

Very little of USA oil imports come from middle-east anymore - ck2
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/19/where-the-u-s-gets-its-oil-imports-in-one-map/

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dalke
This is nothing new. Quoting from "U.S. Oil Policy in the Middle East", Mamoun
Fandy, January 1, 1997 (ahh, the joy of internet search):

> Currently, U.S. domestic oil production supplies about 50% of total U.S.
> consumption. Foreign sources provide the rest, primarily Canada, Venezuela,
> Mexico, and several African countries. The U.S. is strongly committed to
> protecting Gulf oil, although only about 10% of oil used in the U.S. is
> imported from the region.

Those numbers are mostly the same now. (40% from foreign sources, and about
10% of the oil used in the U.S. is imported from the Middle East).

But oil prices are global. Europe and China are the biggest consumers of Gulf
oil. Should there be instability there, they will buy from Nigeria, Venezuela,
and other places where we get our oil. This drives up demand and raises our
costs.

For example, we don't buy oil from Iran, but Iran sells oil on the world
market. If Iran stops selling on that market, it will affect the prices we pay
for oil.

