A Monday, Feb. 13, 2012 photo shows a Cabot Oil & Gas wellhead in Dimock, Pa. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency appears to be ramping up its interest in the Marcellus Shale a rock formation in Pennsylvania and surrounding states that is believed to hold the nation’s largest reservoir of gas with investigations in both the northeastern and southwestern corners of Pennsylvania. The drilling industry accuses EPA of overreach. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
(CNSNews.com) – Former Shell Oil President John Hofmeister said Sunday that there has been an eight percent drop in oil consumption in the U.S. since the recession.
Speaking on C-SPAN’s “Washington Journal,” Hofmeister said that one to two million barrels of the oil that is produced and refined in the U.S. is exported, because “American demand since the recession has gone from 20 million barrels a day in this country down to 18 and a half,” which amounts to an eight percent drop in consumption.
“And the companies are not just going to let gasoline sit in storage tanks, when the demand by Americans has been reduced. They’re going to sell it outside the country, which is what they’re doing,” he said.