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Through our research, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and political figures from the United States and worldwide were front-staged. Who we noticed was not heard from as much were small business owners, small manufacturers, and individuals, ie families, and students. Featured images we noticed were oil production equipment, vehicles, and gas pumps. In our research it seemed that the information in the articles we read were a curated topic for a selected audience. For example, if you were looking for information on how fuel prices affects agriculture, you need to search for that topics. If you are interested in transportation, you need to search for that topic, in this case there is even a difference between automobiles and commercial vehicles. There is some crossover, however it did make a difference.

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Ukraine invasion may bring more fuel spikes for farmers.

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Ukraine invasion may bring more fuel spikes for farmers.

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California farmers are now bracing for further spikes to fuel and other energy costs as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pushes crude oil prices higher. Some economists predict the conflict and resulting sanctions aimed at hurting the Russian economy will affect all petroleum-based products, including diesel fuel  and fertilizers key to farming.
- Ching Lee. March 9, 2022. AgAlert

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An offshore oil production off the Southern California coast on Oct. 6, 2021. Frederic J. Brown/AFP Via Getty Images 

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Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W. VA.) called on President Joe Biden to relax rules against U.S. oil production which have left the nation heavily dependent on Middle Eastern and Russian oil. Even after the invasion of Ukraine, which the president has condemned, the United States has continued to buy around 500,000 barrels of Russian oil per day.
- Joseph Lord. March 2-8 2022. The Epoch Times

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 The Marathon Petroleum Corps.’s Los Angeles Refinery in Carson, on April 25, 2020.  Robyn Beck/AFP Via Getty Images

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The most recent Consumer Index reports inflation at 7.5 percent in the past year, fuel prices had risen by 40 percent in the year from February 2021 to January 2022, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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"The Keystone [XL] Pipeline has never been operational," said Psaki. "It would take years for that to have any impact.

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Would the Keystone XL Pipeline have made up for Russian oil imports if the project was not cancelled? | VERIFY

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As gas prices reach record highs across the country, viewers on social media and political leaders are calling to reopen construction of the Keystone XL Pipeline.

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The president of the California New Car Dealers Association, Brian Maas, said he expects that within weeks shoppers will come in looking for hybrids, plug-ins and conventional vehicles with better gas economy. He saw it in 2008 and 2014 and "I fully expect we'll see similar trends in 2022."

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A number of models have fallen by the wayside, but there are still plenty of fuel-sipping options

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Gas prices continue to climb as the national average price of a gallon of gasoline hit $4.25 on Wednesday.

That's the highest on record and it's undoubtedly causing new car shoppers to think about getting something fuel-efficient. With that in mind, we're asking our readers what they think the best fuel efficient vehicles are.

On the car side of the equation, options have gotten significantly more limited since gas prices last skyrocketed in 2008. A number of models have fallen by the wayside, but there are still plenty of fuel-sipping options including the Toyota Corolla Hybrid and Hyundai Elantra Hybrid. The Toyota returns 53 mpg city, 52 mpg highway and 52 mpg combined, while the Elantra offers a rating of up to 53 mpg city, 56 mpg highway and 54 mpg combined. Those numbers fall short of the Prius, but a new model is on the horizon so shoppers might want to hold off on that one.
QOTD: Gas Prices Soar 45 Cents In A Week To $4.06 Per Gallon, How Much Are You Paying?
Drivers needing more space can check out hybrid versions of the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, and Hyundai Sonata. They offer fuel economy ratings ranging from 44 mpg city, 41 mpg highway and 43 mpg combined to 51 mpg city, 53 mpg highway and 52 mpg combined.

Shoppers with bigger budgets can opt for the BMW 330e plug-in hybrid, which can travel up to 22 miles (35 km) on electricity alone. It starts at $42,950 and is eligible for a $5,836 federal tax credit.

On the crossover side, there's the Ford Escape Hybrid which returns up to 44 mpg city, 37 mpg highway and 41 mpg combined. That gives the model a slight edge over the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid, but the latter comes standard with all-wheel drive.

