Why pay for oil security if the US had clearly signalled its intention to invade Iraq unilaterally?
What you are suggesting is nonsensical. Neither France nor Germany needed to pay for "oil security". Germany gets very little of its oil from the middle east, period. France imports crude oil *primarily* from Saudi Arabia and Norway, and to a lesser extent, from United Kingdom, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, and Russia.
Oil security has plummeted since the invasion of Iraq not improved. Just look at a continuous Crude futures contract if you don't believe me.
What was already trending higher spiked faster thanks to the misguided war on Iraq. The "terror" premium on oil rose as the war drums started to beat and that premium never left the price of Crude.
Security of supply? You've got to be kidding. IRAQ IMPORTS ITS GAS FROM JORDAN now because it has not even its own security of supply.
Economic and domestic political interests coincided in this case to preclude France and Germany from doing the right thing.
Again, you are off base here, not even recognizing the fundamental problem which is one of our own making.
Rephrase that statement and substitute United States for "France and Germany" and it will make more sense. You really don't understand the crux of the problem here, do you? Germany wasn't even an importer of oil from Iraq - it gets most of its oil from northern countries far away from the Middle East and is actively working towards oil independence.
Let me be blunt. America is an energy hog, glutton, pig - consuming amounts completely disproportionate to what it produces and its population.
But lets first discuss your point which was political interests.
For one, Germany gets more of its oil from northern countries like Norway, Russia, and the UK than from any other sources. They are a leading country in using renewable non-fossil sources. France imports crude oil primarily from Saudi Arabia and Norway, and to a lesser extent, from United Kingdom, Iraq, Iran, Nigeria, and Russia. France also gets almost 38% of its energy from nuclear power.
Yet the US, due in large part to wasteful use of oil, now obtains over 62% of its oil from foreign sources. Two fifths of this oil comes from OPEC nations. Domestic production has been steadily declining for years.
Where countries obtain oil is of course only one aspect of the issue - a core component of the problem is how much energy is used to maintain economic output.
This is where the US really loses ground in comparisons.
The US is the largest single consumer of energy in the world, accounting for the use of 25% (old figures) of total world energy consumption. 25% - that's a remarkable number given that just under 300 million americans account for less than 4% of total world population.
In contrast, France accounts for 2.5% of world energy consumption to meet the needs of its people which account for 1% of total population.
Lets look at this different ways:
- US 4% world population uses 25% world energy
- France 1% world population uses 2.5% world energy. If France had the same population it would still only use 10% of world energy.
To put this into an economic perspective, the US uses approximately 90% more energy than France to produce only 27% more per capita GDP.
Clearly something is wrong, wrong, wrong.
I view the profligate use and waste of energy by the United States as the number one security issue for the United States, and the world.
If you don't think this makes any sense, just consider what security of supply means in a world where China wants their proportionate share of world energy resources.
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Sources: EIA website; CIA fact book; OECD countries fact tables.
Example country data:
Germany:
- GDP per Capita $27,600
- Per Capita Energy Consumption (2001E): 174.3 million Btu (vs U.S. value of 341.8 million Btu)
- Per Capita Carbon Emissions (2001E): 2.7 metric tons of carbon (vs U.S. value of 5.5 metric tons of carbon)
- Germany is a world leader in developing renewable energy. In 2000, the government set a goal to double the proportion of renewable energy sources by 2010. By 2050, half of Germany’s entire energy demand should be met by solar, wind, biomass, hydro, and geothermic sources, according the German government.
France:
- GDP per Capita $27,600
- Per Capita Energy Consumption (2001E): 177.8 million Btu (vs. U.S. value of 341.8 million Btu)
Per Capita Carbon Dioxide Emissions (2001E): 6.7 metric tons of carbon dioxide (vs. U.S. value of 20.2 metric tons of carbon dioxide)
United States:
- GDP per Capita $37,800
- Per Capita Energy Consumption (2003E): 338 million Btu
- Per Capita Carbon Dioxide Emissions (2002E): 20.3 metric tons |
