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Ugh, damned if you do, damned if you don't. I guess I am happy that there is at least one category which brings money into the US from outside of the country.
CG: Found this interesting.
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NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- The United States is awash in gasoline. So much so, in fact, that the country is exporting a record amount of it.
The country exported 430,000 more barrels of gasoline a day than it imported in September, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That is about twice the amount at the start of the year, and experts and industry insiders say the trend is here to stay.
The United States began exporting gas in late 2008. For decades prior, starting in 1960, the country used all the gas it produced here plus had to import gas from places in Europe.
But demand for gas has dropped nearly 10% in recent years. It went from a peak of 9.6 million barrels a day in 2007 to 8.8 million barrels today, according to the EIA.
The drop was caused partially by the recession but also by the advent of more fuel efficient vehicles, higher prices and the greater use of ethanol as an ingredient in gasoline. Demand for other products made from crude oil like diesel and jet fuel has also declined, although not as much.
To be sure, the United States is still importing plenty of oil to make that gasoline -- and is still dependent on foreign countries for well over half the crude it uses. (Read: OPEC: We want clean energy.)
But now the country's massive refining infrastructure is producing more gasoline, diesel and jet fuel than the United States needs, freeing it up to be exported to places like Brazil, Mexico and Chile where demand is still strong.
The Wall Street Journal, which reported on the export trend last week, said the United States is on track this year to be a net exporter of refined products for the first time in 62 years.
"We've got plenty of excess refining capacity," said Jonathan Cogan, a spokesman for EIA. "It's a reminder that this is a global oil market, and it's reflected by the movements of products to where they will get the highest prices."
Mark Williams, global head of refining, trading and marketing for Royal Dutch S (RDSA), said exporting diesel and other refined products from the United States used to happen fairly irregularly but is now becoming much more common.
"It's growing as a new business," he said, although he cautioned that the United States would probably not become a huge exporter of fuel.
Still, the ability to export oil is good news for S and other oil companies like Exxon Mobil (XOM, Fortune 500), BP (BP) and Chevron (CVX, Fortune 500). They can use their extensive and modern refineries in the United States to make gasoline for the rest of the world.
But it may be bewildering for American drivers, who could experience record high gas prices next year even though U.S. demand could hit the lowest level in a decade, said Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst at the Oil Price Information Service.
"I can understand it, from a truck driver's perspective," said Kloza. "You're paying $4 or $4.50 a gallon to run your rig, yet we're exporting the crap out of this fuel. I'd be outraged too."
Still, he cautioned against restrictions on exports of diesel or gasoline, a move he expects politicians to at least talk about in 2012.
There's nothing forcing oil companies to bring crude to the United States to refine, Kloza said, noting that the refining industry employs thousands of workers. (Read: TransCanada agrees to re-route Keystone pipeline.)
"If you restrict exports, you'd really be looking for trouble," Kloza said. "You'd just see the refining and the jobs go offshore."
http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/05/news....htm?iid=HP_LN
Ugh, damned if you do, damned if you don't. I guess I am happy that there is at least one category which brings money into the US from outside of the country.
wow
So, again I'm proven right.
UCA invading Iraq, wasting 100Ks of lives, US and others, and garrisoning the M/E is to secure oil for the US/UK oil companies, NOT for Human-Americans.
I read that the Keystone XL was being brought all the way to Port Arthur because it's a tax-free enterprise zone where the oilcos could export directly to central/south America, with Human-Americans, lands, waters along the pipeline being exposed to spills but getting none of the taxes, royalties, etc.
Human-American risk, Corporate-American gain.
Predictably, boutons didn't read the OP before firing off another of his non-sensical non-sequiturs..........
So that's why no new refineries have been built in 30 years.
Another talking point bites the dust.
Shocking
Drill here! Drill now! Send to Mexico!
Looks like we really need the Keystone Pipeline.
Not directered at you.
The talking point was that gas prices were high in no small part due to the fact no new refineries had been built since 1976. Turns out that expanded capacity at existing plants and now a fall in demand obviated the need for new refineries.
Gotcha.
First glance I thought the op meant that we are exporting oil.
Tricky.
My post makes perfect sense.
The oilcos are threatening to obtain oil that US military and others die for in Iraq and sell it not to USA, but to refine it overseas and sell to foreigners.
Still haven't read the OP I see.
http://spurstalk.com/forums/showthre...=16281&page=17
You can see DarrinS faithfully regurgitating the "fact that the last oil refinery built in the US started up in 1976" on the previous page, and my response.
Darrin et al. about the big bad environmentalists making it too hard to open a new refinery in the US, presumedly because of red-tape environmental regulations. With the obvious implication that if the dumb liberals just would shut up and let businesses do their thing, we could have new refineries and 50 cent gallons of gasoline.
Of course if the red-tape wasn't quite as bad as they like to think, and capacity was expanding without the economic need to build new ones, that wouldn't quite fit the "business as victim" narrative.
In addition to exporting gasoline:
The interesting thing is that the guy who was building the liquid natural gas terminal between TX and LA to import LNG, now is in the enviable position of having the import/export tide turn, and they will likely be exporting LNG.
Europe would love not to be under Putin's heel when it comes to their natural gas supply.
The natural gas production boom in the US took quite a few people by surprise.
Thanks. Not sure how I never found myself participating in that discussion.
Timing. it has been around, albeit inactive for a while. It is on my subscribed threads list.
Always good to see how ideological bloviating from one side or another works out.
Going back to your OP, though:
Refineries appear to have allocated a lot of capacity to gasoline. That is why pump prices have fallen, even though oil is more expensive. (more supply relative to demand)
Had to have a giant mallet taken to my head by scott to get that concept (seperating oil prices from refined product prices) beaten in, but I did eventually glom on.
Now that I am paying attention, I would note that refiners have absorbed a good chunk of the run up, but that is not sustainable.
I would consequently expect gasoline prices to be up by this time next year, barring a real economic meltdown, that is scarily possible now.
I think the financial crisis is also playing a role here. Seems like it would be a lot easier to meet emerging market demand by using existing, under-utilized facilities in the U.S. versus trying to secure billions of dollars worth of financing to build new facilities in those emerging markets.
Didn't we also just discover a bunch of oil in North Dakota as well
lol....the pain of scott's mallet is well known by this guy.
Good thing, since retail deliveries have tanked.The United States is awash in gasoline. So much so, in fact, that the country is exporting a record amount of it.
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