The future of oil? America’s not in the driver’s seat

With oil hovering at the $100-a-barrel mark, we’re inundated by calls for a “Manhattan Project” on alternative energy, more regulation of major oil companies and an end to our military presence in the Gulf.

The assumptions are that America’s energy demand drives prices, the “majors” determine supply and instability in the Middle East explains recent spikes. So, if this is all our doing, then it can all be our undoing as well.

Would that Washington was so eminently in control of global energy markets.

The big driver on oil prices today is rising Asia’s burgeoning demand. At the Cold War’s end, Asia accounted for 10 percent of global oil demand. Today it gobbles up double that share. Before 2025, Asia will become the oil market’s global demand center, dislodging North America.

So it’s basically our blood, their oil.

Scripps Howard News Service