U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton argues that energy is a foreign-policy priority, citing Iran and the South China Sea as oil-rich expanses where diplomacy and economics converge. “Today, energy cuts across the entirety of U.S. foreign policy,” she said in a speech at Georgetown University. She noted the U.S. role in helping boost Iraq’s oil production and brokering an oil-sharing agreement between South Sudan and Sudan as examples of “energy diplomacy.” She described a turning point in history when for the first time developing countries are set to consume more of the world’s energy than the industrialized nations. While the world’s energy future is unknown, she said, “The answers are being written right now.”
Energy demand in countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is forecast to increase 3.6% from 2010 to 2030, according to BP 2012 Statistical Review of World Energy. Demand in non-OECD countries will rise 70% over the same period. Emerging economies will account for 96% of the growth in demand.
A boom in oil production from the shale formations of North Dakota and Texas has put the U.S. on a course to cut its reliance on imported crude to about 42% this year, the lowest level in two decades. That’s down from for 44.8% of petroleum consumption last year and 60.3% in 2005, according to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
Source: BloombergBusinessWeek, October 18, 2012.