where does the united states buy oil from
Petroleum in the United States In 2014, petroleum and natural gas were the two largest sources of energy in the U.S., together providing 63 percent of the energy consumed (oil provided 35 percent and gas 28 percent).[6] In 2008 the United States consumed 19.5 million barrels (3,100,000Â m3) per day of petroleum products, of which 46 percent was gasoline, 20 percent diesel fuel and heating oil, and 10 percent liquefied petroleum gas.[7] In 2015, the U.S. imported 24% of the petroleum it used, the lowest since 1970.[8] The largest sources of U.S. imported oil were: Canada (40%), Saudi Arabia (11%), Venezuela (9%), Mexico (8%), and Colombia (4%).[9]
History of United States–Middle East economic relations The Middle East has been a region of geopolitical and economic significance to the world far before American involvement in the area. This was largely because the “Middle East contained or bordered on the land bridges, passageways, and narrows – the Sinai isthmus, the Caucuses, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Dardanelles, Bab el Mandeb, and the Strait of Hormuz – and the sheltered seas – the Mediterranean, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Red Sea, and the Persian Gulf – that provided the best routes connecting the different extremities of the vast Eurasian/African continent.”[1] The value of being a prominent player in the region was therefore obvious to the United States as well as to several other Western powers including Great Britain and France. In addition to its pivotal geographic location in the world, the abundance of oil in the Middle East has probably played the biggest role in issues of foreign policy and international relations. The United States needed Middle Eastern oil and Middle Eastern nations needed Western capital and technology. This mutually beneficial but dependent relationship would forge strong alliances but also be the cause of harsh conflicts.[2]