How much oil does the U.S. import from the middle east?

[DanCar]

Zero! Crude Oil Flow From Saudi Arabia To U.S. Falls To Zero | OilPrice.com
I suppose we can remove our aircraft carriers from the region now.
Thank you Elon!

 

[RichAZ/CapeCod]

Zero! Crude Oil Flow From Saudi Arabia To U.S. Falls To Zero | OilPrice.com
I suppose we can remove our aircraft carriers from the region now.
Thank you Elon!

I believe you are substantially correct. We can remove much of our military from that region of the world as the strategic reasons for them being there has diminished greatly.

The changing world order of things has been discussed by quite a few people. Here's just one point of view which makes the reasons why this is taking place clear:

Peter Zeihan: Disunited Nations: The Trade Breakdown | Upfront Summit 2020

Rich

 

[SageBrush]

OP: how fungible is oil ?

 

[DanCar]

Fungibility - Wikipedia

In economics, fungibility is the property of a good or a commodity whose individual units are essentially interchangeable, and each of its parts is indistinguishable from another part.[1][2]

For example, gold is fungible since a specified amount of pure gold is equivalent to that same amount of pure gold, whether in the form of coins, ingots, or in other states. Other fungible commodities include sweet crude oil, company shares, bonds, other precious metals, and currencies. Fungibility refers only to the equivalence and indistinguishability of each unit of a commodity with other units of the same commodity, and not to the exchange of one commodity for another.

I don't know. Why do you ask? Are you implying Elon has done little and really what has been done is U.S. crude production has increased because of fracking?
Well that is true, but e-cars are the future. Reference: The price of electric car batteries has dropped 89% in 10 years

A decade ago, a lithium-ion battery pack used in an electric car cost around $1,110 per kilowatt-hour. By this year, according to a new survey, the cost had fallen 89%, to $137 per kilowatt-hour. And by 2023, the cost is likely to fall far enough that car companies can make and sell mass-market electric vehicles (EVs) at the same cost as cars running on fossil fuels.

Within four years, major automakers should be able to produce and sell mass-market electric vehicles at the same price and with the same margin as internal combustion engine equivalents.

Either way it seems we no longer have to care much about the Middle East except for exported terrorism. I don't think aircraft carriers are going to help much with that issue, unless we want to do another Afghanistan style invasion.

Also, seems to me that people with long commutes are the ones benefiting the most from e-cars. So even though e-cars are a small portion of sales, they maybe a higher percentage of lowering oil demand per capita.

 

[David_Cary]

Not sure EVs more the needle much at all yet.
The 2 months before Covid lockdowns, the US had more gasoline demand/usage than the year before. (source: EIA.gov)
Now demand would have been a bit higher without EVs but there was still demand growth pre-Covid. We have still not recovered but that is most likely 90+% Covid related.
Either way, oil is less of an issue for US security and will continue to diminish in value. There are religious reasons to stay in the Middle East - we should not imagine that has been removed. There are holy cities. There is one of our best allies surrounded by enemies.
It is unclear that complete withdrawal from the area will make the US more safe. I don't pretend to know but I am sure there would not be 100% agreement by policy makers on the correct answer.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Not sure EVs more the needle much at all yet.
The 2 months before Covid lockdowns, the US had more gasoline demand/usage than the year before. (source: EIA.gov)
Now demand would have been a bit higher without EVs but there was still demand growth pre-Covid. We have still not recovered but that is most likely 90+% Covid related.
Either way, oil is less of an issue for US security and will continue to diminish in value. There are religious reasons to stay in the Middle East - we should not imagine that has been removed. There are holy cities. There is one of our best allies surrounded by enemies.
It is unclear that complete withdrawal from the area will make the US more safe. I don't pretend to know but I am sure there would not be 100% agreement by policy makers on the correct answer.

Tough to say how demand would have been, but I expect it would have been higher due to the mild winter.

Mild winters seem to get people moving. Maybe a combination of more disposable income (lower energy bills) and being more eager to get out and about.

 

[David_Cary]

I suppose you would have to ask, what percentage of the population has a real winter? A number that is declining - enough that the south is younger - and more likely to move around.

I like this stuff. Maine average age 44. Vermont 43.
Georgia - 36; California 36.

So mild winter is less of a concern each and every year. And this - as it gets milder.

But even in the south, winter matters. So I agree, it just matters less and less every year.

 

[neurocutie]

I suppose you would have to ask, what percentage of the population has a real winter? A number that is declining - enough that the south is younger - and more likely to move around.

But even in the south, winter matters. So I agree, it just matters less and less every year.

Instead it may become a major advantage that Tesla's can act as boats, what with the increased hurricanes and rising sea level -- Miami and much of Florida going underwater, etc...