America’s Drive for Energy Independence: Fueling the Oil Price Boom?

America’s increasingly loud and bipartisan call for energy independence may well be having a negative impact on world crude oil markets. A. F. Alhajji, one of America’s most widely published academic oil economists, believes that investment trends in oil‐​producing countries are being affected by our (largely rhetorical) campaign against foreign oil. The net result is less oil and gas exports and higher world prices. Alhajji is a syndicated columnist and a regular contributing editor for one of the industry’s premier publications, World Oil magazine. In addition, he is an associate editor for Oil, Gas and Energy Law. Alhajji is also the energy columnist for the major daily business newspaper in Saudi Arabia, Aleqtisadiah. His articles have appeared in numerous countries and in more than 10 languages.