| A taste of what will turn those jihad-financing, nouveau riche oil sheikhs back into the sheikhs of the burning sands: |
A scarcely reported milestone conveys the magnitude of this turnaround in the global energy landscape.
The U.S. passed Soddy Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in their national face...
as the world's largest petroleum producer in November 2012, according to recently released data of the federal Energy Information Administration.
Over the last five years, domestic oil output has risen 40% and continually outpaces projections. Last year, domestic output increased by 800,000 barrels per day. This is the largest increase in annual production since the first oil well was drilled in 1859 in Pennsylvania.
The U.S. is primed to become the world's dominating energy powerhouse for decades to come unless President B.O. elects to quash this private sector stimulus of enormous proportion.
That domestic production would now surpass that of Saudi Arabia was unthinkable in 2005 when the U.S. imported 60% of crude oil and the gloomy Malthusians declared the irreversible decline of this "finite" resource.
Imports of foreign oil will fall from 60% in 2008 to likely 30% in 2013.
Importing or exporting oil is becoming more a question of geography and price rather than scarcity. But homegrown oil carries advantages. The U.S. typically reaps 10 cents on every dollar of imported oil vs. 80-90 cents on a dollar of domestic oil.