The United States is poised to become the world’s largest oil producer by 2020 thanks to increased output of new exploration technologies such as fracking. But what does this mean for politics?
The World Energy Outlook 2012 released by the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that America will surpass Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world’s top oil producer by 2017, becoming a net oil exporter by around 2030. The US currently imports around 20 percent of its energy needs. The IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol told a news conference in London that rising energy efficiency and increased production will enable the US to achieve previously unthinkable energy self-reliance by 2035, with increased reliance on natural gas as cheap domestic supplies boost demand.
According to CBS News, the report says rebounding US oil and gas production and increasing light tight oil and shale gas resources are “steadily changing the role of North America in global energy trade,” speeding up redirection of international oil trade from the Middle East toward Asia.


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