Going from 60 mln gallons delivered per day to 40 mln gallons means a 33% reduction in petroleum consumption. It is not clear if the 33% no longer delivered would actually exist if you tried to buy it. Because people don’t widely aknowledge the carbon/credit systyem, where fiat currency is extended by banks to distribute carbon based fuels, people don’t realily interpret the credit crisis as an energy supply crisis. As long as the credit aspect can remain in focus (so people rant about the money in the hands of various players) noone will notice the existential threat of a petroleum squeeze, while the resilience of the country is steadily weakened by cycles of ‘stimuli’ and frankly destructive policy. Extend the graph above 4 more years, what is turing it around? Time for Roboeconomics to kick in, let renewables fix the economy.
The same thing is going on in Europe, and if the petroleum is diverted to China this means it is not likely to ever come back. Think about it. Domestic sources won’t cut it by a wide stretch.