International producers are keeping relations with the US strong despite its plunging crude oil imports as production from domestic tight shales climbs, research by 16 University of Texas at Austin master’s degree candidates found. Overseas crude producers are quickly finding new customers in China and elsewhere, said Peter Marton, one of the participants in a year-long graduate course examining implications of unconventional oil and gas production technologies for US national security at UT-Austin’s Robert S. Strauss Center for International Security and Law. “Common concerns about security implications are somewhat overstated,” Marton said during an Apr. 30 briefing at the UT system office in Washington, DC. “There’s a cherished idea by some that oil specially permeates US foreign policy. But even under the most optimistic domestic shale production forecast, the US still will import oil.” During the public policy study , students worked on-campus and abroad […]