By Paolo von Schirach
May 14, 2013
WASHINGTON – There is growing evidence that America is on its way to “Hemispheric Energy Independence”. This is great news. The WSJ reports that Angola, a major oil producer located in South Western Africa, is shifting its exports to China, because America is buying much less. Indeed oil shipments to America fell by about 34% last year. Likewise, exports from Nigeria, a traditional US supplier, fell by about 50% last year.
More domestic oil, imports from Canada
All this is happening because America is slowly becoming more energy efficient. At the same time, due to technological advances such as hydraulic fracturing, America developed more of its own domestic oil. (Think about the Bakken field in North Dakota, now producing close to 1 million barrel a day). Finally, the US is getting more of its imports from Canada’s huge deposits in the Province of Alberta.
Geopolitical transformations
Take all this together and what we get is that America is relying more on its own oil, while it is getting the rest it needs from the immediate neighborhood. This is a truly strategic and very positive development. Soon enough no more OPEC oil for America. There will be huge geopolitical implications. Gulf oil will go to Asia, and it will be Asia’s concern, no longer America’s, to guarantee its unhindered flow. US “Hemispheric Energy Independence” is not total energy independence; but it is a good, long step towards it.