The possibility of offshore drilling has become increasingly popular as gas prices continue to burden American drivers. However, given the evidence, a recent proposal floated by Republicans is seriously flawed, to say the least. Just as removing a bucket of water from a lake does little to bring down its level, offshore drilling appears thoroughly unable to have a significant effect on oil prices.
One point in the argument against offshore drilling is indisputable: Even if the project began today, it would be at least several years before the new refineries could affect the oil market. While the plan's initiation might restore some consumer confidence, gas prices would likely not fall anytime soon. In fact, it is not clear that oil prices would ever fall by a significant amount as a result of the drilling. After all, it is not oil's availability but rather its profits that concern domestic oil companies, and Americans are not the only ones with a strong appetite for fossil fuels. That is, while the United States is the world's largest oil consumer, its overall demand for fuel is rather small in comparison with the international oil market as a whole. For that reason, oil prices are determined according to international demand - each barrel auctioned off to the highest bidder, regardless of which country that might be. Moreover, the amount of oil that could be drilled in these offshore locations is miniscule compared with the quantities of oil that are produced worldwide. The combination of these facts suggests that any offshore drilling would do little to lower oil prices, either now or in the long term.