Another good option is the Toyota Venza, which comes standard with all-wheel drive and a hybrid powertrain developing a combined output of 219 hp (163 kW / 222 PS). While it won't pin you to your seat, it's comfortable and returns 40 mpg city, 37 mpg highway and 39 mpg combined.

Shoppers can also select between an assortment of plug-in hybrids including versions of the Escape and RAV4 as well as the Hyundai Tucson and Kia Sorento - to name but a few.

While those are just a few examples, what would you get if you were in the market for a fuel-efficient new vehicle?

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With Gas Prices At An All-Time High, What Are The Best Fuel Efficient Vehicles? | Carscoops

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Gas prices continue to climb as the national average price of a gallon of gasoline hit $4.25 on Wednesday. That's the highest on record and it's undoubtedly causing new car shoppers to think about getting something fuel-efficient. With that in mind, we're asking our readers what they think the best fuel efficient vehicles are.

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The sales manager at Nissan of Bakersfield hasn't been able to keep new electric cars in stock for a while now, but he does have a used 2019 Leaf for sale.

Somehow no one seems interested in it, despite soaring fuel prices lately.

"People still come for the big trucks. They still come for the SUVs," Sales Manager George Lopez said Thursday.

The jump in gasoline prices - up 13 percent in a week at a record average of $5.586 per gallon Friday in Bakersfield - has not shaken Bakersfield's love of big vehicles. Not yet, anyway.

People at local dealerships say even the most recent buyers still head for heavy-duty vehicles with relatively low fuel efficiency. At a time of limited inventory, they say, fuel efficiency has not become a noticeably higher priority.

"They're not on the lot complaining about it. But I know they're talking about it," said Daniel Pantalia, executive general manager of Love Automotive, operator of Bakersfield Mazda, Mitsubishi and Infiniti.

If oil prices stay high long enough, he predicted, consumer behavior eventually will adjust. He noted the steepest of recent fuel price increases have only occurred, for many people, within the last trip or two to a filling station.

"If this continues to go on, I guarantee, I'll have a whole different perspective in consumer outcry in 30 days," Pantalia said. "It's just so early. ... People will wait on a car."

Indeed, it happened in Bakersfield after gas prices spiked in 2008, local sales data at the time showed. After fuel settled down again, there was another trend of shoppers going back to lower-efficiency vehicles, which by that point had come down in price.

The president of the California New Car Dealers Association, Brian Maas, said he expects that within weeks shoppers will come in looking for hybrids, plug-ins and conventional vehicles with better gas economy. He saw it in 2008 and 2014 and "I fully expect we'll see similar trends in 2022."

If that happens, his advice to consumers will be to remain patient and shop around, because it can be tough finding a particular car, such as a hybrid or an electric, amid the tight supplies lately.

"You can find them," he said. "You just have to work a little bit harder."

Regional transportation planner Ahron Hakimi, executive director of the Kern Council of Governments, said almost any vehicle for sale these days beats the fuel efficiency of one from the same class from a decade ago.

For his own part, Hakimi said he's in the market for a hybrid truck, a Ford Maverick, that gets 41 miles per gallon. Unfortunately, it's sold out through 2022 and he's having to wait for the 2023 model.

He recalled leasing a Chevy Volt in 2012 and choosing not to renew the lease after three years. The added electricity consumption pushed his power bill into a higher tier of usage, and Hakimi said his expected savings "were not realized."

The director of operations for H&B Auto Group in Bakersfield, Mo Hosseini, said lots of people looking for just the right vehicle may be in for a wait, given that local dealers are already taking orders for some vehicles two to six months out.

Hosseini pointed out that it remains to be seen what will happen in Russia and Ukraine, where war and the U.S. response to it have sent oil prices skyrocketing.

People probably are thinking about buying electric, hybrid or just smaller cars, he said, but "all of this has happened so quickly I think consumers are trying to digest" the news.

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Fuel efficiency a lesser concern in Bakersfield car lots as gas prices jump

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The sales manager at Nissan of Bakersfield hasn't been able to keep new electric cars in stock for a while now, but he does have a used 2019 Leaf for sale. Somehow no one seems interested in it, despite soaring fuel prices lately. "People still come for the big trucks.

