America Once Led the World in Oil — So Why Did It Become Dependent on Imports?

America drilled the world's first commercial oil well in 1859. By the early 1900s, the United States was producing roughly 85% of all the oil pulled from the ground anywhere on Earth. It fueled two world wars, built suburbia, powered the auto industry, and defined the American century. And then, somehow, this same country became the single largest oil importer in human history, sending hundreds of billions of dollars overseas every year and fighting wars in distant deserts just to keep its gas tanks full. How did the birthplace of the global petroleum industry become dependent on foreign crude? Why did American oil production peak in 1970 at 9.6 million barrels per day and then decline for 38 straight years? What happened during the 1973 OPEC embargo and the 1979 Iranian Revolution that permanently rewired American energy policy? And here's the strangest part of the whole story. Even today, with the United States producing more oil than any country ever has in recorded history, over 13 million barrels per day, it still imports millions of barrels of crude every single day. Why? This is the full story of America's oil century. The rise, the fall, the shale revolution that nobody saw coming, and the hidden refinery mismatch that keeps the world's largest oil producer tethered to foreign supply. If you've ever wondered why gasoline prices still jump when something goes wrong in the Middle East, even when America drills more oil than Saudi Arabia and Russia combined, this video explains the full picture. Sources used in this video: • U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) International Energy Statistics database • Council on Foreign Relations historical oil policy timelines • American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) refining data • The Hubbert Peak Theory paper, M. King Hubbert, 1956 • Daniel Yergin, The Prize: The Epic Quest for Oil, Money, and Power • U.S. Department of Energy historical petroleum import tables • Bill of Rights Institute, The 1973 Oil Crisis and Its Economic Consequences • Wikipedia entries on the 1973 oil crisis, 1979 oil crisis, and Drake Well • American Oil and Gas Historical Society archives • Kansas City Federal Reserve analysis on the crude oil export ban • Belfer Center, America's Energy Edge • Oil and Gas Journal shale production reports • Government Accountability Office report on crude oil export ban repeal, 2020 #OilHistory #EnergyIndependence #ShaleRevolution #OPEC #Rockefeller #EconomicHistory #USOil #PetroleumIndustry #EnergyCrisis #OilEmbargo #FrackingBoom #Geopolitics #MacroEconomics #AmericanIndustry #EnergyPolicy #OilAndGas #CrudeOil #PermianBasin #OilBoom #DocumentaryStyle