Posted on 02/10/2015 5:34:38 AM PST by thackney
Falling oil prices have some Texas lawmakers looking to reshape U.S. policy on crude oil in the mold of another iconic Texas product: Blue Bell Ice Cream.
Blue Bell’s motto is “We eat all we can, and we sell the rest.” Texas legislators think that should also apply to oil by lifting the ban on crude oil exports — a policy that’s been in place since the oil crisis of the 1970s.
A drop in the price of crude, from about $100 in mid-2014 to around $50 now, has threatened to halt the recent boom in U.S. oil production. The oil industry is slashing thousands of jobs and looking at selling off assets in response.
The price drop has heated up discussions in Washington of lifting the export ban on crude oil — and Texans are leading the charge.
On Tuesday, Rep. Joe Barton, R-Arlington, filed a bill to “remove all restrictions on the export of crude oil, which will provide domestic economic benefits, enhanced energy security, and flexibility in foreign diplomacy.”
Barton’s bill includes four Republican co-sponsors from Texas: Mike Conaway of Midland, Randy Neugebauer of Lubbock, John Carter of Round Rock and Bill Flores of Bryan.
Many Texas congressmen argue that the policy is outdated.
“We export cars, we export everything. But we don’t export energy. Why? Because the law prohibits it. So the law needs to be changed,” said Rep. Ted Poe, R-Humble.
The “economic situation has created momentum” for repealing the export ban, Barton said. Doing so, he said, would buoy oil producers who are struggling with low prices.
“It’ll keep that marginal well in production, and it will allow some wells to be drilled that otherwise won’t be drilled,” Barton said. “It’s at least a jobs protector.”
The oil and gas industry added over 200,000....
(Excerpt) Read more at dallasnews.com ...
I am not an oil or energy expert, but I thought even with increased production from shale et al we are still importing about 5 milion barrels a day to meet our domestic needs.
Oh goodie, another free trade idea like NAFTA and H1b Visas !
I'm sure the people advocating this only have the best interests of average folks (who are now the Debtor Class as opposed to the Middle Class) foremost in their thoughts. Especially now that BarryCare has companies limiting people to 25 hours a week or less.
A nice increase in the Federal gasoline and diesel fuel tax would help us all, too, since the current income from our fuel taxes can't pay for light rail, bike trails, LBGTQMF instruction for all levels of government employees in transportation related jobs, and other urgently needed boondoggles.
Anyone recall the phrase, a giant sucking sound?
Not all oil is the same. We have spent billions of dollars upgrading our refineries to use the less expensive heavy sour crude that has more BTUs per barrel.
At the same time, the fast growth in production from shale and other tight formations has mostly been expensive light sweet.
It makes economic sense to allow us to export the expensive stuff while importing the cheaper oil our refineries are already designed to use.
It won’t be a significant portion of the total, and some refineries are making changes to allow more light sweet to be efficiently refined. But the specific ban is creating a bottleneck at the Gulf Coast.
It would give more incentive to drillers to increase US production if they were not squeezed out this way.
Yeah, we want to keep the ban and make sure oil producers have more incentive to invest in production OUTSIDE the US.
< /sarc>
Would like to see the ban lifted. Go sell it anyway, the fed wants to control everything. They want all the money.
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