# Oil: Where and Why...

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-where-and-why/276393>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [November 24, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-where-and-why/276393 "2004-11-24T01:40:23Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Jinx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Jinx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jinx)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-where-and-why/276393/1 "2004-11-24T01:40:23Z")

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Does it make any difference where we buy our oil? Is the price fixed? Are all oil producing countries a part of OPEC? How come all we tend to hear about is oil from the Middle East? - Jinx

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**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-where-and-why/276393/2 "2004-11-24T05:07:15Z")

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It doesn’t matter where we buy our oil. We buy more oil from Venezuela than we do from Saudi Arabia.

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**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-where-and-why/276393/3 "2004-11-24T05:34:12Z")

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> [@Reeder](#):
>
> We buy more oil from Venezuela than we do from Saudi Arabia.

Is that just numbers for crude you’re going by?

> [@](#):
>
> Originally Posted by [**The U.S. Dept. of Energy**](http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cabs/usa.html)  
> _The United States averaged total gross oil (crude and products) imports of an estimated 12.2 MMBD during 2003, representing around 62% of total U.S. oil demand. Over two-fifths of this oil came from OPEC nations, with Persian Gulf sources accounting for about one-fifth of total U.S. oil imports. Overall, the top suppliers of oil (crude and refined products) to the United States during 2003 were Canada (2.1 MMBD), Saudi Arabia (1.8 MMBD), Mexico (1.6 MMBD), and Venezuela (1.4 MMBD)_.

It seems to me that the bulk of Canada’s exports are in the form of refined products (and especially natural gas,) so that may effect the order.

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**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\
**Post date:** [November 24, 2004, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/oil-where-and-why/276393/4 "2004-11-24T05:40:23Z")

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Just wait until we figure out how to get all that oil out of Canadian shale. Let’s see how friendly our “Neighbor To the North” is then.