Trump has been right about oil all along |
Trump has been right about oil all along
In 1977, President Carter told Americans the world was running out of oil. Nearly 50 years later, the war in Iran is proving once again that oil is not only still here but also remains an essential geopolitical weapon.
Carter was wrong about oil, but he wasn’t alone. Political leaders around the world, including those in much of Europe and in China, have allowed their countries to depend for decades on oil and natural gas flowing through the Strait of Hormuz, a narrow spigot often under threat of closure by terrorists. They have also bet on oil and natural gas from Russia, an equally untenable reliance.
How could this be? Two words: climate obsession.
The green lobbies have had a death-grip on most European countries for the last 25 years. Few realize that Germany, for instance, has the sixth-largest natural gas reserves in the world. But Its government, in the grip of climate zealots, outlawed fracking, and so Germany produces very little of that gas, ranking 48th globally in production, despite being the world’s fourth-largest consumer of the fuel. They need the gas, but don’t want to dirty their climate by producing it.
Similarly, the United Kingdom has allowed its oil production to drop steadily for a quarter century, from a peak of 3 million barrels per day in 1999 to fewer than 600,000 last year. Investment dried up as a Conservative government slapped a 78 percent windfall profits tax on energy companies in 2022 that was meant to be temporary — a response to soaring energy prices in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Like most “temporary” levies, that tax is still in place under a Labour government, even as prices have declined. It is now blamed for a precipitous drop in energy........