Experts: Energy security fears overblown

U.S. fears over energy security are overblown and global oil supplies are not endangered, a report released Thursday says.

“Each of (the) fears about oil supplies is exaggerated, and none should be a focus of U.S. foreign or military policy,” write professors Eugene Gholz and Daryl G. Press in the policy analysis from the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington.

“Our overarching message is simply that market forces, modified by the cartel behavior of OPEC determine most of the key factors that affect oil supply and prices,” they say. “The United States does not need to be militarily active or confrontational to allow the oil market to function, to allow oil to get to consumers, or to ensure access in coming decades.”

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