The role of transnational companies as oil suppliers to the United States

This paper analyzes the extent to which the international oil production of transnational companies meets the oil requirements of the United States. Disaggregated data from each company have been used to determine which companies (refineries) are importing crude oil, how much oil each transnational company is produced abroad, and where this production goes to. The analysis show that American international oil production represents a small part of U.S. oil imports. Two conclusions are reached. The first is that U.S. refineries buy the majority of the crude oil they process on the international market and, as a result, are dependent on the unstable conditions of this market. The second is that the economic interests the large American oil companies have abroad are far greater than those they have within the United States and, as a result, these companies do not play a decisive role in a national strategy to guarantee foreign supply.