The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

The false promise of energy independence

The Iran war shows yet again that US oil is still vulnerable to foreign shocks.

The United States has been chasing the rhetorical goal of energy independence — the ability to produce enough domestic energy to be essentially free of dependence on imports — since the energy crisis of the 1970s exposed the country’s reliance on Mideast oil. President Donald Trump has put his own spin on the idea, pushing beyond independence to “energy dominance.”

If you look just at oil extraction, the US seems to have succeeded. Thanks to the fracking revolution, it is now the largest oil producer in the world, and it exports more petroleum and other liquid fuels than it imports. The US is, in fact, a dominant player in the global energy market.

But as the US and Israel’s attacks on Iran this week have revealed, being dominant in energy isn’t the same thing as being independent. What you’re paying at the pump now is directly connected to what’s happening 6,000 miles away. Because of attacks on shipping and oil infrastructure, gasoline prices are rising across the country, reaching an average of $3.25. The last time prices jumped this high this fast was in March 2022, when Russia launched its full invasion of Ukraine. Even Trump was forced to awkwardly acknowledge the reality.

“So if we have a little high oil prices for a little while, but as soon as this ends, those prices are going to drop, I believe lower than even before,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday. Trump has also tasked his Cabinet to look for any way they can to keep gasoline prices down.

One sign of the rising danger is that Trump also said on his social media platform that the US would offer political risk insurance for shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and possibly naval escorts, particularly for oil tankers, after transits drastically slowed. Twenty percent of the world’s petroleum consumption and 20 percent of natural gas flows through the Strait of Hormuz. Iran itself is the world’s fifth-largest oil producer, and its oil facilities are under attack. It’s now launching its own strikes on oil tankers. We’ve seen shocks to the global oil and gas........

© Vox