Jack Gerard
Jane Van Ryan
Oil and natural gas are found all over the world in varying amounts, and throughout history, about one trillion barrels of oil have been produced. While about one-third of our oil is produced domestically, where does our imported oil come from?
Consider this Energy IQ survey question:
In 2008, which of the following countries was the largest U.S. supplier of imported oil?
Test your Energy IQ to answer this question and others, and watch the video below to see how other people answered this question.
To the surprise of many, it turns out that our friendly neighbor to the north, Canada, is the largest U.S. supplier of imported crude oil, but more than half of the survey respondents believed that Saudi Arabia was our largest supplier. In fact, only 12 percent of the oil consumed last year in the United States came from the Persian Gulf countries.
Canada is a reliable and plentiful strategic resource for meeting our nation's energy demand and making the United States more energy secure.
Check back tomorrow for another question to test your energy knowledge.
This website is obviously funded by the Canadian oil industry and therefore is intended to communicate that oil sands are a good way to fuel our future. But we - you and I - know that some way other than fossil fuel would be a better way to provide power for the future of North American countries and indeed for the whole world.
For now you can sell the output of your oil sands technology, but perhaps you ought to divert some of your profits to more sustainable energy technology. "Or are you just going to get yours while you can?"
See article in current New Yorker about James Hansen and his climate forecasts, for example. Perhaps as Canadians you care about the effects on your ice cap, but I wonder if such a maritime nation won't regret so freely participating in the waning days of the fossil fuel binge we have been on for too many years?
Jim Talbert
Fitzwilliam, NH
I'm Jessica Pointer, the webmaster of energytomorrow and an API employee. The energytomorrow website is a web property of the American Petroleum Institute, which is the only national trade organization that represents all segments of the oil and natural gas industry.
All types of energy are going to be needed to meet the world's future energy demand, which according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration is expected to grow by nine percent, and oil sands will play a part in meeting this demand. While many of our member companies are investing in new technologies, they are also the leading investors in zero and low-carbon technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.