The goal of U.S. “Energy Independence” continues to be pushed across the spectrum. It rests on lowering oil imports, seen as a bugaboo for us since the crisis of the 1970s. And on the surface, this makes sense. In the shale-era since 2008, U.S. crude oil production has exploded 160% to over 13 million b/d. Our domestic demand, meanwhile, has remained buoyantly very high but still flat, at 19-21 million b/d. U.S. oil imports have therefore fallen.
