How much oil do we use?
In 2009, the United States consumed more than 286 billion gallons of petroleum products - approximately 23 percent of global consumption. That's about 2.6 gallons per person per day (in Minnesota, 2.9 gallons per person per day). Which means that every day, the average American consumes about five times more oil than drinking water!

While the United States used 10 percent less oil in 2009 than in the peak consumption year of 2005, we still used 16 percent more oil than we did in 1981.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration. Available: http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_cons_psup_dc_nus_mbbl_a.htm

Where does our oil come from?
In 2009, 52 percent of U.S. net oil was imported (this includes factoring in the 28 percent of U.S. oil production that is exported in various forms). Canada was the leading supplier of U.S. oil imports at 21 percent (mostly from environmentally-devastating tar sands); Canadian tar sands also provide about 80 percent of Minnesota's oil. The next largest U.S. suppliers are Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Nigeria, and Russia. In total, the 11 OPEC countries provided 41 percent of 2009 oil imports.

Off-shore drilling now makes up 35 percent of domestic oil production-more than what comes from any state. There are more than 4,000 off-shore rigs drilling as deep as two miles below the ocean surface. The leading state producers are Texas, Alaska, and California. Minnesota produces no oil, while neighbor North Dakota is the only significant producer in the Upper Midwest with 4 percent of U.S. production.

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration. Available: http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/dnav/pet/pet_sum_snd_d_nus_mbbl_a_cur.htm

Where does the oil go?
Approximately 71 percent of oil is used for transportation, with 48 percent for automobiles, 16 percent for diesel vehicles, and 7 percent for airplanes. Various industrial processes-the chemical industry is the largest-use most of the rest while small amounts are used for heating and electrical generation.

How much oil is left?
Peak oil is a concept that receives an ever-increasing amount of attention. It's the moment when global oil production maxes out before slowly declining as oil becomes harder to find and process. While there is some argument about the timing of peak oil-it may have already happened, it may happen soon-there is little disputing that conventional sources of oil are becoming more difficult to access. As the following Department of Energy graph shows, without change, the world will increasingly depend on unconventional sources of oil like tar sands, and even then we'll fall short of expected demand.

Available: http://www.eia.doe.gov/conference/2009/session3/Sweetnam.pdf

Note: All of the statistics presented here are from the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy Information Administration.