Charles Gibson anchors a well-oiled ABC News special

Oil is as rich a subject as ever, if not more, with many meanings for many people.

“ABC World News” anchor Charles Gibson pumps out various aspects in “Over a Barrel: The Truth About Oil,” a new ABC documentary airing Wednesday, July 22. In considering everyone from speculators who price oil to consumers who need it to run cars and heat homes, Gibson covers a lot of territory — also with his own mileage during the hour, which takes him from New York’s Wall Street to the Gulf of Mexico.

The topic hardly is new for the Emmy-winning journalist commonly called “Charlie,” who reports on some element of it virtually every weeknight. Still, he admits he has learned much while researching and taping the special.

“You report the price of oil each night, but I didn’t know how that was derived,” he says. “We’re in an unsustainable situation at the moment, in terms of the amount of oil we consume … . The world’s demand for oil is getting so much greater, it’s going to get more expensive for the United States all the time just with supply and demand.

“We have to get to alternative fuels,” Gibson says. “There’s an interesting question of whether Americans will go to smaller cars, as the Obama administration seems to want, but I suspect Americans want larger cars. It’s what we’re used to, our highways are designed for them, and there’s the so-called ’soccer mom’ movement that minivans and SUVs are made for.”

Gibson sees the choice as a reduced dependence on petroleum or a concentrated move to other energy sources.

“It could be liquid natural gas, it could be hydrogen, it could be batteries, it could be ethanol,” he says. “The critical thing is getting to a differing powering mechanism.”

Such options may be more possible thanks to ever-advancing technology, Gibson notes, but so might an increased oil supply.

Lindsay Post

Note: Due to tonight’s presidential press conference, this show will air on Friday instead of Wednesday.