We often hear these days that the United States will soon, possibly in this decade, be independent of energy imports, particularly from Saudi Arabia. At the end of 2012, Saudi supplies stood at around 1.2 million barrels of oil a day, according to official US statistics. The US currently imports around 13 percent of its oil needs from several countries, including Saudi Arabia. The discoveries of shale oil and gas in the US in recent years have certainly caused a huge change in the country's energy sector, where the rapid discoveries of gas and shale oil have increased production by 800,000 barrels a day. According to the US Energy Department, America's production of oil will reach 7 million barrels a day. However, the claim that the US will become energy-independent, or free of imports (including Saudi Arabia's) is inaccurate for the following reasons. First, because the pressure exerted by environmental groups has yet to sufficiently materialize, as the extraction of gas and shale oil raises a number of questions about the environmental damage over the long run to some areas of the US. Second, because the oil market is global, and one cannot say that the US will become independent of Arab oil. Perhaps the US will on paper be not importing Saudi Arabia's oil, although the records of the oil giants indicate that it will continue to require large quantities of imported oil, from various sources. However, the statistics do not necessarily reflect the reality that will impose itself, namely the globalization of the economy and the oil market. For example, if China cannot obtain supplies of Saudi oil, this will be negative, just as the US will not have enough oil, because of the globalization of the economy. The energy market, with its primary components – coal, gas and oil – is also part of the globalized economy. Saying that the US is no longer linked or concerned with the Middle East in terms of its economic and oil interests is not the reality. For the world, Saudi Arabia has a sufficient reserve and it is available for production, so that it remains the world's leading source of petroleum. The share of OPEC oil, representing 12 countries, will continue to stand at 35 to 40 percent of global supply until the end of this decade. It is notable that maritime oil production will develop quickly until the end of 2015, with the production of countries such as Brazil, West African states and those in the Gulf of Mexico, and will represent 16 percent of world production in 2015. Saudi Arabia will certainly remain the leading country on the international geopolitical map of oil, but it is also one of the top ten consumers. Saudi Arabia today is developing new sources of energy, such as solar power, which has a promising future in the Kingdom. It is currently developing gas, so that it can cut back on its huge consumption of domestic oil and replace it with gas, so that the oil consumed locally can be exported in coming decades. Thus, Saudi Arabia will continue to play a fundamentally important role that aids in global market stability, in terms of supply and demand. As for America's development of shale oil, this represents a very significant and positive development for the US economy, because it has obtained cheap energy, compared to the giant of China. The price of gas in the US is around $3 for each million caloric unit of gas while in China and South Korea, where it is bitterly cold right now, the price of gas imported from spot markets is around $15, which is a big difference. This means that the US will be able to revive its oil and petrochemicals industry, because natural gas is cheap. This also means that the US economy will recover, and this is positive for the global economy – when the US economy is good, the global economy is in good shape. But this does not mean that the US will become free of oil imported from Saudi Arabia and Arab countries.
