President Barack Obama frequently says the United States has 2 percent of the global oil supply but uses 20 percent of the world’s annual production, which factcheck.com says is seriously misleading.

He usually adds that we cannot “drill our way to energy independence” and, by extension, lower gasoline prices.

Newt Gingrich, meanwhile, says the United States could be the world’s largest producer of oil, which would require a 50 percent increase in oil production here. We are already the third-largest producer behind Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Gingrich usually adds that if he were president, the price of gasoline would eventually fall to about $2.50 per gallon. Obama made similar sounds when he was a senator running for office.

That, says Reason Magazine, is a “despicable” promise.

In reality, estimates of the nation’s oil supply are in flux. No one knows for sure how much new oil technology will flush from formerly “dry” or unproductive wells.

The good news is that the U.S. is on the way to “energy independence,” which has been the stated goal of every president since Richard Nixon.

We now import 45 percent of our oil and another 23 percent comes from Canada, a reliable neighbor. Mideast sources account for only 17 percent of our supply.

But what does energy independence mean to a consumer? Unfortunately, not much by itself.

The basic definition of “independence” is that we would one day produce as much energy as we consume. The official Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 has a sweeping definition that includes promoting conservation, alternative energy and drilling, among other things.

But too many people, including a string of presidential candidates, seem to confuse energy independence with lower gasoline and heating oil prices.

While energy independence is important from a narrow national security standpoint, and while it is a worthy goal, it has nothing to do with the pricing of fossil fuels produced here or elsewhere.

Here’s the reason: Oil is a very mobile (with a small “m”) commodity; witness the Alaskan pipeline, which brings oil from near the Arctic Circle to California for refining, or in the huge tankers that ply the seas.

It’s also a global commodity controlled by private companies intent on making profits (most often big ones.)

In a free economy, producers sell that oil to the highest bidder, whether that’s here in the U.S., India or China. Everyone bids and everyone buys, eventually determining what you pay for gasoline.

Your oil dealer and local gas station supplier must outbid competing bidders from around the world to supply you with heating oil or gasoline.

If a factory in China is willing to pay a high price, you will pay even more if you want gasoline. Of course, prices are subject to speculation and other gyrations, but they go up and down for everyone and every nation.

Until some very distant point in the future when we stop using oil, markets — not presidents — will determine what we pay.

[email protected]

The opinions expressed in this column reflect the views of the ownership and the editorial board.