U.S. to Overtake Saudi Arabia, Russia as World's Top Energy Producer … Oil derricks like this one … are part of a shale oil boom that has helped put the United States on track to overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's leading oil producer. In an indication of how "fracking" is reshaping the global energy picture, the International Energy Agency today projected that the United States will overtake Saudi Arabia as the world's largest oil producer by 2017 … – National Geographic

Dominant Social Theme: What a surprise. The US has oil!

Free-Market Analysis: For some ten years now, we've been writing that Peak Oil was a power elite dominant social theme and that the idea of oil scarcity was fraud.

Well … surprise, surprise. Turns out the West – particularly the US – is just brimming with oil. Of course, this is no surprise to us. Heck, we think oil is abiotic, at least partially, cast up by geological processes. If we had to guess, we'd say oil is one of the most plentiful resources on the planet. It ranks right up there with food and water.

That's right. Food and water are plentiful, too! But it's power elite propaganda – their damnable efforts to scare people into thinking that the basic building blocks of life are scarce – that takes its toll on people's certainty and comprehension of the truth. Mission accomplished. Here's more from the article:

Within just three years, the United States will unseat Russia as the largest producer of natural gas. Both results would have been unthinkable even a few short years ago, but the future geography of supply has shifted dramatically due to what IEA calls America's "energy renaissance." The revival can be credited to controversial technologies such as hydraulic fracturing of shale and deepwater production that have enabled the industry to tap into abundant, unconventional sources of natural gas and oil. As a result, new energy frontiers have opened in Pennsylvania and North Dakota. (Related: " Natural Gas Stirs Hope and Fear in Pennsylvania")

The bottom line for the United States is fulfillment of a goal that eluded seven presidents over nearly four decades: energy independence. The U.S., which imports 20 percent of its total energy now, will become largely self-sufficient by 2035, concluded the IEA's annual World Energy Outlook, often viewed as the bible of the industry.

Add in Canada, which has its own unconventional production boom in Alberta's oil sands, and the continent is set to be a net oil exporter by 2030. (Related Quiz: "What You Don't Know About World Energy") "North America is at the forefront of a sweeping transformation in oil and gas production that will affect all regions of the world," said Maria van der Hoeven, executive director of the IEA, a Paris-based organization charged with maintaining global energy security. It all has happened so swiftly that world governments have not yet adjusted to the new realities, observers say …

According to IEA, by 2020, America's oil production will reach 11.1 million barrels per day, up from 8.1 million in 2011. Saudi Arabia's production, meanwhile, will decline from 11.1 million to 10.6 million barrels per day. By 2025, IEA projects, U.S. production will slip back to 10.9 million barrels per day, but Saudi Arabia's will have increased to only 10.8 million barrels per day.

The article goes on to say that the picture on natural gas "is even more dramatic." (But we knew that.) One of the Forbes brothers of publishing fame recently estimated there was enough oil and gas in the US to last 1,000 years. A far cry from the doomsday wails emanating from the Peak Oil choir.

As a publication that deals with elite dominant social theme, the Daily Bell has a larger question: Is Saudi Arabia being phased out as a prime accomplice of Western Money Power? A deal made back in 1971 between the US and the Saud family cemented the petrodollar, as you know. It surely went something like this:

US: We promise not to kill you if you are willing to accept ONLY dollars for oil.

Saud family (in unison): Yes, Great Satan. Absolutely.

As an added bonus, the Sauds got to spread fundamentalist Islam via Wahhabism around the Middle East. This was preparatory to a religious war that the West wants to encourage.

Which brings us back to our main point. The Middle East is going up in flames thanks to the undermining of secular democracies by the CIA and US State Department. It is possible that the powers-that-be anticipate further destabilization in the Middle East and are shifting the gravity of oil production westward.

This would have the added benefit of blunting China's and Russia's moves to trade their own currencies for oil instead of dollars. But most importantly, it seems to us that the petro-dollar itself could be diminished. This plays into the larger idea that the power elite behind what we call "directed history" is now apparently trying to set up some sort of global currency.

We're not sure how all this will play out (feedbacks solicited!) but we note this story (excerpted above) has appeared in one of the elite's primary US mouthpieces, National Geographic. We look for these sorts of turning points as a publication that covers dominant social themes.

Again, we're not certain what it portends. But a lot of elite memes are in flux these days (some thanks to what we call the Internet Reformation) and Peak Oil and the petro-dollar could be among them.

After Thoughts

Often the import of these shifts is not apparent right away. You have to analyze the promotions on an ongoing basis to see what's really taking place. But if we're correct, there will be lots more to come on this front – with requisite investment opportunities, as well, for those who follow along closely.