Can the U.S. significantly reduce oil imports by increasing its domestic oil and gas production?
Right now, the U.S. has about 22 billion barrels of “proven” oil reserves, which are defined as “reasonably certain to be recoverable in future years under existing economic and operating conditions.” This represents about a three-year supply at our present consumption rate. New reserves are being found all the time, and predicting when oil reservoirs will run dry is a risky business. There are an estimated 112 bilÂlion barrels more of oil that could be recovered with existing drilling and production technology. Together with existing reserves, this would represent 15 years’ worth of oil use. Three-quarters of this amount (87 billion barrels) is located offshore. Of the rest, 18 billion barrels are in Alaska. To unlock this potential energy, political opposition to offshore and Alaskan drilling must dissipate. Will that happen? Not with the current state of the debate. Drilling opponents often point out that oil in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, now off-limits to exploration, amo
