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The Engagement theme of the NESS must focus diplomatic efforts on retaining our current sources of imported oil, while forging new relationships with developing countries of great potential. Engagement must include coordinated measures that may directly counter efforts of China in states and regions where the U.S. competes for vital interests. The Persian Gulf is one such region where China has gradually expanded its control over oil exports through trade agreements, infrastructure improvements, and other generous incentives. In addition to beating out the United States in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, China is also the second largest importer of Iranian oil, which gives it a potential advantage in shaping Middle Eastern politics.

Despite current necessity, the United States must eventually become less reliant on Persian Gulf oil. Engaging African and Latin American countries along the Atlantic Ocean could reduce our dependency on Middle Eastern oil and greatly reduce risk by shortening sea lines of communication. The United States draws about 20% of its imported oil from the Persian Gulf and could offset a portion of this through new relationships. In 2007, for instance, Brazil discovered the Carioca-Sugar Loaf Oil field off of the coast of Rio de Janeiro and it is believed to hold up to forty billion barrels of light crude. This discovery, along with several other fields in the region, could provide up to several million barrels of oil daily, or enough to easily replace a portion or all of the U.S.'s Middle Eastern exports.

The United States should also lead in the establishment of an international consortium of consumer nations to possibly work out any potential trade issues or conflicts and to provide a counter force to the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).

Secure

He who owns the oil will own the world, for he will own the seas by means of the heavy oils, the air by means of the ultra refined oils, and the land by means of the petrol and the illuminating oils. And in addition to these he will rule his fellow men in an economic sense, by reason of the fantastic wealth he will derive from oil - the wonderful substance which is more sought after and more precious today than gold itself.

• Henri Berenger

Sustained access to, and flow of imported oil during this necessary transition to a safer energy mix must remain at the forefront of the National Energy Security Strategy (NESS). Oil is intrinsically connected to the economic vitality of the U.S. and global demand has risen to such a level that any subtle disruption in world supply will impact the economy, down to the individual consumer.

Throughout the world, there are several critical areas where supply interdiction could ignite a regional crisis with global implications. There are, for instance, oil transit chokepoints along sea lines of communications, including: the Strait of Hormuz, the Strait of Malacca, the Suez Canal and Suez-Mediterranean Pipeline (SUMED), the Bab el-Mendab, the Turkish Straights, and the Panama Canal. Through these eight narrow passages flow roughly 42.7 million barrels of oil daily enroute to consumers, or about one half of the world's daily consumption. Any disruption of this flow (such as the 2008 hijacking of an oil supertanker by Somali pirates or the 2002 al Qaeda suicide boat attack on the Limbourg) could have profound effects on the U.S. economy.