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Gulf is third largest oil exporter to U.S. after Canada, Mexico
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SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Monday, October 31, 2005
U.S. RELIES HEAVILY ON GULF OIL
The United States continues to rely heavily on Gulf
Arab oil.
Officials said Saudi Arabia, which delivers 1.59 million barrels per
day, was the third largest oil exporter to the United States, after Canada
and Mexico. They said Iraq and Algeria were No. 6 and No. 7 on the list of
leading U.S. oil suppliers. In all, the Middle East supplies about 25
percent of U.S. oil needs.
The United States, which imports 60 percent of its oil needs, could not
rely on additional Saudi oil, officials said. They said Saudi surplus
capacity consists mostly of heavy, sour crude oil, difficult to refine into
gasoline and diesel fuel.
"While recognizing promising discoveries and production in other
regions, in a hydrocarbon-based economy, the Middle East is and will remain
a strategically vital region with respect to national and global energy
security," George Person, director of the Energy Department's office of
African and Middle East affairs, told the Senate subcommittee on Near
Eastern and South Asian Affairs on Oct. 20.
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