Washington, D.C.—In response to reports that the United States is sending more troops to Saudi Arabia following the attack on Saudi Aramco’s Abqaiq oil processing plant, Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) President and CEO Robbie Diamond made the following statement:

“Once again, America’s extreme oil dependence has drawn the United States into risking U.S. military lives and expending taxpayer dollars in a part of the world on the brink of even greater instability. This should disabuse policymakers and others who believe U.S. shale production has made us self-sufficient and decoupled from the global oil market. It hasn’t and we’re not. Our status as the world’s largest oil consumer tethers us to global oil volatility. The only long-term solution is to reduce our dependence on oil, and the best way to achieve meaningful reductions is greater fuel diversity in our transportation sector—and electrification in particular.”

The United States is the world’s largest oil consumer, accounting for one-fifth of daily global supply, 70 percent of which is used to power a transportation system that is 92 percent dependent on petroleum fuels. Oil is a globally-priced commodity; a disruption in supply anywhere affects prices everywhere, regardless of how much the United States produces. Oil’s dominance of the U.S. transportation system means American businesses and consumers suffer when prices spike, and our reliance on oil reorders our foreign policy priorities.

SAFE advocates for long-term, demand-side solutions that reduce our dependence on oil. These policies include optimizing and modernizing our fuel economy standards to extract as much economic value from every barrel of oil we do use, and advocating for greater fuel choice for consumers. Electric vehicles, in particular, run on a fuel source that is both diverse and domestic in source, as well as low and stable in price.

About Securing America’s Future Energy

Securing America’s Future Energy (SAFE) is an action-oriented, nonpartisan organization that aims to reduce America’s dependence on oil. Near-total dependence on petroleum in the transportation sector undermines the nation’s economic and national security, and constrains U.S. foreign policy. To combat these threats, SAFE advocates for expanded domestic production of U.S. oil and gas resources, continued improvements in vehicle fuel efficiency, and transportation sector innovations including electric vehicles, natural gas trucks, and autonomous vehicles. In 2006, SAFE joined with General P.X. Kelley (Ret.), 28th Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps, and Frederick W. Smith, Chairman, President, and CEO of FedEx Corporation, to form the Energy Security Leadership Council (ESLC), a group of business and former military leaders committed to reducing the United States’ dependence on oil. Today, the ESLC is co-chaired by Frederick W. Smith and General James T. Conway (Ret), 34th Commandant of the U.S. Marine Corps.
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