I went to the U.S. Government’s Bureau of Economic Analysis Site the other day looking for some information on imports and exports of manufactured goods.
However, when I saw the data for General Imports of Crude Oil by Country, what I saw stopped me in my tracks. (in the supplement, Exhibit 3, page 35 of 47 in the .pdf.)
Here are the top 10 foreign suppliers of petroleum to the U.S. Figures cited are in thousands of barrels, and are for the month of August 2009 from Supplement Exhibit 3:
Canada 60,714 |
Venezuela 36,247 |
Mexico 32,007 |
Saudi Arabia 27,675 |
Nigeria 26,806 |
Iraq 14,579 |
Algeria 10,945 |
Angola 8,761 |
Brazil 8,388 |
Colombia 7,741 |
Venezuela is our number 2 supplier?
Nigeria is number 5.
Iraq is 6th, and Angola and Colombia make the top ten?
Quick! Can you name any U.S. companies that manufacture solar panels here in North America? A technology that might just help us replace the need for imported petroleum in our daily lives?
Can you name any North American companies that manufacture lithium-ion batteries?
What do you make of these facts?