Top Crude Oil Producing Countries

Which 2?

I missed Kazakhstan... got Norway though with 30 seconds left.

tribalism gets my vote. An argument can be made for greed, but IMO not a very good one. A lack of empathy is another strong contender, but tribalism breeds that more than anything else. Money and oil are much further down the list, I think.

Yeah, none of the ones that are there really surprise me, but I really would have expected Oman to be there. Iran too, although that's probably the sanctions.

I'm afraid not. It is expressly prohibit under US Federal Code 4569.152. Please wait there, and the FBI will be there shortly. Thank you for your cooperation.

There's probably also some toothless UN resolution against it.

I know what you mean. ONE DAY I will take a quiz, with three seconds left, will try "bob," and that will be a correct answer.

ha

The Love of Evil is the Root of all Money.

The USA was the #1 oil producer and oil exporter in the world back in the 1800s when Pennsylvania became the site of the first modern oil well in history. But it wouldn't take long before American oil consumption would eclipse its oil production and it then became a net energy importer. As American energy production was stymied somewhat by environmental regulations which began in the mid 20th century, and by cheaper sources of oil coming from overseas, the country became very dependent on Middle East oil which is why the Saudi oil embargo of '73 and the disruption of oil flow following the '79 Iranian revolution both created an oil shock. Partially in response to this recognition of dependence and vulnerability, and partially due to decades of work by Republicans to dismantle environmental protections in the US and enrich their patrons in the oil industry, oil production in the US has seen a dramatic increase lately. But they still use more than they produce.

His Majesty Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah Mu'izzaddin Waddaulah Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam has been blessed by plentiful natural gas reserves, not oil. He, most unfortunately, has to import the fuel for his collection of 7,000 cars.

Well Australia's missing, and it's larger than India. Also Argentina's missing and it's almost as big as India. Other than that all of the world's ten largest countries are represented. I guess if you have an area that big, chances are you'll have some decent oil reserves somewhere in all that territory.

whos timothy

They have the largest proven oil reserves, but catastrophic mismanagement of the country since the rise of Chavez and Maduro has led to them no longer being among the top producers. They also went from being the richest country in South America to the poorest. Many people would blame socialism for this, but it's really more the result of corruption, incompetence, stupidity, greed, a lack of economic foresight, and a deliberately belligerent and anti-American foreign policy. Blaming it all on "socialism" is pretty dumb. Blaming it all on the American sanctions is even more dumb. But anyway the end result is that the Venezuelan economy is in absolute shambles and its enormous natural resources are not being fully exploited presently while workers flee in record numbers.

All that being said, they're currently #25 according to Wikipedia.

Not sure exactly what your angle is, but however messy politics can be, and as toxic as American politics in particular have been lately, it's worth bearing in mind that the alternative to politics is dictatorship. Either we get to have say in how things are done (politics), or we don't (dictatorship).

Try to give power to people who can conduct themselves thoughtfully and with consideration for others. Then worry about their policy preferences.

LOL

It is in your comment