- Can Apple Top Microsoft as Most Valuable Tech Firm?
- Buffett to Sell Stakes in Norfolk Southern, Union Pacific
- Do You Know Your Coca-Cola Myths?
- Electronic Arts Beats Street, Announces 1,500 Job Cuts
- Time Is Here to Look at Overseas Stocks: Bill Gross
- Home Prices Start to Stabilize In the US as Sales Pick Up
- Flaw in US Data Overstates Growth, Productivity
- Priceline Crushes Profit Forecasts; Shares Jump
- 'Modern Warfare 2' May Be Biggest Event This Year
- Warren Buffett to Sell Stakes In Union Pacific & Norfolk Southern
- Nov. 9: Unusual Volume Leaders
- The Battered Businesses Behind Housing
- Modern Warfare 2's Record-Breaking Launch
- Merck’s Mega-Monday Morning
- Why are Traders Bullish on This Food Company?
- Profiting From Natural Gas: Strategists
- S&P Stocks Trading at New 52-Week Highs
- Shopping for Answers
MOST SHARED
- Future of Marketing
- Home Prices Start to Stabilize In the US as Sales Pick Up
- Dow Up Over 100 After G20 Stimulus Pledge
- Oil Tomorrow
- Israel: Leader of Business Innovation
- Priceline Crushes Profit Forecasts; Shares Jump
- Dow Industrials at New Highs—But Other Indices Lag
- Rock Band Weezer Uses Snuggie to Promote New Album
- 'Modern Warfare 2': Biggest Entertainment Event of 2009?
Text Size 
As crude oil prices surge on rising political tensions with Iran, a new government report released Thursday said that the U.S. is unprepared to face an oil supply crisis and urged U.S. policymakers to develop a strategy in order to reduce potential risks related to an oil shock.
The report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office concluded that the U.S. has no plans in place to address "peak oil," the future point in history of maximum oil production, which would be followed by irreversible declines in oil fields around the world.
"While the consequences of a peak would be felt globally, the United States, as the largest consumer of oil and one of the nations most heavily dependent on oil for transportation, may be particularly vulnerable," the GAO report said.
An expert told CNBC on Thursday that peak oil is the "the single biggest issue to threaten sustainable society" in the United States.
"We are on the verge of actually replacing global warming by this term peak oil," said Matthew Simmons, author of Twilight in the Desert: The Coming Oil Shock and the World Economy. "We have demand roaring ahead and supply is faltering."
Most studies predict oil production will peak sometime between now and 2040, the agency said.
"We're basically held hostage by countries that aren't friendly to us in terms of what's available," John Kilduff, senior vice president of energy risk management at Fimat USA, told CNBC. "That is so dangerous to the United States economy you can't believe it. We have big problems on our hands."
Print
Email
- Do free market libertarians really believe what they say about ethics and shareholder value? The Big Money takes a look.
- Cramer did the research and found eight stocks that lead the pack. Read on to get his top picks.
- On the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall, many in the former Eastern Bloc recall communism fondly.
- Software, biotech firms, even banks are watching a particular Supreme Court argument today.
- From politicians to CEOs to companies, here's your chance to vote for the winners and losers of 2009.
- A new sinister Internet viruses can turn you into an unsuspecting collector of child pornography.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes