Cut oil dependency, U.S. energy secretary says

WASHINGTON, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- An increase in U.S. oil production doesn't mean the economy is shielded from the global market, U.S. Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz said.

"It would be a misconception to think because of our increased domestic production that somehow we have become free of the global oil market, the global oil price and global oil price volatility," he said during a speech Thursday at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington.

The Energy Information Administration, the statistics arm of the Energy Department, said in an Oct. 8 report U.S. crude oil production should increase from the expected annual 2013 average of 7.5 million barrels per day to 8.5 million bpd in 2014. The EIA said imports of foreign oil, meanwhile, have been falling steadily since at least 2005.

Moniz said despite the increase in oil production, the economy continued to depend heavily on fossil fuels like oil.

"A key political and policy objective has to be continuing reduction in our oil dependence," he was quoted by the Platts energy news service as saying. "So even as we produce more oil, we still need to be focused on reducing our oil dependence."