The Energy Independence Myth

This week we focus on a thin slice of the energy pie to disabuse the notion of “energy independence.” When politicians reference this concept they speak narrowly in terms of oil and gas production in the United States. As though if we could somehow pump enough of our own oil specifically, we could break our dependence on foreign nations, especially those villainous bad actors like Russia and Iran. Not only is this talking point an illusion, the framing of it is completely false. For starters, we already pump more oil than we consume. Moreover, we import crude and refined oil from allies.

CHAPTERS
00:00 - Introduction
00:55 - Oil Production in the United States
03:50 - Crude Oil Logistics
05:06 - Crude Oil Distillates
06:17 - The Politics of Energy

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Unf*cking the Republic (UNFTR for short) is progressive media organization that produces a longform podcast, YouTube videos, a twice weekly newsletter and original editorials on U.S. politics, socio economics and civil liberties. Our features attempt to explain how we arrived in Bizarro America, the funhouse mirror version of what was originally intended. You can access all of our work at www.UNFTR.com

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[jamesmorton]

Love the dialog for ordering oil. Sustainability & Prosperity for ALL. Americans. Jobs. NOT Profits.

[jonathonalsop]

As a Canadian, unfortunately you're right, no one's that nice.

[punkagrrlzero]

This is why the 'liquid gold' frack frack frack rhetoric is so damn funny.

[HealthyThinkingsubstack]

Excellent video: ‘Tis is difficult to produce such excellent work and have insufficient followers. But all you can do is control your work and it is excellent.

[ceritusorbis]

Short and sweet - well done and well said!

[fetlock]

That is the perfect ending to this episode! 😢 Thank you.

[neolithictransitrevolution]

Well, unlike the Saudis or Iran, the US has the 4th largest population and largest economy in the world, and the entire economy isn't based on exporting oil. And a lot of oil "consumed in the US", particularly in the Gulf of Mexico, is re-exported as gasoline or diesel to Latin America.

[RePeteAndMe]

The federal government should nationalize the exchange of fossil fuels. We buy oil and gas at low prices and stick it in salt caverns, manipulating the market like crazy. We sell oil and gas at well-known increasing prices pre-published years in advance.
If you want to buy or sell fossils there should be only one market: the fed. It's not like we even want "better more efficient extraction" or whatever supposed benefit the current rollercoaster price ride gives us.
Thumbs up

[neolithictransitrevolution]

The actual and sensible alternative to US energy independence is KeyStone LX or a similar pipeline bringing Canadian oil south to the Gulf of Mexico so that a reliable supply (unlike sanctioned Russia or Venezuela or unreliable Mexico) of heavy crude is available to Gulf refineries.

I am all for the energy transition. There is really no way Solar won't become the dominant source of electricity over the next decade, which is great. NG will likely be needed in that time, but not in the evening or for load following, which will be done with batteries. It will be needed overnight and seasonally for cloudy periods, where storage is further off. And EVs are going to take over a large chunk of Transportation. But oil won't stop being used for decades, and in that time a secure supply is to the US's advantage.

[chrisconklin]

Thanks! I feared another denialist video. I compliment you on your knowledge about the petroleum industry. Anybody that shows a clip of Bernie Sanders is a friend of mine. I vote for the sustainable stew.

[Dpinks]

All renewable energy jobs are subsidized. Take away the subsidies, 95% or more of those jobs go away. And we are subsidizing Chinas solar panels, or at least did in the past. He brings up a little of great points, just not all the points.

[neolithictransitrevolution]

I don't believe you are looking at this with enough granularity. You talk about the realities of infrastructure and crude characteristics, but then seem to ignore this by the conclusion.

There is frankly no way to look at the Midwest and Rockies without them being import dependent - dependent on Canada, sure, and with legal protection and a near monopsony due to pipelines, but more than half the oil consumed is still imported in these regions.

California as well simply can't be viewed as anything but energy dependent. The refineries need a heavy crude, there is no pipeline capacity with the continent, and again we see growing Canadian fractions but I say energy independence is to ignore reality.

We can only say the US south, from Permian shale and Offshore, is an actual net surplus. And it's an enormous surplus, no doubt. But you can't look at a basement full of people drowning and an 11th floor of people dying of thirst and say there seems to be no issues with water access. Not only is there no way to move Permian shale throughout the country, but it's the wrong "flavor" for almost all the infrastructure it's near.

A hypothetical refinery has a pipe a meter in diameter with oil flowing in. Let's say it was built for heavy oil, the oil enters the distillation chamber and is seperated into components according to the size of molecules. The really light molecules, 1-3 carbons (methane, ethane, propane) exit out a 1 inch pipe at the top, another 1inch pipe for butane, a 2 foot diameter pipe for gasoline which is a mix ~10 carbon long molecules, a foot diameter for diesel which is heavier, and then some real heavy stuff out the bottom. And that all works because I know the oil coming in has ratios that break up to fit the pipes going out. If you decide to try and switch that input oil to something light, you have to reduce the amount of oil you're processing, because the fractions have changed. Suddenly that 1 inch pipe at the top is completely full, even though the gasoline take away pipe is half full, and the Diesel is near empty. And shale oil IS light, super light, sometimes even called ultralight. In some cases it's comparable to that 1 inch pipes output, or condensate, or NGL liquids. Which is a huge problem, because that shale oil requires an enormous amount of diesel to access, but gives very little back. You cannot run the US economy on shale oil, I might be able to fill my car, but construction vehicles? Transport trucks? Farm Tractors? Ships, trains, fire trucks etc? That's why we saw Diesel prices skyrocketing after Russia invaded Ukraine.

And US refineries, most relevant for this discussion in the Gulf but also in Chicago and California, are built for the heaviest possible oil. Talking about replacing imports with shale oil isn't just getting less diesel out of a barrel, it's talking about using that 1 meter input pipe at half capacity, because your methane outtake and gasoline outtake are full at that point.

But, as bad as all that, most of the wasted equipment is related to the really heavy sludge at the bottom. US refineries are the most advanced and expensive, because they have the equipment to upgrade that sludge into something more like regular oil. Gulf refineries actually buy the sludge from other countries refineries, that used to include Russia's. All that equipment goes completely unused is you try to force shale to be used. Which is going to add to gas prices, because those refineries compete by buying cheap oil to make up for their high cost, and shale oil has just about the highest production cost in the world, only beat by strip mining bitumen in Fort McMurray.

*All numbers should be taken as examples and not literally.

[vivalaleta]

Both parties are corporate owned. Both promise to continue to fund Jenna Side.
Vote G R E E N

[jtjones]

I don’t know where you’re getting your total crude oil demand number but it’s wrong. We consume around 16.5 million barrels of crude oil per day considering all uses.

[IDIOCRACY-]

You killed my vibe with that scumbag traitor at the end