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Mish Talk - Global Economic Trend Analysis

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Italian Bonds
Not sure I call this a crash as yields are spiking in many paces but yes, it's messy.
Force Majeure Starting Monday Stops Trucking
Via Google Translate from Ansa.

Starting from next Monday, March 14, the trucking companies will suspend their services nationwide 'due to force majeure' "and that is the explosion of fuel costs.

"The suspension of services has become inevitable - underlines a letter sent by Trasportiunito to the Prime Minister, the Minister and Deputy Minister of Sustainable Infrastructures and Mobility and the President of the Guarantee Commission in Strikes - also to protect companies and prevent that the exasperated market conditions, determined by the record rise in fuel prices, translate into advantages for other subjects in the transport sector, or into charges for contractual obligations that the companies in the logistics chain are no longer able to guarantee ".

"The road transport block will have direct effects on the community, suspending the supplies of goods in the commercial sector and leading to a surge in retail price lists in shops and supermarkets - says the president Carlo Rienzi - An inevitable consequence, considering that the 85% of goods sold in Italy travel by road, and a further damage for consumers, exhausted like companies by expensive fuel ". "In this situation, a shameful immobility arrives from the Government, and it is not clear what awaits the executive to immediately cancel the VAT on petrol and diesel and reduce excise duties,

The trucking industry calls on the government to suspend the Value Added Tax (VAT) on gas and diesel and remove excise duties.
Six US Governors Seek Tax Holiday
Meanwhile, in the US where gasoline is much lower than in the EU, Six US Governors Seek Tax Holiday.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and the governors of five other states are calling on Congress to suspend the federal gas tax until the end of 2022. The governors sent a letter to congressional leaders asking for the suspension. The federal gas tax is 18 cents per gallon.

The Letter

"According to the American Automobile Association, the national average gas price in the United States is $4.173, up more than a dollar from 2021. The Gas Prices Relief Act as introduced in the House and Senate - H.R. 6787 and S. 3609 respectively - would alleviate the consumer cost of rising gas prices while protecting the federal government's capacity to make infrastructure investments.

"At a time when people are directly impacted by rising prices on everyday goods, a federal gas tax holiday is a tool in the toolbox to reduce costs for Americans, and we urge you to giver every consideration to this proposed legislation."

That is a small snip of the lette r signed by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Michigan; Gov. Jared Polis, Colorado; Gov. Tim Walz, Minnesota; Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, New Mexico; Gov. Tom Wolf, Pennsylvania; Gov. Tony Evers, Wisconsin to Speaker Pelosi, Leader Schumer, Leader McCarthy, and Leader McConnell.
Applause and Prayers
Please note that Gov. Wolf Applauds President Biden's Ban on Russian Energy Imports, Calls on Congressional Leaders to Enact Federal Gas Tax Holiday.
Hooray! 18 cents!
If the bill passes, it will suspend the federal gas tax through next January. That will shave about 18 cents off every gallon.
Gas Pains

The AAA says $4 Gas the Tipping Point for Most Americans

In California, the price of regular hit $5.694 and diesel $6.212 today. Both are new records.

Californians pay $1.37 more than the national average. The reason is massive gas taxes on top of special blending rules.

The state is considering a tax on EVs to make sure motorists pay their fair share of road maintenance.
Gas Relief
Here is the Gas Relief Act of 2022.

And here is the real problem: President Biden and the Fed are giving us too much gas where we don't need it and too little where we do.

The average worker has lost money to inflation twelve times in the last fourteen months.

For details, please see Real Wages Decline 12 Times in the Last 14 Months

This post originated on MishTalk.Com.
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Italian Truckers Declare Force Majeure Over Gas Pains, Halt Deliveries Starting Monday

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Italian Bonds Not sure I call this a crash as yields are spiking in many paces but yes, it's messy. Force Majeure Starting Monday Stops Trucking Via Google Translate from Ansa. Starting from next Monday, March 14, the trucking companies will suspend their services nationwide 'due to force majeure' "and that is the explosion of fuel costs.

