If we were energy independent the oil co’s would be making all the money from oil to refined products instead of buying the crude. They would make a lot more money. OPEC will not control the price of oil we drill on our own. OPEC’s stranglehold on the price will be over. I don’t see how you can say OPEC will still control the price. Their only leverage now is that they have something the rest of the world needs. We have over one trillion barrels of shale oil that is produceable at 30/bbl. The technology is there. We have over 100 billion barrels of crude available if we just drill it.
IF we could eliminate the suicidal environmental restrictions oil would be 30/bbl and gas would be under 1.50 and OPEC would be something for the history books and terrorist funding as well as the wahabi’s would be largely defunded.
Oil is a fungible commodity. The world market will determine its price. If we pass laws dictating a low price, oil companies will not invest here to keep up production, they will invest in other countries. Just as the Alaska oil/gasoline price is determined by the West Coast market, the average US price is going to be a function of the world market.