US Petroleum imports - Where do they come from?

Before Iraq 2.0 got under way, and during the first couple of years, those that live in the alternative reality brought on by believing Leftist dogma were crying that the war was all about stealing Iraq's oil. As the truth played out and it became obvious that this was a wrong-headed position many on the Left changed tack, leaving only those truly incompetent in the way the world works to hold to that view.

For France, Russia and China, Iraq 2.0 certainly was about oil due to the extremely favourable deals they'd cooked up with Saddam Hussein that would be implemented once UN sanctions were lifted, a goal that France, especially, was working hard to achieve. The US action put an end to those schemes.

It's worth taking a look at where the US sources its petroleum, which allows a more cogent analysis of the reasons for US energy policies.

The latest information from the Energy Information Agency released on May 4 shows US petroleum imports coming from:

Total Imports of Petroleum - Top 15 Countries - Thousand Barrels per Day

Country          Feb-07
Canada            2,448
Mexico            1,507
Venezuela         1,359
Saudi Arabia      1,207
Nigeria           1,102
Algeria             555
Angola              464
Iraq                325
Virgin Islands      312
United Kingdom      268
Russia              241
Ecuador             185
Kuwait              168
Brazil              151
Trinidad/Tobago     135

Total petroleum imports were 10,427,000 barrels per day of which Middle Eastern countries contributed 1,700,000 or 16.3%. People might be surprised to find that Canada, Mexico and Venezuela are the top three petroleum suppliers to the US. It's also worth noting that the US is the world's 3rd largest oil producer in its own right.

US foreign policy in the Middle East for decades has been about creating stability in order to ensure that world energy prices are maintained at a sustainable level. The main beneficiary of this US policy has been Europe, as the US could, in theory, cut off all imports from the Middle East with little domestic economic effect.

The breakdown of stability in the Middle East started with the Jimmy Carter inflicted debacle of toppling the Shah of Iran on mainly specious 'human rights' grounds, which led to the Iran Revolution and the world's leading terrorist sponsoring state. At that time, the West was prepared to accept all sorts of thugs and dictators as long as they were 'our' thugs and dictators or didn't rock the boat. That doctrine continues to this day and is one of the major reasons for public discontent in the Middle East.

Democratisation of the Middle East is a necessary step in order to lift the general population out of the economic mire, improve their standard of living and let them enjoy the benefits that is available to modern societies.