Edward L. Doheny prices were high. The Mexican Petroleum Company was the largest in Mexico, and Mexico was the largest oil producer in the world. In 1922 Albert B. Fall, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, leased the oil field at Elk Hills, California, to the Pan American Petroleum & Transport Company. Around the same time, the Teapot Dome Field in Wyoming was leased to Sinclair Consolidated Oil Corporation. Both oilfields were part of the US Navy's petroleum reserves. Neither lease was subject to competitive bidding. In 1924 rumors about corruption in the deals escalated into the Teapot Dome scandal. Doheny's reputation was somewhat
Oil reserves in the United States 1970. A second, but lower peak of 9,627 barrels per day was achieved in April 2015. The reserves-to-production ratio (R/P) equaled 11.26 years in 2007. The ratio was 11.08 years in 1970. It hit a trough of 8.49 years in 1986 as oil pumped through the Alaska pipeline began to peak. The US consumption of petroleum products peaked in 2005; by 2012, consumption had declined 11% from the peak. Net imports of oil and products account for nearly half of the US trade deficit. Because of declining production and increasing demand, net US imports of oil and petroleum products increased