Free Republic

[bloomberg] The Anne docked at Occidental Petroleum Corp.’s terminal to determine if some of the world’s biggest carriers could start ferrying oil from Texas to foreign buyers. The shipping upgrade is necessary after a surge in production from U.S. shale fields like the Permian Basin led to more oil than Gulf Coast refiners could handle. And Corpus Christi is vying to become America’s main export hub.

The U.S. government has banned oil exports since the energy crisis of the 1970s, but that could change next year as Republicans take control of Congress and are backed by new studies showing that repeal of the ban would actually lower gasoline prices and be a surprising boon to consumers. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, Alaska Republican and the expected new chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, has been the leading proponent in Congress for ending the ban, arguing that a sea change in the way oil and gas prices are determined in global markets has turned it...

The B.C. City of Burnaby is threatening to withhold emergency services in the event of an oil spill, in the latest sign of municipal furor over Kinder Morgan Canada’s Trans Mountain pipeline expansion. The Vancouver suburb is home to Kinder Morgan’s Westridge dock, making it the staging ground for a potential three-fold increase in oil sales to markets in Asia and along the U.S. West Coast. The Houston-based company’s Canadian unit has applied to nearly triple capacity on the Pacific-bound pipeline to 890,000 barrels a day, potentially opening vast new markets and raising prices for Alberta’s landlocked oil. Municipalities have...

US oil and gas production was already declining, when the 1973 Arab oil embargo sent oil and gasoline prices skyrocketing and created block-long lines at gas stations. Increased domestic production could have eased the supply and price crunch, but the 1969 Santa Barbara oil spill had resulted in congressional leasing and drilling moratoriums on federal offshore and onshore lands. Though it voted 50-49 to build the Alaska pipeline, Congress refused to allow more drilling. Instead, it legislated a 55-mph speed limit, mileage standards for vehicles and a ban on exporting domestically produced crude oil. The speed limit was eventually lifted,...

Iraqi Insurgents Fire at U.S. Army Patrol 5 minutes ago By JIM KRANE, Associated Press Writer RAMADI, Iraq - Insurgents fired rocket propelled grenades at U.S. Army patrols in two western Iraqi towns, the latest in an escalating series of attacks that included an ambush involving a 12-year-old girl with an assault rifle, the military said Monday. No one was injured in the grenade attacks in Khaldiyah and Habaniyah, according to the overnight intelligence report distributed to Army commanders. Military officials said they had no information about reports that an airstrike on a three-vehicle convoy fleeing Iraq (news - web...