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?

Yesterday, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM) suspended the sale of all 31 oil and natural gas drilling tracts in Utah that had been purchased earlier in the day during a regularly scheduled lease sale, after the bureau accepted last-minute protests about the sale from two environmental groups. BLM has put all the leases on hold to conduct an environmental assessment.

Yesterday's Richmond Times-Dispatch editorial, "Energy: Drill, Baby" discussed the nation's current and potential energy reserves and stressed the importance of increased access to oil and natural gas:

"...The country needs a broad spectrum of reliable and abundant energy sources. But fossil fuels will continue to make up a major part of the equation for years, if not decades. Start drilling--now."

The Bakken formation is making a noticeable improvement in U.S. oil production. According to API's Monthly Statistical Report for May 2009, U.S. oil production climbed for the fifth straight month largely because of higher output from North Dakota's Bakken shale production.

This formation stretches under North Dakota, eastern Montana and portions of southern Canada. A year ago, the U.S. Geological Survey raised its assessment of Bakken energy potential from a few million barrels of oil to as much as 4.3 billion barrels. In recent months, North Dakota has experienced an old-fashioned oil rush and hundreds of wells have been drilled.

As API President and CEO Jack Gerard noted a couple of days ago, the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 13-10 on Tuesday to open the eastern Gulf of Mexico to oil and natural gas development.

This should be welcome news to American consumers. If this amendment is enacted as part of the Senate's proposed energy bill, the United States finally will be able to harness the power of the area's abundant energy resources that have been off-limits for many years. It's estimated that the eastern Gulf contains 3.7 billion barrels of oil and 21.5 trillion cubic feet of natural gas, which are huge deposits by any measure. Producing the energy will create jobs, generate revenues for government and make more domestic energy available to consumers.

Yesterday, the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee voted 13 to 10 in favor of opening the Eastern Gulf of Mexico for additional oil and natural gas leasing.

By allowing greater access to leasing in promising areas of the Eastern Gulf of Mexico, Senator Dorgan's amendment stands to strengthen our economy and help the American people by creating new jobs, adding new energy resources and providing new revenues to federal, state and local governments.

A new public opinion poll indicates that Americans living in mid-Atlantic coastal areas support offshore drilling. In the survey conducted in April, Monmouth University researchers found 46 percent of coastal residents from Virginia to New York favor offshore energy exploration; 37 percent were opposed and 12 percent offered no opinion.

A couple of days ago, the Sierra Club posted on The Hill's blog, questioning whether it's safe to bring more Canadian oil sands crude oil into the United States via pipeline. I posted a comment to this post last night, and today on this blog, I'm providing additional information to set the record straight. Simply put, the Sierra Club post grossly exaggerates the risks and ignores the benefits of transporting oil derived from Canada's abundant oil sands to the United States. And it mischaracterizes the pipelines that carry this much-needed oil to American consumers.

At a time when the need for an economic boost has never been greater, Congress is considering a bill that threatens energy investments and jobs. If enacted as drafted, the bill--called The Federal Lands and Resources Energy Development Act of 2009--would consolidate federal energy and mineral leasing programs within one bureau at the Interior Department and establish regional councils intended to provide federal-state discussions about the development of regional energy plans.

The bill would also raise the fees associated with leasing onshore land for energy development, shorten the initial onshore lease terms from ten to five years, and assess a production incentive fee on existing leases that are not producing oil and gas in the later years of the lease agreement.