[jpsb]

When you say market you mean global prices right? The USA is also a market and I am sure oil producers are profitable in the US Market. They'd like to be able to sell in the global market where prices are higher. I get that. However oil is not a renewable resource and every barrel we sell overseas is one less barrel we have. It is crazy to export something vital, that can not be renewed, that we import huge amounts of.

The ban was put in place during the oil embargo back in the 70's. It's purpose was to preserve American oil for Americans. That purpose is just as valid today as it was back in the 70's.

[thackney]

No, you don’t get it.

All oil is not the same. All refineries are not designed to process the all oils.

This is about exporting our surplus expensive light sweet while we import the cheaper heavy sour our refineries are designed to use.

[thackney]

Oil Export Momentum
http://www.wsj.com/articles/oil-export-momentum-1438125631
July 29, 2015

Support is growing to repeal a Nixon-era ban that Iran and Russia love.

The Washington news isn’t all bad these days: Republicans and some Democrats are working hard to gather enough votes to repeal the 40-year ban on exporting crude oil. With gasoline prices hitting new lows, now is the right political moment to do something right for the economy and national security.

The ban is a relic from the Nixon era when oil prices spiked and OPEC began. America’s unconventional oil boom has changed everything. U.S. crude production bottomed in 2008 at about seven million barrels per day and is now more than 11 million. The Energy Information Administration estimates that U.S. output could hit 18 million barrels a day by 2040. Crude inventories are at an 80-year high, and imports declined nearly 30% between 2005 and 2013.

The export ban is, paradoxically, one of the biggest threats to this U.S. production boom. The decline in oil prices over the past year has forced U.S. producers to slash investment and cancel projects. The U.S. rig count has dropped 50% since last autumn, and the industry has cut more than 125,000 jobs. Lifting the ban would offer new markets for U.S. oil and mean fewer layoffs.

This harm is compounded by the U.S. refinery mismatch. Most U.S. refineries are built to process heavy crude that the U.S. has long imported from the likes of Venezuela and Mexico. But most U.S. drillers are producing light, sweet crude. Refiners are slowly retooling to handle more U.S. crude, but record amounts of oil are still piling up in storage. So U.S. producers are getting $5 to $10 a barrel less than what oil sells for in the global market, which leads to further declines in domestic drilling.

excerpted for WSJ