It is official. The US will overtake Saudi Arabia to become the world’s top oil producer by 2017.
The International Energy Agency (IEA) said in its world outlook for 2012 this morning that the US will be a net exporter of gas by 2020, with all the vast implications of abundant cheap gas for its chemical, plastics, glass, and steel industries.
“The United States, which currently imports around 20 per cent of its total energy needs, becomes all but self-sufficient in net terms – a dramatic reversal of the trend seen in most other energy importing countries,” it said. This is entirely due to the shale and gas revolution. North America as a whole will become a significant net exporter.
looking beyond borders 