Is the United States the largest consumer of imported oil? What other countries are also highly dependent on imports?
In 2006, the United States was the top importer of oil in the world, with net imports at 12.2 million b/d, or representing about 60 percent of its overall total oil demand. Countries that followed were Japan, with net imports at 5.1 million b/d (about 98 percent of demand); China, with net imports at 3.44 million b/d (about 48 percent of demand); Germany, with net imports at 2.48 million b/d (about 95 percent of demand); and South Korea, with net imports at 2.17 million b/d (just under 100 percent of demand). Q. Many experts are warning that we are running out of oil and that global oil production is peaking, in much the same way U.S. oil production peaked in the 1970s and then began to decline. Has global oil production peaked or will it peak in the near future? Despite the decline in oil and natural gas production in the United States and Europe, the possibility that the world will geologically “run out” of fossil fuels seems remote. There has been much speculation that future energy
