	u s oil dependency seen rising to record level the united states dependency on foreign oil sources may reach record levels by the mid s according to john h lichtblau president of petroleum industry research associates lichtblau speaking at an alternative energy conference here said the u s may depend on foreign suppliers for as much as pct of its oil by surpasssing the previous high level of pct in the long term growth in dependency on foreign oil is inevitable lichtblau said as much as pct of u s oil imports in could come from opec nations he said lichtblau said the u s depended on foreign suppliers for pct of its oil in and predicted that would increase to pct by however the rate of this growth can be affected positively or negatively through government action or inaction lichtblau said he said that one of the government s negative actions is the maintenance of the windfall profits tax which acts as a disincentive to developing existing fields and reduces cash flow for oil exploration lichtblau called for the adoption of an international floor price for  oil to help stabilize world oil prices an international floor price adopted by all or most industrial countries would clearly be a much more effective measure and would be much less distortive for the u s than if we imposed it alone lichtblau said development of alternate energy sources such as synthetic fuels as well as increased development in alaska could lessen u s dependency on foreign oil lichtblau said a potential for alternative supplies could limit the willingness of opec nations to raise oil prices he said lichtblau also called for the federal government to offer tax abatements for oil drilling to fill the strategic petroleum reserve at a faster rate and to develop pilot plans for alternative energy reuter 
