The President's SOTU proclamation to reduce our oil imports from the Middle East by 75% seemed so out of character that I wondered if Cheney might sucker-punch him.
Of course, foggy recantations have now been issued and we are left to demystify the underlying meaning of W's statement. Lucky for you, I have done just that!
Total U.S. crude oil imports averaged 10.265 million barrels per day in November. The significant Middle Eastern suppliers of Oil to the U.S. are (Source: www.eia.doe.gov):
Saudi Arabia 12.3%
Iraq 5.6%
Kuwait 2.7%
They provided one fifth -- 20.6% or roughly 2.1 million barrels -- of our daily crude oil imports.
So, if we cut Middle East imports by 75%, that would equate to about 1.8 million barrels per day, or almost 12% of our daily consumption.
Gosh, that sounds drastic. And if we use the G8 definition of Middle East, the suppliers expand to include Algeria, Libya, Qatar, UAE, Oman, Syria and Yemen.
Hmmm. No wonder King George is taking back his pronouncement - he won't stab his Saudi family in the back, he won't pinch Halliburton's graft in Iraq, he won't undermine the country his daddy saved from Saddam, he won't risk the CentCom base and Defense Energy Support Center in Qatar, he won't upset Tony Blair's good buddy Oman, and he won't abandon the PR deal he made with Qahdafi.
Now, let's examine what Bush really meant: We will significantly reduce our insignificant oil imports from Syria and Yemen, and still never import any from Iran!