As the world grapples with the existential crisis of climate change, environmental activists want President Joe Biden to phase out the oil industry, and Republicans argue he’s already doing that. Meanwhile, the surprising reality is the United States is pumping oil at a blistering pace and is on track to produce more oil than any country has in history.
The United States is set to produce a global record of 13.3 million barrels per day of crude and condensate during the fourth quarter of this year, according to a report published Tuesday by S&P Global Commodity Insights.
Last month, weekly US oil production hit 13.2 million barrels per day, according to the US Energy Information Administration. That’s just above the Donald Trump-era record of 13.1 million set in early 2020 just before the Covid-19 crisis sent output and prices crashing.
That’s been helping to keep a lid on crude and gasoline prices.
That takes care of a small fraction of oil.
Plastics production makes up ~45% of all petroleum production.
Then you have shipping. Aircraft. Trucking. Then you have passenger vehicles.
Aircraft are the exact reason we need to figure out how to restrict production enough to raise prices. New non-fossil fuels have been “almost here” for decades, but somehow never actually get adopted. It’s time to push airlines with the prospect of more expensive jet fuel.
And lead too. I used to fly so I understand a little about the difficulties the general aviation industry has in switching to an unleaded fuel for prop planes, and have even defended the industry for it. And it’s small and shrinking. But lead has really got to go and if it takes more serious price increases to encourage it, so be it
Where are you getting the 45% number? I am seeing petrochemicals (plastics, resins, and petroleum based feedstocks) @12.12% of total oil demand in 2022. I see that road (all forms of shipping and transport on roads/care with petroleum products like tar/asphalt) is 49.24% of demand.
Diving deeper into the transportation sector, light trucks + other trucks make up 57% of the transportation sector’s petroleum usage. Following with cars/motorcycles @21%.
I agree with the sentiment you raise, that industry accounts for a very large portion of crude oil consumption, and that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. I just am unsure where you saw your data or if its perhaps looking at a different region specifically?
Sources for my figures: -total demand%: https://www.statista.com/statistics/307194/top-oil-consuming-sectors-worldwide/
-Transport sector breakdown: https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/use-of-energy/transportation.php