Petro-hysteria grips a superpower

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High oil prices, political instability in oil-producing states, the rise of energy-hungry China, jihadist terrorism and the return of “resource nationalism” are factors constantly cited in Washington these days as evidence that national security is being undermined by unrestrained consumption of oil. Petroleum, once seen as the energy source that fueled the “American century”, has more recently been interpreted by some legislators, policymakers and pundits as the Achilles’ heel of global dominance.

Daily op-ed pieces, many in fact written by neo-conservatives, state that US dependence on imported oil strengthens assertive petro-states that work against America’s interests, bankrolls jihadist terrorism, and allows producers to leverage their market power now that prices are high. Others warn of Chinese energy “mercantilism” sowing the seeds of conflict between the United States and China.

This year President George W Bush said in his State of the Union address that “America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world”. He then pledged to make US dependence on the Middle East a “thing of the past” by promoting alternative fuels – to rapturous bipartisan applause. Not since the 1973-74 Arab oil embargo and price hike has US oil consumption generated such concern.

Indeed, the current high-price environment (now about US$73 per barrel) and assertiveness by energy producers, especially Russia, Iran and Venezuela, have accelerated fears in Washington that the US is strategically vulnerable. It’s frequently claimed that Presidents Vladimir Putin, Mahmud Ahmadinejad and Hugo Chavez wouldn’t be so defiant of the US if oil prices weren’t so high and if their nations didn’t have substantial energy reserves.

Asia Times