Just a quick FYI: That statement would be very difficult to find itself any further from the truth.
The price of oil is set on the world market, but the raw material of oil absolutely does NOT dictate its own price. I would say that the material itself is maybe fourth or fifth in terms of dictating the price of a barrel of crude behind geoeconomics, geopolitics, weather, and possibly disruptions of supply distribution routes from other means than said above.
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Correct! I didn’t mean that the raw material was the only price point… but that refined oil is a market that is a level playing ground. if today we ‘buy’ from the oil reserves of others, our future reserves will be bought from (and at forecasted and assumed higher prices), but not the actual driving factors of the market (and assuming only that to be the raw material). If oil production gets to crucial levels, we can turn to our reserves and internalize the start to finish production process.
Alternative fuel production and startup is still too far off to really ‘buy’ into… not the figurative, but the literal. We cannot find a total package alternative fuel that is marketable… whether high costs up front, at the end or the catch of using as much energy as you’re making, there are lists of issues with each approach. Until something is discovered or refined to the point that it is the next fuel, I would suspect our country to drive the initiative.