How long has the US been in energy crisis?

The energy crisis began when US involvement in the Middle East started to go wrong with the Arab retaliation of the Israeli victories and the rise of "user-friendly" regimes in Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf.

Most importantly, though, is that any answer to this question is probably just speculation backed up by historical evidence as interpreted by the answerer.

Some would say we're not in an energy crisis at all, but that we haven't drilled enough of that OIL out of Alaska's North Slope.