Yes. We. Do.
The United States of America doesn't take the oil out of the ground. BP, Shell, ExxonMobil, etc. takes it out of the ground.
They own the oil, not the United States of America.
The only way "energy independence" exists is if the United States of America (that is, the government) owns the oil and can direct where the oil is going and who it is sold to.
Countries that have state-owned oil corporations can do this:
Saudi Arabia - Saudi Aramco
Russia - Gazprom
Venezuela - PDVSA
China - Sinopec
The United States can't tell Shell that they can only sell oil to American refiners for distribution in America. If Shell were a state-owned petro company, they could. If that were the case, the government could direct everything that comes out of the ground from the state-owned company goes to American refiners at set prices and can only be sold to American consumers until demand is satisfied.
That is energy independence. Until the oil industry is nationalized, it's not going to happen.
When you see a headline like: U.S. Monthly Oil Shipments to Europe Climb to Highest Since 2016
In this headline, "U.S." is being used as a location. As in, the large mass of land between Canada and Mexico where products originate from. The United States of America didn't create those products nor does it own, sell, or ship them. When you buy a Harbor Freight tool from China, you're not buying a crappy tool from the Chinese government. You're buying a tool that was made on that large land mass across the Pacific. It's a reference to the place of origin, not the government.
It's not the United States of America sending that oil to Europe. The country isn't sending it there, oil companies are. The country isn't selling it, the oil companies are. The country isn't directly profiting, the oil companies are.
Why? Because the country doesn't own the oil.
The US doesn't export cars to Australia, Ford does. The US doesn't pocket the profits when soybeans are exported to South Korea, the farmer does.
If the United States of America wants oil, it absolutely has to buy it, just like it has to buy soybeans and Ford F150s.
This is how markets work.