Think of it: we could put the Saudi royal family back in tents and riding camels! How will they fund terrorism then?
US shale oil supply shock shifts global power balance
A steeper-than-expected rise in US shale oil reserves is about to change the global balance of power between new and existing producers, a report says.
Over the next five years, the US will account for a third of new oil supplies, according to the International Energy Agency (IEA).
The US will change from the world's leading importer of oil to a net exporter.
Demand for oil from Middle-East oil producers is set to slow as a result.
"North America has set off a supply shock that is sending ripples throughout the world," said IEA executive director Maria van der Hoeven.
The surge in US production will reshape the whole industry, according to the IEA, which made the prediction in its closely-watched bi-annual report examining trends in oil supply and demand over the next five years.
The IEA said it expected the US to overtake Russia as the world's biggest gas producer by 2015 and to become "all but self-sufficient" in its energy needs by about 2035.
The rise in US production means the world's reliance on oil from traditional oil producing countries in the Middle East, which make up Opec (the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries), would end soon, according to the report.
Oil is only half the picture, though... I'll have to hunt for the link (it might have been on Zerohedge), but apparently 40% of the uranium used to run US nuclear power stations comes from mines in Russia or Russian client states - and global demand is about to go through the roof. That's a problem too, given the proportion of US electricity that comes from nuclear and the EPA's war on coal (and coal-fired power stations).
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