Oil industry subsidies: A gusher of another kind

Amount of public funds spent worldwide subsidizing the oil and gas industry from 2000 to 2007: at least $61.3 billion

Rank of the U.S. among providers of aid to the global oil industry during that time: 1

Amount of subsidies the U.S. provided to the industry worldwide: $15.6 billion

Subsidies provided by the World Bank Group, the industry's single biggest benefactor: $8 billion

Year in which Paul Wolfowitz, who as U.S. Defense secretary was a key architect of the Iraq War, became president of the World Bank Group: 2005

Year in which the World Bank increased its energy sector commitments by more than half: 2006

Percent of the World Bank's energy program accounted for by funding to the oil and gas sector: 77

Percent accounted for by renewables: 5

Amount the International Finance Corp., the private-sector lending arm of the World Bank, provided to oil and gas companies in 2007: more than $645 million

Percent by which the IFC increased support for oil and other fossil-fuel projects in 2006: 93

Percent by which it increased support for renewables and efficiency that year: 46

Percent of World Bank Group's extraction projects since 1992 that have been designed for export rather than alleviation of energy poverty: more than 80

Estimated amount in domestic subsidies that national governments provide each year to the oil and gas industry: $150 billion to $250 billion

Estimated amount of annual subsidies the U.S. gives the oil industry if the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and Coast Guard protective services are counted: $78 billion to $158 billion

Amount in annual U.S. subsidies to the oil industry related just to the military protection of oil-producing facilities and shipping lanes: $19 billion

Amount in subsidies for oil and gas companies over the next decade that the Obama administration recently asked Congress to end: $36.5 billion

Percent of expected domestic oil and gas revenues over the coming decade that amount represents: about 1

Amount by which ending subsidies for the oil industry would affect domestic U.S. production, according to the Department of Treasury: less than one-half of 1 percent

(Click on figure to go to original source.)

(U.S. Navy photo of a controlled burn of the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Justin Stumberg.)