The geopolitical scenario favours the business of the Americans, who have become the main supplier of Spain and the rest of the European Union. In January 2022, the main European supplier was Russia, with 31% of imports.

When we talk about oil, we tend to think of Russia, the Arab countries and Venezuela. But the truth is that, a few years ago, the United States went from being a net importer of oil to being the world’s largest exporter of crude oil. The Americans say they are producing 13 million barrels a day, on top of the estimated 10 million barrels produced by Saudi Arabia and the 9.5 million produced by Russia.

Spain is not exempt from this trend, either. As recently revealed by the Corporación de Rerservas Estratégicas de Productos Petrolíferos, the United States is already the main supplier of oil to the Spanish state, with 8.7 million tons of crude, more than 31% from the year 2022. The entry of the United States into oil production has been lightning fast, since in 2015 not a single American barrel was imported into Spain.

The ideal geopolitical context

Oil is, as everyone knows, key to the functioning of Western economies. In addition, the fact that it is finite and the environmental pressure to stop using it causes a paradoxical effect: production increases and prices remain high. Americans seem to be in a rush to sell off their oil reserves before a cleaner alternative takes hold. But, in addition, oil is undoubtedly the best way to maintain the use of the dollar in international transactions and to correct the deficit trade balance of the United States.

The oil industry in the United States extracting WTI oil (West Texas Intermediate, oil from Texas and Oklahoma) coincides with the sanctions on Russia. Sanctions that also hinder the maritime traffic of other producers such as Nigeria, which until now was the main Spanish supplier.

European dependence

The Americans have therefore managed to position themselves as Europe’s main suppliers of oil and gas, displacing Russia. Until January 2022, Russia provided 31% of the oil needed by the European Union. Despite the sanctions, this has not been a serious problem for Russia, which maintains its production rate of 9.5 million barrels but sells them to India and China.

All of this has the unwanted, or calculated, effect of making the European Union dependent on the oil and gas of the United States. This is a situation of fragility in a strategic for European industry and the population: access to energy. While the energy revolution continues to advance, always more slowly than necessary, the United States has managed to short-circuit the excellent European customer. America’s oil production competitors fall from grace or are singled out as evil or responsible for climate change. At the same time, silently and in record time, the United States is already the world leader in the export of hydrocarbons. The feeling is inescapable that in geopolitics and economics, coincidences do not exist.