Billionaire oilman T. Boone Pickens says energy is a crisis in the U.S. and should be the No. 1 campaign issue for the presidential candidates. Pickens spoke recently at Oil and Gas Investor’s Energy Capital Forum in Houston.

“Energy is not a debate; it’s a crisis for this country,” Pickens said. “We cannot continue down the path we’re on. It’s that desperate. The sad part is I’m not sure how much the candidates understand the problem.”

The 80-year-old former owner of Mesa Petroleum, which he sold in the mid-1990s, said the U.S. currently pays out $700 billion annually for imported oil, and that will increase to $10 trillion within 10 years if the pattern continues.

“It’s the biggest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind. If you don’t think that’s not going to bring you to your knees, you’re kidding yourself. It’s going to bring us down if we don’t watch out.”

The energy crisis is a result of decades of lack of leadership that has led to a break down. Now, “somebody has to show up to fix it because we can’t continue on the same path we’re on—it won’t work.”

Pickens chided Democratic candidate Sen. Barack Obama for “throwing around the windfall-profits tax like a piece of balsa wood. I don’t think the senator knows anything about energy. He sounds good for about two minutes.”

Although he has voiced support for Republican candidate Sen. John McCain, Pickens showed frustration with his seeming lack of knowledge on energy. “I don’t know how much he knows either. He wants to lower the gas tax during the summer. What…is he talking about? Will that fix anything?”

Pickens is not impressed by either candidate on energy issues, saying they are not current with the situation facing the country. He plans to elevate the energy issue into this year’s presidential campaign through a series of television ads and guest appearances to talk about how energy is affecting the country.

“I’m going to force this into this campaign. People will have to believe that I know what I’m talking about and that I have a message worth hearing. We’ll see if I have the credibility to force it into the debate.”

The belief that the Saudi Arabians can twist the spigot on oil production by adding an additional 2 million barrels a day to lower global prices is a false assumption, he said. The U.S. imports 72% of its oil demand, half of which comes from the Middle East.

“I feel sorry for the president going over to Saudi Arabia to ask them to sell us more oil. I don’t think the Saudis have two quarts a day of added capacity. They’re maxed out. They’re selling us all they’ve got.”

The price of oil is more likely to reach $150 per barrel before it reaches $120, he said, which he believes is a necessary event to force a change in thinking in the American mindset. “The lower the price (of gasoline) goes, the more you send a signal to the consumer to use all you want. But when the price goes up, they become more sensitive. It would be better for the country if the price was higher.”

As for natural gas, the abundance of recent shale and other discoveries in the U.S. is divine intervention, he said, a domestic resource that can reduce U.S. dependence on imported energy by being used in automobiles.

“It’s unbelievable for this country to get this (domestic gas-supply) opportunity. It’s almost like divine intervention.”