Introduction
Last week’s column drew attention to the fact that the United States remains comfortably the world’s pre-eminent economic powerhouse. This pre-eminence is reflected over wide swathes of social life; ranging from entertainment and sport to military and cyber capability. Of specific note, the US is also the pre-eminent global energy hub. Its oil and gas sector has undergone, over recent decades, a profound re-configuration of its energy mix, both in production and utilization. Last week, I had also indicated that the leading edge of its energy re-configuration has been the explosive expansion of shale oil production and use. The US is, today, the world’s lead producer and consumer of crude oil as well as one of the world’s leading crude oil exporters and importers!