Posted on 01/13/2016 6:48:20 AM PST by thackney
The ink is barely dry on legislation to lift a 40-year-old ban on exporting U.S. crude and energy companies already are jockeying to ship American oil overseas.
Two tankers filled with freely traded U.S. oil have pulled out of Texas ports in the past two weeks, with more shipments expected. The first American oil sales abroad are flowing to Europe but, in the longer term, Latin America and Asia could become natural markets, according to industry experts.
U.S. oil sales to foreign buyers have been quick to start after President Barack Obama signed the bill that abolished the crude export ban less than a month ago. Big energy infrastructure companies including Plains All American Pipeline LP and Enterprise Product Partners LP have spent the past five years pouring billions of dollars into building new pipelines, oil storage tanks and dock space at ports.
The first freely traded cargo of U.S. oil was shipped from Corpus Christi, Texas, on New Year's Eve. ConocoPhillips pumped the oil from around Karnes County, Texas, 60 miles south of San Antonio. From there it will travel about 5,000 miles to Bavaria in Germany.
A second cargo of U.S. oil shipped from Enterprise's Houston terminal at the start of the year is sailing to Marseilles, France. From there it will move by pipeline to a refinery in Switzerland.
During the drilling boom, infrastructure companies reworked the country's pipeline network so American crude could move from inland shale fields in West Texas and North Dakota to the coasts where most refineries are located. One such hub is Corpus Christi, where pipeline company NuStar Energy Inc. has been quietly building out its oil network with an eye toward exports.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Because all oils are not equal. The US, particularly in the Gulf Coast, spent billions of dollars upgrading refineries to use cheap heavy sour oil.
Since that time, our shale oil production greatly increased, producing more light sweet oil in the Gulf Coast area than our refineries were designed to take. So while we import the cheaper oil, we export a little surplus expensive oil. It keeps more jobs in the US and lower prices for consumers in the US.
To be clear, I am not and have never been paid to promote the oil industry.
We need new refineries. The US should be energy independent. We should be consuming our own oil.
Bull, just increase the capacity to refine light sweet crude. But that would take LONG range thinking. Something sorely lacking, everywhere.
Maybe the Navy could torpedo that thing.
If we were talking about exporting cars or washing machines, the idea that exports are good would be self-evident.
Ok, I stand corrected.
You should be paid because you try really hard to sell s--- sandwiches and do a good job at it.
Remember this when gas prices go back up, which they will and thanks to this, even higher... this is flat out lunacy.
This is what nations do when they have a surplus of something, there is no surplus of Oil in the US... All this is going to do is make everyone pay more for every single oil based product they use... absolute lunacy.
The opening of Cove Point (Md.) gas exportation facility next year will have a tremendous effect on states in the Marcellus Shale. Penn. W. Va. etc.
We already refine more product that we use and export the surplus.
We do not have a refinery shortage; we have a surplus.
So we should spend money to modify refineries to use a more expensive type of crude oil that contains less BTU’s per barrel.
Yeah, that is really good thinking there. Investors will be jumping on that right away.
You are utterly ignorant of even simple economics. Oil is not in short supply. (Check out the ten dollars per barrel we are about to hit.) Any commodity that can be exchanged at a profit is a good thing. This increase in US wealth can be used, you guessed it, to buy more oil, if a buyer should so choose. Not only do we have the oil, we can turn it into an even greater amount of oil through such advantageous exchanges. Sell at 30, buy at 20, and you'll quickly have more than you had before. Seriously, take an Econ 101 class someday, or just play a video game where you need to trade resources to get ahead. It isn't tough to understand. Thankfully, private individuals are making zillions of these mutual exchanges daily, to everyone's benefit, and not you.
Then keep it the ground. It is for future generations of AMERICANS to use.
Fixed.
“Since that time, our shale oil production greatly increased, producing more light sweet oil in the Gulf Coast area than our refineries were designed to take.”
“We do not have a refinery shortage; we have a surplus.”
Is this a flip flop? :-)
People make huge profits on selling drugs why are they illegal in the first place?
We could build Air Craft carries for the ChiComs and make a huge profit. Should we do that also? /sarc
Have to hit the ranch but I have a few comments for your troll later.
At maximum flow rate, Cove Point will be able to convert 738 million cubic feet per day of Natural Gas into 5.25 million tons of LNG per year.
That is ~5% of the Marcellus Natural Gas production rate of ~15 billion cubic feet per day.
It will be good, but hardly a tremendous effect.
https://www.dom.com/corporate/what-we-do/natural-gas/dominion-cove-point
http://www.lngplants.com/conversiontables.html
http://www.eia.gov/petroleum/drilling/pdf/marcellus.pdf
Seriously? You value a barrel of oil the same way that you value a child? I had no idea you were THAT much into oil.
It's called common sense. Buy some.
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