LogFAQs > #965636184

ParanoidObsessive posted...

People don't want oil pipelines or offshore drilling (for understandable reasons), but those are the sorts of things that would bring prices down as supply increases (and dependence on foreign sources decreases).

The increase in supply would help, but domestic production doesn't have nearly the impact on domestic prices that people like to think it does. There's this tacit assumption among a whole lot of people that domestic producers will sell locally - at reasonable profit margins that keep prices low for consumers - before selling their oil abroad, but the fact of the matter is that they aren't going to sell to domestic buyers if foreign buyers will pay more. The only savings that can be realized are from the cost of transporting it and the impact on total global supply; in no way does improving domestic production prevent the US (or any other oil-producing country) from being immune to changes in the global oil market.

The exception, of course, is cases like Russia where the global market stops buying their oil. I expect Russians are able to gas up pretty cheaply these days.