Why does the United States use the greatest amount of crude oil among other countries?

Question

Country; Average Dailiy Crude Oil Consumption (million barrels)

China ; 5.6
Russia ; 2.7
USA ; 20.0
Japan ; 5.6
Germany ; 2.7
India ; 2.3

Answer 1

Three reasons.

1. Because the US is the most auto oriented society on earth.

2. Because americans buy more stuff than any other nation and all that stuff has to be shipped to a store and of course you have to drive to the store and back.

3. Because Americans are about the only people who have been conned into driving gas wasting useless and unsafe vehicles like suvs and large trucks just to go to the store and make small trips where people in other countries would just walk or take a bike or wait and car pool with a friend.

The american petroleum institute estimates that 1/3 of the extra fuel use in America is directly attributed to SUVs. I am not sure how they calculated that though.

Really it comes down to how badly americans have been brainwashed into living a car oriented existence as a direct result of:

advertising and media, radio, tv, movies, races, etc.

cheap gas

governmental decisions like the interstate highway system

foolish tax and land use laws that make it more profitable to build a mall way out in the suburbs that people have to drive to instead of walking to as they used to do before Walmart and the malls put the local shops out of business.

Answer 2

You are right it does, but as pointed out by many here the important thing is perhaps to look at per capita consumption. This link
http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=812794
is to data showing just that overlayed on google earth using info collected from the CIA factbook.

But in answer to your question the easiest reason is transport. Public transport in the US is less well used than that say in Europe. This means more people use their own (relatively) inefficient modes of transport, namely their car. Significantly in the US the average engine size is considerably larger than that found in Europe or Japan, etc. In Europe a typical car could have an engine size from 1.2 to 1.8litre while in the US this could be up to or over 4litres. Distances in the US are often greater than that in Europe resulting in more miles driven and in the US people are more likely to drive shorter distances than walk or cycle. So in summary perhaps the real reason that crude oil consumption is so high is because prices paid by the consumer are much lower than, for example, Europe where taxation is so high.

Due to the current rise in petrol prices we are seeing the markets for the "gas guzzling" cars changing, with the dominance of GM, Ford etc, being challenged by Toyota and their smaller cars.

The manufacture of other materials from crude is not so easy to pin down. Your keyboard, for example, while being made of plastic and therefore crude, is probably made in China or the far east and will therefore not show up in the consumption of oil in the US.

Hope this helps.

Answer 3

Because we are an arrogant and selfish country. I am not saying that all of us are that way, but these "crooked" politicians that we elect make "US" look like crooks. We go to Iraq and steal there oil and all over the world stealing everyones oil. We use the most oil because we have more industry then anyone else. Also every Tom, Dick and Harry has to have a vehicle. Instead of getting more fuel efficient vehicles... We go out and by the most gas guzzling Sport Utility Vehicles out there. Our Military is the greatest in the world and you can believe that our military uses more oil then most ENTIRE countries do. We as a country need to stand up and say, "We won't take it anymore" and make our politicians search for better energy efficient means of survival. That is just my opinion dear. Have a great day.

Answer 4

What you must remember, is that the United States of America, is not only one huge country, but is also a single continent.
Many countries throughout the world, are equal if not smaller in size, than a single one of your states.
Germany, Japan and India could probably fit inside the USA and there would still be space left.
The USA, is in the fore-front of technology and industry, while vast areas of Russia, China and India are rural and un-developed and un-inhabitated.

Answer 5

Because the US is the most industrialized of the large nations. More factories, more vehicles, more engines. Statistics are misleading. Japan with its "only" 5.6 million barrels is much smaller than the US but uses proportionally more crude oil.

Answer 6

Many reasons but here's a couple,,
The U.S is much more wasteful than other countries and the U.S. although a small country in size is all over the world trying to keep the peace or police the world. this big military presence in other parts of the world uses a huge amount of oil daily.
Most European countries use forms of mass transit,, like trains, to carry people from city to city where we use our cars. this uses much more oil per person per year than mass transit would.

Answer 7

Why are there so many ignorant people in here asking questions? Oil is priced according to supply and demand. Since OPEC has the most supply they can and do regulate the flow. And what does this mean? "and why not they give it to other countries which are not prone to climate calamity."

Answer 8

Living standard, population, industrilised nation r some of the
factor.
In states almost every indvidual has car, while that is not hte case in china, japan, india.

Answer 9

Because we produce more products and services than anyone else and have the richest people. Even the poor are "rich" by other standards. We are one of the cleanest countries when production is considered.

Answer 10

Crude is used for more than fuel. The key board you are using is made from crude for example.