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What does OPEC have to say about the Russian oil situation? Not much. - Marketplace

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Part of it comes down to the oil world’s “delicate equilibrium.”

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Tsvetana Paraskova

Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions that have been levied against it have sent shockwaves through global energy markets.

Inventories in major oil-consuming developed economies, including in the United States, have been falling steadily.

The energy crisis today is "comparable in intensity, in brutality, to the oil shock of 1973," France's Economy and Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire said.

The global oil market was tight even before the Russian invasion of Ukraine, but Putin's war and its consequences on Russian crude supply and energy prices have the potential to hurl the market into a major supply shock comparable with the 1973 Arab oil embargo. Oil stocks in major oil-consuming developed economies, including in the United States, have been falling steadily for several months now as demand rebounds.

U.S. market balances are tight, with commercial crude inventories of 411.6 million barrels, 13 percent below the five-year average for this time of the year. Gasoline inventories are some 1 percent above the five-year average, but distillate fuel inventories are about 18 percent lower, and propane/propylene inventories are 21 percent below the five-year average for this time of year, the EIA's latest inventory report for the week ending March 4 .

As demand rebounds, global oil supply has struggled to catch up, as OPEC+ is adding just 400,000 barrels per day to the group's oil production each month. For months, the production increase has been lower than 400,000 bpd-and at times half of this figure-because many OPEC+ producers lack either the capacity or investments to boost output to their quotas.

After Russia invaded Ukraine, it took just a month for prices to top the triple digits . Now, the talk is whether oil could hit $150 a barrel as Russian oil is being shunned by European buyers, while China alone may not be able to take all the seaborne volumes that would have gone to Europe otherwise.

Russia will have to shut in some of its oil production as it will be unable to sell all the volumes displaced from European markets to other regions, with Russian crude production falling and staying depressed for at least the next three years, Standard Chartered said on Thursday. Even before the on energy imports from Russia, trade in Russian commodities had become toxic for many global players .

The war in Ukraine added a lot of geopolitical risk premium to an already tight oil market to create a perfect storm for skyrocketing oil prices.

"Nothing is crazy in this oil market anymore," Michael Tran, managing director of global energy strategy at RBC Capital Markets, told this week, which saw wild swings in oil prices with Brent's trading range in a record $33 per barrel.

"This is going to be a really big disruption in terms of logistics, and people are going to be scrambling for barrels."

"This is a supply crisis. It's a logistics crisis. It's a payment crisis, and this could well be on the scale of the 1970s," Yergin added.

Related: OPEC Discusses Oil Market With U.S. Shale Executives

"In 1973 ... the response caused an inflationary shock, leading central banks to massively increase their rates, which killed off growth," Le Maire said, adding that the world would want to avoid such stagflation this year.

The market will need those volumes, also because U.S. shale cannot significantly ramp up production in the short term.

The preliminary Russian crude loadings for March revealed a 1 million bpd drop in the loadings from the Black Sea ports, a 1 million bpd drop from the Baltics, and a 500,000 bpd drop in the Far East. In addition, there is an estimated 2.5 million bpd loss in oil products loadings from the Black Sea, for a total loss of 4.5 million bpd, according to J.P. Morgan.

"So large is the immediate supply shock that we believe prices need to increase to $120/bbl and stay there for months to incentivize demand destruction, assuming no immediate Iranian volumes," said Natasha Kaneva, Head of Global Commodities Strategy at J.P. Morgan.

By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
More Top Reads From Oilprice.com: Back to homepage

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Oil Could See Its Biggest Supply Shock Since 1973 | OilPrice.com

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Tsvetana Paraskova Tsvetana is a writer for Oilprice.com with over a decade of experience writing for news outlets such as iNVEZZ and SeeNews. Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the sanctions that have been levied against it have sent shockwaves through global energy markets.

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Surge is primarily a result of 3 million barrels per day (BPD) of oil production that was lost in Spring 2020.

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“No president has control of oil prices.” - Dr. Scott Jackson, Chemical Engineer, Villanova University.

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Why are gas prices so high? When will they drop? Industry expert cites 2 factors

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PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) - Gas prices are stubbornly high, with some pumps in the area nearing $4 per gallon.

