The Nation - News from March 30, 1986

Plummeting prices will dramatically increase oil imports, possibly outstripping domestic production by 2-to-1 in 1990 and putting the United States at the mercy of any new OPEC embargo, a congressional report warned. The report, written by the Library of Congress, said a drop in the price of oil to $10 a barrel this year--barring any other price change--would lead to a surge in consumption, a cutback in domestic production and an inevitable increase in imports.