A fresh approach to US energy security and alternative fuels

Hester is the author of numerous articles published in Oil and Gas Journal, Estey Centre Journal, and the Journal of Canadian Petroleum Technology; as well as chapters in edited volumes; and is a frequent contributor to a variety of newspapers including The Globe and Mail and the Calgary Herald. [...] In 2005, when the US imported 13.5 mmb/d,17 three of the top five providers to the US were in the Western Hemisphere, one was in Africa, and only one was in the Middle East. [...] Sidney Weintraub pointed out in his testimony to Congress in March 2006, "… with this much energy resources reliance on the hemisphere, it is remarkable that the US government has so thoroughly ignored the hemisphere in its foreign policy."19 In an attempt to counter this neglect, the next section will present a picture of the key players in the hemisphere. [...] Although Pemex is the fifth largest oil firm in the world, posting a total of 3.78 mmb/d in 2005 - of which 2 mmb/d are consumed internally and the rest exported26 - with the correspondingly high revenues, it has been unable to make the necessary investments to maintain and increase production. [...] Although the country was instrumental in the creation of OPEC, it never failed to honour its contracts even during the crisis triggered by the Arab oil embargo of 1973 and the Iranian revolution in 1979.30 In the early 1990s, Venezuela became a major shareholder in the US energy sector.