On the Flip Side - Escalating U.S. Energy Crisis a Delight to Others
by Heather McMillan
May 2, 2006

The U.S. government has recognized the worldwide oil crisis of today and has spent billions of dollars researching and developing alternative energy sources. In 2005, the Bush Administration signed the first energy bill to be passed in over 10 years, and today a mad rush to find cost-efficient fuel for America’s demand is in high effect.

For many years the popular talk of the day has been global warming and the greenhouse effect, how industrialized nations are emitting endless amounts of carbon dioxide and other toxins into the atmosphere, burning holes straight through the ozone layer. But why is it that only recently people are being concerned with the other side of the coin, the possibility that soon we will no longer be spewing greenhouse gases from our cars because we will have run out of CO2-releasing fuels to consume?

The awareness of the oil crisis has been raised due to higher global demands for this resource. China, India and other rapidly developing countries are consuming more of the world’s oil supply, causing the price of oil per barrel to increase and therefore, the price Americans are paying at the pump.

In a recent discussion of the U.S. energy policy, President Bush emphasized that not a single oil refinery has been built in the United States for the past 30 years, and in addition, 60 percent of U.S. oil is supplied by foreign countries.

The largest oil reserves in the world have long been thought to be in the Middle East. But as the price per barrel has gone up, Venezuela has had more funds to tap into its vast deposits of heavy crude petroleum which until recently were not cost-efficient to extract.

Chávez, the Venezuelan President, has announced that at the upcoming meeting of OPEC on June 1, he will ask the oil cartel to set the long term price at $50 per barrel. An analysis by the U.S. Department of Energy (DoE) has shown that at $50 a barrel, Venezuela will have the biggest oil reserves in OPEC, larger than those of the entire Middle East.

What will happen as relations worsen between these two countries: a world superpower starved for energy and its strengthening little neighbor that’s pumping out oil barrels by the billions? Will America turn to its natural gas reserves in Alaska and construct more offshore oil refineries; or will the solution for lessening dependency on foreign oil come from ethanol consumption and the new Hybrid cars?

Chávez says that he has already “foreseen” a war. According to him, the United States and Venezuela will be engaged in a war that will rage for a hundred years. As a precaution, Chávez has been amassing a large military reserve force and buying arms from Russia and fighter planes from Spain.  Meanwhile, the increasing revenues from oil in the Latin American country are being used for improving the nation’s infrastructure and increasing the minimum wage.

I grew up in Venezuela, living there for a total of 15 years. My family lives in the coastal city of Puerto La Cruz, home to one of the largest oil refineries in Venezuela. From my living room window I can look out at night and see the lights and fires twinkling and glowing from the enormous refinery across the bay. During the day, huge oil tankers move slowly offshore, loaded down with the precious fuel that the world runs on.

Since my teen years I have been aware of the importance of oil production and its place in the global economy. I went to school with the children of CEO’s of U.S. oil companies in Venezuela. I have crossed over the Orinoco River, in the beds of which most of Venezuela’s crude deposits lie, waiting to be sucked out and consumed.

I’d like to say resolutely that the United States will not invade Venezuela, a country which I dearly love in spite of its often crazed leaders. I’d like to think that the U.S. will simply redefine itself in terms of its energy sources and its large-scale consumption of petroleum. This could very well be the case, as currently the United States is heavily investing in alternative energy sources of all kinds and trying to decrease its dependency on foreign oil.

But the fact still remains that there is a radical leader brewing up trouble in the oil-rich Venezuela, just south of the Caribbean.

Recalling the history of U.S. invasions into countries that strongly opposed its interests, I pray that the leftist Chávez can continue boosting the Venezuelan economy without persistently aggravating and provoking its energy-starved, superpower neighbor in the North.