By Isaac Cohen*
The world oil map keeps changing profoundly. Even so, oil prices have stabilized at around $60 per barrel, thanks in large part to the production restraints agreed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and Russia.
Contributing also to significant change in the oil world is the fact that the United States, thanks to technological breakthroughs, this year will produce over 10 million barrels of crude per day, levels not seen in almost fifty years. Therefore, the United States is close to replacing Saudi Arabia as the second largest world producer, after Russia. Still, the United States has to import oil, but at lesser amounts, from 12 million barrels a day in 2007 to 4 million barrels a day in 2017.
Perhaps as relevant is that as a result of lesser imports, the United States has also become less dependent om supply from the Middle East. Together, the two major suppliers of US oil imports are Canada and Mexico, followed by Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
By contrast, China’s insatiable demand for energy, spurred by spectacular rates of economic growth, are making it more dependent from Middle East crude supplies. As described by former executive vice president of Saudi Aramco Sadad Ibrahim al-Husseini, quoted in The New York Times, in China “they desperately need energy, and we have a heck of a lot of energy, so the pieces fit.”
*International analyst and consultant, former Director ECLAC Washington Commentator on economic and financial issues for CNN en Español TV and radio, UNIVISION, TELEMUNDO and other media.
