Blood and Oil : The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum

by Klare, Michael T.

• ISBN13: 9781429900577
• ISBN10: 1429900571
• Edition: 1st
• Copyright: 2010-04-01
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Co

Summary

From the author of Resource Wars, a landmark assessment of the critical role of petroleum in America's actions abroad In his pathbreaking Resource Wars, world security expert Michael T. Klare alerted us to the role of resources in conflicts in the post-Cold War world. Now, in Blood and Oil, he concentrates on a single precious commodity, petroleum, while issuing a warning to the United States-its most powerful, and most dependent, global consumer. Since September 11th and the commencement of the "war on terror," the world's attention has been focused on the relationship between U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East and the oceans of crude oil that lie beneath the region's soil. Klare traces oil's impact on international affairs since World War II, revealing its influence on the Truman, Eisenhower, Nixon, and Carter doctrines. He shows how America's own wells are drying up as our demand increases; by 2010, the United States will need to import 60 percent of its oil. And since most of this supply will have to come from chronically unstable, often violently anti-American zones-the Persian Gulf, the Caspian Sea, Latin America, and Africa-our dependency is bound to lead to recurrent military involvement. With clarity and urgency, Blood and Oil delineates the United States' predicament and cautions that it is time to change our energy policies, before we spend the next decades paying for oil with blood.

Excerpts

FromBlood and Oil:
o In 1998, for the first time, more than half of the
United States' oil supply came from foreign
sources. Imports of foreign petroleum are
projected to rise to 60% in 2010, 65% in 2020,
and 70% by 2030.
o America's oil fields are experiencing irreversible
decline. Even if reserves in Alaska's wildlife
refuge are extracted, they will reduce U.S.
imports of foreign oil by only about 2% per year
for the next two decades-an almost negligible
change.
o To pay for all of this imported oil, American
businesses and consumers will have to cough up
an estimated $3.5 trillion between 2000 and 2025-
if oil remains within a moderate price range.
o Even more importantly, since most of the world's
remaining oil resources are located in deeply
unstable regions-over 65% in the Persian Gulf
alone-military involvement to ensure access is
inevitable.