Oil and the American Way of Life: Don't Ask, Don't Tell
Abstract
In the coming decades, US consumers will face a series of important decisions about oil. To make effective decisions, consumers must confront some disturbing answers to questions they would rather not ask. These questions include: is the US running out of oil, is the world running out of oil, is OPEC increasing its grip on prices, is the US economy reducing its dependence on energy, and will the competitive market address these issues in a timely fashion? Answers to these questions indicate that the market will not address these issues: the US has already run out of inexpensive sources of oil such that rising prices no longer elicit significant increases in supply. The US experience implies that within a couple of decades, the world oil market will change from increasing supply at low prices to decreasing supply at higher prices. As the world approaches this important turning point, OPEC will strengthen its grip on world oil prices. Contrary to popular belief, the US economy continues to be highly dependent on energy, especially inexpensive sources of energy. Together, these trends threaten to undermine the basic way in which the US economy generates a high standard of living.
- Authors:
-
- Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- FNAL (Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batavia, IL (United States))
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 987486
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-07CH11359
- Resource Type:
- Multimedia
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: Fermilab Colloquia, Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (FNAL), Batvia, Illinois (United States), presented on June 01, 2005
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 02 PETROLEUM; 04 OIL SHALES AND TAR SANDS; OPEC; OIL PRICES; RESERVES; GLOBAL PRODUCTION
Citation Formats
Kaufmann, Robert. Oil and the American Way of Life: Don't Ask, Don't Tell. United States: N. p., 2009.
Web.
Kaufmann, Robert. Oil and the American Way of Life: Don't Ask, Don't Tell. United States.
Kaufmann, Robert. Wed .
"Oil and the American Way of Life: Don't Ask, Don't Tell". United States. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/987486.
@article{osti_987486,
title = {Oil and the American Way of Life: Don't Ask, Don't Tell},
author = {Kaufmann, Robert},
abstractNote = {In the coming decades, US consumers will face a series of important decisions about oil. To make effective decisions, consumers must confront some disturbing answers to questions they would rather not ask. These questions include: is the US running out of oil, is the world running out of oil, is OPEC increasing its grip on prices, is the US economy reducing its dependence on energy, and will the competitive market address these issues in a timely fashion? Answers to these questions indicate that the market will not address these issues: the US has already run out of inexpensive sources of oil such that rising prices no longer elicit significant increases in supply. The US experience implies that within a couple of decades, the world oil market will change from increasing supply at low prices to decreasing supply at higher prices. As the world approaches this important turning point, OPEC will strengthen its grip on world oil prices. Contrary to popular belief, the US economy continues to be highly dependent on energy, especially inexpensive sources of energy. Together, these trends threaten to undermine the basic way in which the US economy generates a high standard of living.},
doi = {},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {2009},
month = {4}
}