A New Government Document on the US Oil Predicament . . . and a New Set of Inaccuracies?

The Nat'l. Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill & Offshore Drilling has recently issued its Report to the President.  If so inclined, you can download a pdf of the report at the following URL:

http://www.oilspillcommission.gov/sites/default/files/documents/DEEPWATER_ReporttothePresident_FINAL.pdf

I found a "curious statistic" in the last paragraph, on page 294, which reads as follows:

"Domestic consumption of oil has exceeded domestic production since the late 1940s, making the country increasingly dependent on imports, which now supply about 52 percent of U.S. needs compared to 42 percent in 1990. In the near term, oil from federal offshore lands helps moderate America’s dependence on imported supplies, lessening the current trade deficit and contributing to national security."

I find this curious because everything I have been reading, over the past few years, has indicated that the US now imports somewhere close to 66%, or nearly two-thirds, of it's oil.  Am I missing something here,or is this an inaccuracy in this document?   If this is indeed an inaccuracy, it's pretty serious.  The last thing any of our US policy-makers need (talk less of the general public) is bad data on petroleum production and distribution.  

Indeed, upon checking the 2010 BP Statistical Review of World Energy, Oil Section, the numbers break out like this (based on CY 2009 actual production stats):

US consumption = Daily average of 18.7 million barrels per day

US imports       = Daily average of 11.4 million bdp

. . . or, said another way . . . 

Percentage of imports = 61.2%

Hmmm   . . . 

Check the numbers for yourself.   If you come up with something different, let me know. 

Blaine Pope