I'd like to chime in on behalf of "Big Oil." I'm in the American oilfield... I know that the oil companies actually make a much larger profit (and the extraction costs are kept in our economy) from oil extracted in America, than they do reselling OPEC oil, where most of the profits wind up in the Saudi (and other OPEC) government's coffers, even if the extraction costs are lower. But, as far as I can tell, oil drilling in the US is limited by two things: the threat of being undercut in price by OPEC (which actually happened in the mid-80's, and wiped out the American oilfield, more or less), and the American people, who'd rather buy oil from a religious fanatic prince than have their view spoiled by an offshore oil rig or risk the occasional spill. It's gotten so bad that it's taken four years after the 9/11 attacks for measures to allow drilling in ANWR to pass. Ask not who makes the decisions at Big Oil. The decisions are made by you.