OPEC controls and will control a whole hell of a lot more of the world supply than we can produce. We would obviously control more of the world supply, but it would still be a very small amount. And given that cutting supply means that they can earn the same amount of money by producing less oil (supply goes down, prices go up) it makes good sense for them to cut supply, albeit within reason.
Let's clarify what OPEC is, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. It is a handful of very important oil producers, no doubt, but they do not control all the world's oil resources, or supply. The LESS domestic production we have, the MORE we rely on OPEC and others, for our foreign oil supply. The MORE domestic production we have, the LESS we rely on OPEC and others for our supply. There is no unwritten law or mandate that we purchase oil from OPEC nations, or from the World Oil Market for that matter. But we can't buy oil that hasn't been drilled for and pumped out of the ground yet, and since we need oil now and not 10 years from now, we are having to buy plenty of oil from OPEC. Now, in the past, this hasn't been a real big deal, because OPEC is predominately the Saudis, and they are our allies because we protect the House of Saud. However, in recent years, radical Islam has taken control of power in places like Iran, commies have taken power in Venezuela, and the Saudis are caught in the middle of all this, with regard to oil production. They have only one vote in OPEC, and so OPEC has pretty much taken a steamy dump on the US with regard to production, which has effected price because we depend on the oil from OPEC.
The ONLY solution to this problem, is to increase our domestic production to offset the amount of oil we are importing from OPEC. Surprisingly, that is not where we get most of our foreign oil. The two top foreign suppliers to the US are Mexico and Canada. I'm not sure what percentage of our foreign imports are from OPEC, but it seems like it would be reasonable to think we could probably increase domestic production enough to offset that, at least. See... we really do need to remove the grip OPEC has on our nads at this time. Not just from a "cost of gas" standpoint, but a national security standpoint as well. Why is our money going to fund despots and terrorism, when it could be going to newly-employed American oil industry workers?
I didn't see the actions you listed, but assuming you include a hearty dose of demand reduction, then yes. Supply solutions aren't themselves all that effective.
Here is the problem with SF's actions (from earlier posts), he wants us to convert transportation to natural gas, and I agree that would be a great thing to do, and it would make us independent of foreign oil, but it's a bit 'Pollyannish' to think "we" can do this... there are hundreds of entities who need to be on board and on the same page with the idea, and that isn't reality. "WE" have people who are deeply invested in oil and gas, many of whom, have no interest in seeing us do this massive conversion to natural gas, and would fight it every step of the way. The only way to get to where SF needs us to be, would be through a governmental mandate, telling us what we can drive, what fuel we WILL use, what WILL be made available and what WON'T. I had rather have free market capitalism play a role instead.
Offer incentives, research grants, whatever... get the oil companies (who also have the natural gas) to work in conjunction with the transportation industry, both manufacturers of, and users of... to develop a "Road to.." plan, with a reasonable target date, etc.. Government can convert all government vehicles to natural gas.... that step alone, would motivate transportation manufacturers to develop a natural gas line for the public. Suddenly, you will begin to see the Camry NG Edition... Major oil companies would begin having NG fueling stations available... and perhaps because of government incentives, the price of NG would be so low, people would flock to the alternative? This would probably take 10 years or less to do, if we were aggressive. The thing is, ANY change like this is going to be complicated, and there are going to people opposed to it, protesting against it, no matter how good and well thought out the plan is. We should all be adult enough to understand, we can't even come to agreement on drilling for more oil, how the hell are we all going to come together in agreement on the grand national conversion? It's just not realistic.
