The U.S is not extremely dependant on the middle east fo oil. The U.S. is accused of being very dependant on foreign oil, but the data does not support these assertions. Out of the U.S.'s imports of crude oil, only 25% of it comes from the Middle East. The U.S could do more ,though,by enacting more offshore drilling.. Europe is quite dependant on the oil from the middle east. They, like the U.S., try to keep oil prices as low as possible. The scare is for when the amount of oil in the world begins to wain. Another option to these unfortunate circumstances could be offshore drilling. The middle east supplies a great deal of crude oil to world. Their entire economy is based on the supply of this product. If unrest occurs in these areas though, their prices could soar. This would greatly effect the world economy. The U.S is not as dependant on the middle east as one would think, but we still need to be more independant. Europe also could do with more independance. altogether the price of crude oil in the middle east has a great effect on the world's economy. http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/03/an_end_to_dependence_on_middle.html http://www.ritholtz.com/blog/2011/02/u-s-dependent-on-middle-east-oil-think-again/ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-03-27/oil-trades-below-106-as-europe-debt-concerns-outweigh-middle-east-unrest.html http://www.globalissues.org/issue/103/middle-east http://www.iags.org/futureofoil.html