President Richard M. Nixon’s call for U.S. energy independence after the Saudi oil embargo in 1974 seemed like an idle pipe dream at the time. With domestic U.S. demand increasingly dependent on foreign sources, especially that from then-belligerent world-leading oil producer Saudi Arabia, America’s conventional oil production staggered to a minimum output of 3 million oil barrels a day; little more than a third of the domestic amount needed during that period.
Although the U.S. downward attrition was eventually offset by increased exports from the Saudis, Venezuela and other major OPEC producers, this did not prevent the price per oil barrel from temporarily shooting up to $145 per barrel just before the 2008 outbreak of the multi-year great financial recession.