What's causing us to pay so much at the pump? According to Villanova University chemical engineering professor Dr. Scott Jackson, two main factors are motoring our driving costs upward.
Listen below to the full KYW Newsradio In Depth podcast episode in your player below.
"One is essentially structure, and that is the supply and demand curve," said Dr. Jackson.

"When the pandemic started, the bottom dropped out of the market. So nobody was buying gasoline. Nobody's driving. All of a sudden, everybody said, 'Oh, my gosh, there's too much oil in the market.'"

Dr. Jackson said that crude oil prices then went negative, essentially meaning that producers weren't profiting from the suddenly low prices. Producers like OPEC pulled back on production to bring barrel prices back to $45.

"All of a sudden, the uptick in the world economy was a lot faster than anybody thought it was going to happen," said Dr. Jackson.

"Demand went way up, a lot faster than anybody thought was going to occur. And here's everybody, all the producers saying, 'Oh, we got to ramp up production.'"

But as Dr. Jackson said, producers couldn't create oil quickly enough to meet the deand, so the price went back up.

The second factor, Dr. Jackson said, is emotional.

" The situation in Europe is just messing with everybody's mind, and rightfully so," he described.

"It's really destabilizing the whole world economic situation. Natural gas is piped right straight through Ukraine from Russia to Western Europe, and there's some oil transport but it's usually really natural gas. The whole situation is really making people nervous."

Dr. Jackson believes that is driving the prices for oil futures up, and it could remain for a while.

"If there is an invasion of Ukraine, holy crap, you can expect the price of oil to stay high," he said.

However, he believes an American ramp-up of production could curtail those high prices.

"The Americans are back in the game. We are, again, the largest exporter of petroleium products in the world," he said.

"We are net exporters of petroleum products, whereas before back about five, six years, we were net importers."

However, he believes it may take a while to reach such a ceiling of high prices.

"I've been telling my students by the end of semester, we may see oil at $100 a barrel, and the gas prices just keep on going up in lockstep," he said.

Many believe it's up to federal government to find a way to drop oil prices when they rise as high as they do, but Dr. Jackson says unequivocally that presidents can't pull a lever and change the price.

"Let me make it very clear. No president has control of oil prices," said Dr. Jackson.

"(It) has nothing to do with what Trump, or Biden, or Bush or anybody else has done. It's all because of OPEC and the dynamics with the US oil production, and particularly, shale oil."

How bad could it get here for gas prices? The answer comes reflected in the price of a barrel of oil.

"Worst case scenario, it will go over $4 a gallon (in Philadelphia and the Delaware Valley) once prices of oil go to $100," Dr. Jackson said.

"Once oil comes back down, it will retreat," he added.

"It may take until the third quarter of this year before it gets down to you know, $50 or $60 a barrel, It will be a little back off of $4. It may back off of $3 (or) get below $3. No guarantee about that."

Dr. Jackson also spoke about the long-term effects the movement toward electric vehicles could have not only on overall energy prices, but the environment and our consumer decisions.
Listen below to the full KYW Newsradio In Depth podcast episode in your player below.

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Why are gas prices so high? When will they drop? Industry expert cites 2 factors

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What's causing us to pay so much at the pump? According to Villanova chemical engineering professor Dr. Scott Jackson, two main factors - uncertainty in Europe and the fluctuations of the economy in COVID-19 - are motoring our driving costs upward.

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U.S. Gas Prices Are Skyrocketing-How Much Worse Will It Get?

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Geopolitical tensions, inflation, and the COVID-19 pandemic have converged to push the average U.S. price for a gallon of gasoline above $4 for the first time since 2008, as calculated by the price-monitoring app GasBuddy.

In some cities, including Los Angeles and San Francisco, average gas prices have hit $5 for regular fuel-the photo above was taken in Santa Ana, California, on March 6-and there are even some stations selling premium for over $7 a gallon. On the AAA Gas Prices website, you can look at the averages in the state where you live.

Unless something drastic changes soon, GasBuddy is predicting a national average price of $4.25 by Memorial Day. The current record is $4.10.

