June 21, 2018

Expanded OPEC Threatens U.S. Pursuit of Energy Dominance

This week’s OPEC meeting reveals once again that the market for oil is controlled by nations that collude to manipulate oil prices.

This week’s OPEC meeting reveals once again that the market for oil is controlled by nations that collude to manipulate oil prices.

For the U.S. to achieve energy dominance and achieve its policy objectives both home and abroad, Washington must take action to address American vulnerability to the actions of OPEC and Russia. These countries control 90% of global oil reserves and use this outsized advantage to influence the price of oil by manipulating production levels to suit their own political needs.

But the relationship is complex and requires a thoughtful assessment of the threat. An Energy Security Commission, similar to the one established by the Trump administration to examine rare earth minerals, should be established immediately to ensure the energy dominance agenda addresses this critical vulnerability. Oil is the lifeblood of the American economy. Consider the following: The U.S. consumes one-fifth of daily global supply, and the country’s transportation sector relies on petroleum for 92% of its energy. This dependence exposes U.S. business and consumers to a volatile and unfree oil market, vulnerable to the decisions OPEC and other petrostates make on production levels.

The risk posed by OPEC to our country was most clearly seen in 2014, when the Saudi-led cartel purposefully flooded the market with additional oil to drive down prices and hurt U.S. shale oil producers. From June 2014 to February 2016, the price of oil tumbled from $110 per barrel to just $26. The effects on the domestic energy industry were debilitating, with 310 U.S. oil and gas companies entering bankruptcy since 2015, taking approximately 200,000 jobs with them.

Despite the shale industry recovering, the loss of jobs and investment returns continues to haunt U.S. oil producers as they make investment decisions today. There has also been a profound impact on long-term deepwater oil projects — Rystad Energy calculates a decline of $180 billion in global deepwater investment from 2014-2018, with U.S. offshore investments tumbling 65%.

American oil dependence also reorders U.S. foreign policy priorities and costs U.S. taxpayers. The Pentagon spends $67.5 billion every year on keeping global supply lines open to ensure the worldwide free flow of oil, placing our military in harm’s way in the process.

Rising gasoline prices affect policies both home and abroad. Higher pump prices eat into household budgets and could erase all the consumer gains from the president’s recent tax cuts. Price manipulation also compromises U.S. action overseas, with petroleum costs a tension point in both Iranian nuclear negotiations and Venezuelan sanctions, for example.

Compounding this problem, the U.S. unwittingly funds these governments’ objectives by importing their oil. Since 2001, it is estimated that the total net U.S. trade deficit in petroleum is $3.4 trillion. By comparison, the U.S. net trade deficit with China since 2001 is $4.3 trillion.

The U.S. should hold foreign governments accountable for manipulating oil markets and, once and for all, allow a free market for the most important commodity traded in the world. Creating an Energy Security Commission, either congressionally or through executive branch action, would provide lawmakers with actionable policy options for specifically addressing the influence of OPEC member countries and other petrostates.

An Energy Security Commission would help forge a cohesive federal-level response to foreign governments that manipulate oil production at U.S. expense. The commission would investigate the influence OPEC and others have over the global oil market, assess current American efforts to mitigate these effects, and propose a range of solutions — diplomatic, legal, trade, regulatory and statutory — to President Trump and Congress.

Now is the time to confront the destructive influence of petrostates on U.S. energy security and finally start working toward true energy dominance.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.