And, like it or not, despite all the efforts to change the mix of energy sources, petroleum remains the predominant source and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Domestically, we import about 56 percent of our crude oil demand. The issue is how to try to limit our foreign dependency and to emphasize the most reliable of our foreign suppliers. In the future domestic oil and natural gas production will be more and more dependent on a healthy independent exploration and production industry - major oil companies began shifting their new production from the United States after the oil price crisis in 1986, and this pattern will continue. Oil prices are set on a world market.
Independent producers are the most susceptible to shifts in prices.
We were damaged the most severely during the low oil price crisis of 1998-99. We are recovering slowly, but we need stability and we need policies designed to bolster of our industry because it is critical to our country. The current situation is not stable and we need to understand how vulnerable the US economy is to decisions by foreign governments. As a result of the extended low oil prices in 1998-99, capital investment in oil production throughout the world declined. Existing production was lost.