Energy security can be described across three dimensions: availability, affordability, and acceptability. Availability, in turn, can be broken down into import dependency and diversity. One way to gauge import dependency is to combine net imports of crude oil with net imports of petroleum products, such as gasoline and diesel, to derive an overall net figure.
Measured this way, U.S. energy security has improved substantially since import dependency peaked in 2006 at 12 MB/d. Advances in extraction technology have delivered large increases in domestic oil and gas production, and beginning in February 2019 the United States became an increasingly substantial net exporter of crude oil and petroleum products.
These gains warrant careful consideration as policymakers weigh initiatives to limit domestic oil and gas production, such as halting new production on public lands. Constraining U.S. production would not alter U.S. petroleum consumption; it would instead increase oil imports and reverse the improvement in import dependency reflected in this chart.
From the EPRINC Chart of the Week archive.