Surging energy prices have buyers looking to developing nations for oil and natural gas. In 2021, the United States turned to Russia to meet demand.
Russia is now supplying more oil to the U.S. than any other foreign producer aside from Canada. In May, Russia pushed Mexico out of the number 2 spot, as U.S. imports of crude and refined petroleum products surged to 844-thousand barrels a day. David Holt, with the Consumer Energy Alliance, warns this dependence on Russian energy is a geopolitical risk.
“Russia wants to leverage its natural gas to drive a wedge between us and our friends in Europe,” Holt said. “The amount of money that’s leaving the country rather than staying here at home, all those things come into play when we have abundant resources here at home.”
Holt adds that Russia would like us to be dependent on them for energy, so they can raise prices. He notes how we didn't have this same problem under former President Trump, who made it a priority to expand domestic energy development. So, what changed within the last six to eight months?
“It all starts here at home, with really bad policy decisions that say no to pipelines all over the country, that say no to onshore and offshore leasing and energy development,” Holt explained. “Great that we’re diversifying our energy economy and adding more wind and solar, but they’re still a long way off.”