Mulshine, along with a lot of other folks who call themselves jounalists these days, is quite ignorant about the whole issue of "oil dependence."
For one thing, the U.S. doesn't "rely" on Saudi Arabia for oil. We get oil from places like Saudi Arabia for the same reason we get electronics from Asia, bananas from South America, and unskilled labor from Mexico -- because these places provide these commodities at the lowest prices.
Mulshine should also do some research and find out how much less "dependent" we have become on Saudi oil over the years. Saudi Arabia is still the single largest foreign supplier of oil to the U.S., but it has now fallen behind the combined Western Hemisphere sources like Canada, Mexico, and Venezuela.
Ironically, the best way to keep the U.S. from buying Saudi oil is to figure out a way to make oil even cheaper. Over the last ten years, oil imports from Saudi Arabia were at their lowest when oil was trading at $12 a barrel. At low prices, the cost of shipping Saudi oil to the U.S. becomes a major factor that makes us a less attractive market to them.
I'd also like to see someone in Mulshine's position find out how much oil is actually used to produce gasoline in the U.S. I may be wrong about this, but I was under the impression that the quantity of oil used to produce gasoline is dwarfed by the oil used to produce things like aviation fuel, lubricants, etc.
Source:
http://www.ott.doe.gov/facts/archives/fotw214.shtml
What Is Made from a Barrel of Oil?
Crude oil can be refined into a number of petroleum products. The amount of each product differs significantly between countries. In Europe, where diesel fuel use is prevalent, 36% of the refinery yield is diesel and only 20% is gasoline. In North America, only 23% of the refinery yield is diesel and 41% is gasoline. The OECD Pacific countries have a higher yield of kerosene than the other OECD regions.
Refinery Yield by OECD Region, 2001
Source: International Energy Agency, Monthly Oil Survey, January 2002.
Note:
Gasoline includes motor gasoline, jet gasoline, and aviation gasoline.
Kerosene includes jet kerosene and other kerosene.
OECD North America includes the Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
OECD Europe includes Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom.
OECD Pacific includes Australia, Japan, Korea, and New Zealand.
