The President says:

“With only 2% of the world’s oil reserves, we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices,… Not when we consume 20% of the world’s oil.”

The Energy Information Administration of the Department of Energy says:

By 2020, nearly half of the crude oil America consumes will be produced at home, while 82 percent will come from this side of the Atlantic, according to the US Energy Information Administration. By 2035, oil shipments from the Middle East to North America “could almost be nonexistent,” the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries recently predicted, partly because more efficient car engines and a growing supply of renewable fuel will help curb demand.

 

The change achieves a long-sought goal of US policymaking — to draw more oil from nearby, stable sources and less from a volatile region half a world away.

We need to separate two issues – energy price and energy supply. I rate energy supply as a bigger strategic issue, and in part higher energy prices have made the domestic supply picture better. Price has always been somehwat self-regulating. Price spikes lure new capital to the market, which means more wells get drilled. Price rewards new technology and innovation, which lead to lower prices.