Doing research on energy independence has really broadened my knowledge in general because it has made me delve into things including oil markets, energy, and the world economy. Prior to this paper I really didn’t have any conception of the entities I stated above, along with always hearing people talk about OPEC and why gas prices were going up because of this organization. So before recent research I had never gotten into stocks and commodities as far as how they work and who controls them, so hearing about this organization having this unprecedented power was kind of perplexing. But through research I feel I have a much better grasp on things that concern oil markets and energy. OPEC which is an acronym for Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is essentially a coalition of 12 countries, which coordinates and unifies the petroleum policies of its Member Countries and ensures the stabilization of oil markets in order to benefit the supplier and consumer somewhat equally. This is why OPEC has such a great power because they control a vast majority of the world's oil and are able to provide somewhat stable prices when global conflicts arise, much more successfully than a macroeconomic economy. Ends up being an efficient and regular supply of petroleum to consuming nations, and a fair return on their capital to those investing in the petroleum industry. Another thing I didn’t know is that OPEC was instituted by Dwight Eisenhower in 1960 to provide security and access to our oil during war regarding Mexico and Canada interests as well.
The deeper I got into my research and obtained conception of OPEC and the world market for oil, I eventually came to the decision that utilizing domestic oil might not be the best alternative for cheap gas prices. Domestic Oil that is being drilled in America currently is unprofitable. Our technology isnt advanced enough for certain deep oil wells, so price of retrieving it is too expensive in order to make even a measly profit. We would be charging much more then 4 dollars to break even, which is obviously way to high in today’s market. And with the dominance of OPEC even if we could drill for cheaper, they are such a large operation they could lower their prices where it wouldn’t worth it for American Oil companies. This is why I have found we should turn to bio fuels and better fuel economy in current vehicles and stop looking at it as a liberal movement but as a great solution. I learned from a blog called "Gas Prices and Smart Policies" that their are actually requirements for automotive companies and fuel economy for vehicles in the future are projected to be much more efficient.sThe National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), showed statistics for what the requirements will be in 2025 including emissions and fuel economy for American vehicles, which if automotive companies increase their efficiency jsut 3% each year, in 2025 every single car will be getting 42 mpg. These are the types of steps we need to be taking towards the future. Cost effective movements
In my country, Thailand, prices of gas seem to be relatively high compared with the US. Our country has to import and rely the supply of gas from other countries. Therefore, the government has changed new policies to gas companies by adding 10% ethanol to gas in order to lower the prices and for diesel engine there are two choices for consumers which are diesel (normal) and biofuel as you mentioned above. I think it would be a good policy for consumers who to have more alternative choices if they would prefer to pay less.
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