Posted on 03/26/2015 6:42:44 AM PDT by shove_it
(Reuters) - Mexican state oil firm Pemex expects imminent approval from the U.S. Commerce Department to allow it to swap up to 100,000 barrels of heavy crude for a similar amount of lighter U.S. oil, what could be the latest milestone toward loosening the four-decades old ban on exporting U.S. oil.
"Our expectation is that it happens soon," Jose Manuel Carrera, CEO of Pemex's commercial arm P.M.I. Comercio Internacional, said in an interview Friday. "I would like to see the approval tomorrow, or I would have liked to see it yesterday, but the truth is that this is a permit that the United States unilaterally approves."
The Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security, which oversees the process, on Wednesday declined to comment on the application.
The Mexican company hopes swaps will pave the way for the United States to eventually allow for direct crude oil exports to Mexico, an exemption it allows for Canada. In January, U.S. crude exports to Canada reached an all-time record, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
U.S. law allows swaps of crude on a case-by-case basis with "adjacent countries" based on "convenience and increased efficiency of transportation."
Pemex announced in January it had asked for permission to import up to 100,000 barrels a day of light crude and condensates to mix with its own heavier crude at domestic refineries in exchange for heavier Mexican crude for processing at U.S. refineries. The swap would be the first since the late 1990s, when the two neighbors conducted an exchange of crude from the U.S. Strategic Petroleum Reserve...
(Excerpt) Read more at reuters.com ...
This would have the effect of relieving some of the overflow of US oil at storage facilities in Houston, caused by the restrictions of the Jones Act. there are not enough US registered tankers to move all the oil. This would allow Foreign tankers to move oil from Houston to Mexico and Mexico to a US location other than Houston. Easily a win-win.
Exactly. Almost sure grounds for it being shot down by The Regime.
More HEAVY crude oil to Houston and other Gulf Coast ports is not a problem. We are still importing heavy crude oil to that area from Venezuela and other locations. The biggest build up of crude storage is farther up the pipe stream in Cushing, Oklahoma.
http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/pet_move_impcp_a2_r30_epc0_ip0_mbblpd_m.htm
Is Michel Franzes back in business?.
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