Quote:
Originally Posted by Player01
The USA has and continues to export plenty of oil. Perhaps "never" was a bit of an exaggeration, though. I only mean to point out that we haven't been energy independent at all in recent years (say, the last 50-70). People that want to "get back to energy independence" are usually inferring this was something that was accomplished in recent years. It was not.
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See links posted in previous post...
US government banned crude oil export in 1970's in consequence of oil shortages. That was repealed during Obama administration and it's been off to races ever since. Large amount of oil and natural gas exported by USA would not have been possible were not for excess supply created by fracking and horizontal drilling.
United States like many other countries in Europe and else where was largely energy independent when fuel was from solid sources such as coal, timber, peat and so on.
USA was still largely energy independent when oil was discovered here and soon nationwide there were wells pumping crude out of the ground. However early on this period overlapped with coal still largely being king. There was also far fewer things that ran on oil/petroleum/gas. Remember in USA as else where the industrial revolution of 1800's into early 1900's was powered by steam. That energy source was largely produced by burning coal or wood. In turn steam powered everything from ships, locomotives and large heavy equipment (among other things) down to heating buildings and residences among other things.
Years after WWI and certainly through and post WWII saw switch from coal to oil or natural gas for steam production. Navies, ocean liners, locomotives, home heating, etc... all moved away to oil or gas for a host of reasons. This increased consumption is when USA began to lose it's "energy independence".
Quite simply post war years onwards demand for oil/petroleum products began to outstrip domestic production. Worse US economy and people grew used to relatively cheap gas and oil. Keep in mind oil/petroleum products are not just for burning in engines, motors, heat source, etc.... But also are feedstock for a host of modern chemicals and substances including types of plastics.
United States like UK, Germany and many other countries could easily gain more energy independence by returning to large scale use of coal of which they have huge untapped stocks. That of course is not going to happen in today's woke world so......
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