

• The national trade deficit in 2004 was $590 billion, $150 billion of that
  was for oil
• Oil is a “commodity” which means that producers DO NOT set the price
• The price of oil is set on the world market, which mean producers are “price takers” not price makers
• According to the U.S. Geological Survey and the Minerals Management Service, approximately 4.1 billion barrels of oil resources and 167 Tcf of natural gas reserves underlie federal lands in the lower 48 states
• The petroleum industry employs more than 1.3 million workers nationwide
• When adjusted for inflation, a gallon of gasoline in 2005 would need to cost nearly $3.00 a gallon in order to reach the all-time high established in 1981.
• If crude oil had kept pace with the general rate of inflation over the past 20 years, the price of a barrel of oil would be about $90
• The Cato Institute estimates that if the price of gasoline relative to
  wages were comparable today to what they were in 1920, we would be paying almost $10 a gallon
• According to Exxon Mobil CEO Lee Raymond, if we tried to replace just
  10% of the gasoline the U.S. will use in 2020 with corn-based ethanol, we
  would have to dedicate corn fields across every inch of Illinois, Indiana
  and Ohio solely to grow the grain needed for feedstock— approximately one-sixth of the entire land area we currently use for all crops
• Only one percent of the 262 million acres of public lands managed by the
  Bureau of Land Management is impacted by oil and natural gas operations
• It typically takes 7 to 10 years to go from discovery of oil/gas to production
• The U.S. has only 4 Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) terminals. Most experts estimate that 10 to 14 new import terminals will be needed by 2015 to meet projected demand
• The U.S. currently has 18 different regional gasoline standards, making it
  difficult if not impossible to keep gasoline supplies stable and available
  in the event of temporary supply disruptions