Oil Imports from the Middle East

This morning, on WLS radio out of Chicago, I heard Congressman Kirk, one of the eight Republican House members who voted for the CAP & TRADE bill, justify his vote. I don't remember his exact quote, however, he talked about the U.S. oil imports and implied that much of those came from Nations that are not friendly to the U.S. This sounded a little fishy to me since I knew that Canada and Mexico are some of our largest importers so I did a little looking.

According to an article at Suite1o1.com, quoting a Department of Energy report:

According to data from the US Department of Energy, of the top five
suppliers of crude oil to the US only one, Saudi Arabia, is a Middle East
exporter. In March 2008, the US imported 1.795 million barrels per day (b/d)
from Canada, 1.535 million b/d from Saudi Arabia, 1.214 million b/d from Mexico,
1.154 million b/d from Nigeria, and 858,000 b/d from Venezuela. These top five
suppliers accounted for 68 percent of total US crude oil imports for that
month.
When looking at the top ten foreign suppliers of crude oil to the US,
only two more Middle East exporters make the list: Iraq (sixth), which exported
773,000 b/d to the US in March 2008, and Kuwait (tenth), which exported 199,000
b/d. The top ten suppliers of crude oil to the US accounted for 87 percent of
total US imports for that month. Other importers that made up the top ten were
Angola (sixth, 368,000 b/d), Algeria (seventh, 247,000 b/d), and Ecuador
(eighth, 231,000 b/d).Read more: http://international-politics.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_us_and_middle_east_oil#ixzz0K6cXayOP&C

For the year 2007, here are the top ten nations that the U.S. imports oil from and their percentage of imported oil:

Canada … US$38 billion (17.8% of U.S. imports from top 20 oil-producing nations)
Saudi Arabia … $33.8 billion (15.8%) Mexico … $30.3 billion (14.2%) Nigeria …
$30.1 billion (14.1%) Venezuela … $30 billion (14%) Angola … $12.1 billion
(5.7%) Algeria … $11.5 billion (5.4%) Iraq … $10.9 billion (5.1%) Brazil … $3.8
billion (1.8%) Kuwait … $3.75 billion (1.8%).
Read more: http://import-export.suite101.com/article.cfm/usa_oil_imports_by_country_2007#ixzz0K6vY7gQt&C

While I am not happy about importing oil from anywhere in the middle east, Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait are not high on my list of enemy states. Congressman Kirk's assertion doesn't hold up under scrutiny. If he favors reducing our dependence on foreign oil, as I do, then we should be doing more to expose and collect the vast oil reserves the U.S. has within our own national boundries, and near our shores.

Energy independence will not be acheived by doubling our sources of solar or wind, which currently generate about one percent of our nations energy.

Comments?