We should only sell it to Americans. Not to China or anyone else.
In the years leading up to the shale oil boom, crude oil exports from the U.S. were nearly nonexistent. There were two reasons for that.
First, following the 1973 OPEC oil embargo, a crude oil export ban had been enacted as part of an energy bill that aimed to mitigate future oil crises. The crude oil export ban restricted crude oil exports from the U.S. to all countries besides Canada.
But even if the ban hadn’t been in place, U.S. oil production severely declined for over three decades after 1970, even as U.S. crude oil consumption grew.
Why The U.S. Exports Oil
Robert Rapier
Robert Rapier
Contributor
i
Sep 30, 2017, 09:00am 14,645 views #PowerUp
The Eagle Ford crude oil tanker sails out of the the NuStar Energy dock at the Port of Corpus Christi in Corpus Christi. Photographer: Eddie Seal/Bloomberg
In the years leading up to the shale oil boom, crude oil exports from the U.S. were nearly nonexistent. There were two reasons for that.
First, following the 1973 OPEC oil embargo, a crude oil export ban had been enacted as part of an energy bill that aimed to mitigate future oil crises. The crude oil export ban restricted crude oil exports from the U.S. to all countries besides Canada.
But even if the ban hadn’t been in place, U.S. oil production severely declined for over three decades after 1970, even as U.S. crude oil consumption grew. So, over time, there simply wasn’t as much crude oil available for export. (I use that phrasing with the caveat that the U.S. has been a net importer of crude oil and petroleum products since 1949. More on that below).
As crude oil production in the U.S. surged, the dynamics began to change. Aided by the crude export ban, the longtime West Texas Intermediate (WTI) premium over internationally traded Brent crude vanished and WTI began trading at a discount.
U.S. crude oil producers had to sell their oil to U.S. refiners, who were happy to refine the discounted crude and then export the finished fuel products at full price (because the ban didn’t cover finished products).
Crude oil producers lobbied for an end to the export ban, and in late 2015 they got their wish when President Obama signed into law the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016.
A wide price differential developed between heavy, sour crudes and light sweet crudes like WTI and Brent.
Heavy oil refiners would rather simply continue to import oil more suited to their needs, while the light, sweet crudes coming out of the U.S. shale plays are often a better fit for certain foreign refineries.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/rrapier/2017/09/30/why-the-u-s-exports-oil/#51e2bed73b07
U.S. Oil Exports Continue To Break Records
https://oilprice.com/Energy/Crude-Oil/US-Oil-Exports-Continue-To-Break-Records.html