Over a Barrel: The Costs of U.S. Foreign Oil Dependence

This ambitious, scholarly book, complete with statistics and charts on all things oil, undertakes the difficult task of measuring the price of U.S. dependence on this energy source. A comprehensive political and military history, it explains the geopolitics behind U.S. energy policy and analyzes its intended and unintended consequences, especially during today's period of scarce energy. Duffield proposes solutions to the strategic problems U.S. policy creates, even though some of his suggestions are not quantifiable or easily achieved. getAbstract recommends this book to energy and utility company executives, government officials and other serious readers who want to understand the numbers and history behind this international dilemma.

If gasoline pump prices approaching $4 per gallon are not enough to convince Americans that U.S. energy policies have been (are currently) ineffective, perhaps reading this book will help us better appreciate the effects of importing over 12 million barrels per day of oil. By expanding his analysis beyond the direct economic costs (wealth transfer abroad, reduction in GDP), to include the policy implications (foreign and military, as well as, domestic economic policies), Political Science Professor Duffield makes the case that the U.S. may well be better served by foreign and military policy decisions to "de-securitize" oil, while implementing domestic policies to reduce the oil intensity of the economy. The Professor's analysis goes something like this: Oil is a fungible commodity with its price set on world markets. The U.S. is by far the world's largest oil consumer with the most "oil intense" economy - its transportation sector being the most demanding. Oil Imports are a direct wealth transfer, primarily to the Persian Gulf region. Domestic economic policies rely primarily on 'market forces', with a strategic petroleum reserve maintained to mitigate future oil shocks. Foreign policy with its overall goal to make sure that oil will be reliably available, and the supporting U.S. military responses have both direct and indirect costs, not the least of which is the creation of political instability and the empowering of actors hostile to the U.S. In summary the burden of these policies threaten the very economy they report to support; and a total rethink is required. Now, this is not a new argument, but Professor Duffield does an admirable job of summarizing and sorting the elements, before he spends the better part of the concluding chapter suggesting how to reduce the costs of oil dependence through changes in both domestic and foreign policy. This book is not a quick or easy read, nor is it a pure academic summary of facts - the complexity of the topic does not allow that, and Duffield is a political science professor whose views do seep thru his compilation of facts and figures. But, this is a subject that is becoming more critical by the month for America, and this book has the potential to inform a very important conversation; a conversation with obvious economic and political consequences. Dennis DeWilde, author of "The Performance Connection"

I was in a political science class when I first heard of the proposition that people go to war over oil. I thought, you don't risk your life for oil --- people go to war to keep from being killed. This analysis of the economic and political aspects of oil use reveals the truth. Having a car comes with costs and consequences that are far reaching. The number one lesson from this story is that we are unnecessarily exposing ourselves and others to war and killing. Advocating for legislation that brings better gas mileage, alternative fuels, and mass transit is a moral must. The book's graphs display the nature and growth of our oil use, the tables sum up the costs of storing oil and protecting it, and the last chapter charts the way out.