UPDATE 3/8/2022: AAA said the average U.S. price for a gallon of gasoline has hit $4.173, which is the most expensive ever. That's up 10 cents per gallon since yesterday and up 63 cents since February 24 (the date on which Russia began its invasion of Ukraine).

The news everybody already seems to know is that gas prices are headed up. This weekend, the national average price for a gallon of gasoline went above $4 a gallon in the U.S for only the second time ever. The last time this happened was in 2008.

In some parts of the country, $4 would be a substantial discount. Los Angeles County, for example, saw an average of $5 a gallon this week, the first time that milestone was ever reached. At some stations in Los Angeles, premium fuel was selling for $7.25 a gallon this week. Gas in the Philadelphia area hit $4.05 a gallon late last week, an increase of 43 cents in the past month. Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis for GasBuddy, said on Twitter that San Francisco also hit $5 a gallon and told that more cities are likely to hit that height in the coming weeks.

The Los Angeles CBS affiliate, CBSLA, noted that inflation has played a role in the recent price increase for gas (along with the COVID-19 pandemic), but De Haan posted on Twitter late Saturday that there was only one reason gas prices here have hit the $4-a-gallon level. "To make it implicitly clear, this is the cost of bipartisan sanctions on Russia for their war on Ukraine," he wrote. "[$4/gallon] was unlikely to have happened without Russian action."

In his State of the Union speech this week, President Biden warned the country that the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian military would have an effect on every American. In response to Russia's actions, Biden announced that the U.S. and 30 other countries were working together to release 60 million barrels of oil from strategic reserves around the world. Thirty million of those barrels will come from America's own Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Biden said, saying the action "will help blunt gas prices here at home."

Meanwhile, AAA, which uses its own methodology to determine average gas prices, calculated that the average on Saturday was $3.922. AAA's highest ever recorded national price record for a gallon of gasoline was $4.114, which was set on July 17, 2008. That's also the date GasBuddy recorded its highest-ever price record: $4.103.

GasBuddy released a statement about this weekend's milestone saying that, while international sanctions that are crippling Russia's crude oil exports are one cause of the price spike, that's not the only reason GasBuddy expects fuel prices to continue to rise.

"Seasonal factors including increased demand for gas, refinery maintenance and the switch to summer blend gas, on top of current geopolitical tensions, could propel prices upward of $4.25 per gallon by Memorial Day," the group wrote in a statement. On the bright side, the company's 2022 Fuel Outlook predicts prices will start to slope downward after that, with a national average all the way down to $3.78 by December 2022. That number used to seem high, but it's all relative.

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U.S. Gas Prices Are Skyrocketing-How Much Worse Will It Get?

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Geopolitical tensions, inflation, and the COVID-19 pandemic have converged to push the average U.S. price for a gallon of gasoline above $4 for the first time since 2008, as calculated by the price-monitoring app GasBuddy.

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US President Donald Trump(C)is appluaded by former President Barack Obama(L)a, former Vice President ... [+]
AFP via Getty Images

I get quite a lot of correspondence from readers. Some of it involves angry messages from readers who are convinced that reality is something other than I have presented.

For example, in my recent articles (and in a Facebook post that went viral), I detailed the underlying causes for the current surge in oil, and subsequently gasoline prices.

President Biden has passed policies that could negatively impact domestic oil supplies in the future. However, thus far the price surge is primarily a result of 3 million barrels per day (BPD) of oil production that was lost in the spring of 2020 that hasn't fully recovered. Demand has fully recovered, so that is the fundamental reason for the surge in prices. Further, that surge began in the fall of 2020 - five months before President Trump left office.

But some people are looking for simple answers. Since Joe Biden is now president, and they recognize his hostility to the oil and gas industry, they reason that it's a no-brainer that this is primarily Biden's fault. And some of the angry feedback I get reflects that.

One person recently messaged me "Then why are we no longer energy independent, genius?" First, note that I am not going to engage with anyone who approaches me in a hostile or disrespectful manner. I do, however, sometimes engage people who simply disagree and want to express their opinion.

