[autumnraine]

http://www.allgov.com/ViewNews/US_Oil_Exports_Reach_Record_Highs__Thats_Right__Exports_110905

Funny how politician after politician keeps talking about the necessity to drill for more oil in the U.S., be it in Alaska or in the Gulf of Mexico or on public lands—considering that America has been breaking records this year for exports of petroleum.

[thackney]

Funny how politician after politician keeps talking about the necessity to drill for more oil in the U.S., be it in Alaska or in the Gulf of Mexico or on public lands—considering that America has been breaking records this year for exports of petroleum.

That is only refined exports, not oil.

We still import more oil than we produce ourselves.

Only when you look at the products downstream of the refineries do we get a net exports.

But when you include crude oil, the feedstock needed to run our refineries, you see a greatly different picture.

When you combine our reduced demand with the increased refinery output due to expansions, we have a surplus of refined products. But we still have a large deficit of input into those refineries due to lack of domestic oil production.