Yet this person raised a question that reflects a belief I have seen expressed many times. That is that President Trump made us energy independent, and now under President Biden we have lost that energy independence. Once again, the truth requires a bit more discussion.
What Is Energy Independence?
The first thing I ask when someone poses this question is "How are you defining energy independence?" In reality, most people are using it incorrectly. A correct accounting would be to add up all of our energy production (oil, natural gas, coal, renewables) and then subtract our net energy consumption.

Why do I say "net"? Because if we import a million barrels per day of oil, and export that as roughly a million barrels per day of finished products, it doesn't actually impact our energy independence - even though it increases our gross overall consumption.

Most people view energy independence through the lens of our oil and gas production and consumption. These two sources represent 68% of U.S. energy consumption. When they see our net exports are positive, it is viewed as "energy independence." When they turn negative, we are once again partially dependent. (In reality, we are always partially dependent, because even when our exports exceed our imports, we are still importing oil from other countries).

It is true that in 2019 our net imports of crude oil and finished products flipped from positive to negative. By that metric, we became energy independent (at last as far as our oil consumption goes). It is also true that Donald Trump was president when this happened for the first time in October 2019.
The Long March Toward Independence
But note that this was the culmination of a trend that started in 2006 when U.S. net imports topped 13 million BPD. Most of that march to energy independence happened under President Obama. All President Trump (and President Obama before him) had to do was avoid driving the bus into the ditch, and they would continue to benefit from the hydraulic fracking boom that enabled all of this.

US Net Imports of Crude Oil and Petroleum Products
Energy Information Administration

Note near the end of the chart above that we started oscillating back and forth between a net importer and a net exporter. The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the trend. The energy independence that we gained in 2019, was lost in the second half of 2020 as energy production plunged, but energy demand recovered. In May 2020, we had flipped back to a net oil importer, and we have oscillated since.

To be clear, I am not giving credit (or blame) here to President Obama or President Trump. Their policies weren't responsible for the underlying plunge in our crude oil imports, which is the primary factor in our march to energy independence.

However, one thing President Obama did that helped oil production continue to expand under President Trump was in the energy bill he signed in late 2015. One stipulation in that bill allowed domestic producers to export their oil. To that point, finished products like diesel and gasoline could be exported, but not crude oil. That depressed U.S. oil prices, which benefitted refiners but not oil producers.

This comprehensive energy bill that President Obama signed helped open up new markets for domestic oil producers, who had suffered from depressed prices due to their inability to export their oil. That stipulation - which was a trade-off for getting some renewable energy provisions - helped extend the fracking boom. Prior to 2015, U.S. oil exports were insignificant. By 2019, we were exporting 3 million BPD of crude oil.
Are We Energy Independent?
The Energy Information Administration (EIA) tabulated U.S. energy consumption in 2019 and 2020, and determined that for both full years, counting all energy sources, we were energy independent. Even though U.S. energy production declined by 5% in 2020, energy consumption also declined by 3% as the pandemic impacted the economy. So, our energy independence was shrinking as the pandemic unfolded.

As I noted above, the EIA wrote:

"Annual crude oil production generally decreased between 1970 and 2008. In 2009, the trend reversed and production began to rise, and in 2019, U.S. crude oil production reached a record high of 12.25 million barrels per day. More cost-effective drilling and production technologies helped to drive the production increases, especially in Texas and North Dakota. U.S. crude oil production declined to about 11.31 million barrels per day in 2020. A large drop in U.S. petroleum demand in March and April 2020 as a result of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic led to a decrease in U.S. oil production."

So, in 2009 we began the march to energy independence. Those wishing to credit President Trump for this need to take another look at that net imports graphic to grasp the full picture.

But we don't actually know if, once the full year of 2021 has been accounted for, we lost our energy independence for the year. If it turns out that we did, the single largest factor in that will be that oil and natural gas production have yet to return back to pre-Covid-19 levels. But demand has recovered, and therein lies the reason.

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I get quite a lot of correspondence from readers. Some of it involves angry messages from readers who are convinced that reality is something other than I have presented. For example, in my recent articles (and in a Facebook post that went viral), I detailed the underlying causes for the current surge in oil, and subsequently gasoline prices.