In December, Congress lifted a ban on the export of U.S. crude oil, and the first shipment of crude — fracked from the oilfields of South Texas — is sailing out of Corpus Christi.
But for now, many analysts don’t expect a large amount of American crude to be exported. The Brent selling price overseas is as low as the West Texas Intermediate price in the U.S. market. Both reflect a world awash in crude oil.
“The oil market outside the United States is glutted,” said Bob McNally of the Rapidan Group consultancy. “I mean, it is full. And storage is filling up everywhere outside of the United States.”
Longer term, McNally predicts U.S. drillers will benefit from being able to export. When oil production booms again, there won’t be a domestic bottleneck when American refineries max out.
When it comes to carbon emissions, opponents of exports argue the policy encourages more drilling. But the increase in American supply may simply push out crude drilled elsewhere.
“If more oil comes out of America, it may well displace oil coming from somewhere else that’s produced under less favorable environmental conditions,” said economist Alan Krupnick of the think tank Resources for the Future.
makati1 on Mon, 4th Jan 2016 7:35 pm
“When oil production booms again…”
When? Well, maybe when the ME explodes, maybe. Or not. We shall see, but I would not hold my breath or invest one dime in any oily stocks.
ghung on Mon, 4th Jan 2016 8:05 pm
Bon Voyage….
Newfie on Mon, 4th Jan 2016 8:30 pm
The US produces 9 million barrels of oil a day. It consumes 16 million barrels a day. The shortfall is made up with imported oil. Every barrel exported will have to be replaced with a barrel of imported oil.
markisha on Tue, 5th Jan 2016 8:56 am
What a crazy world. We are really twisted specie
rockman on Tue, 5th Jan 2016 4:14 pm
I hope at thus point I don’t have to explain that hundreds of cargoes and tens of millions of bbls from the EFS has been shipped out of CC for years. And long before the EFS boomed many hundreds of millions of other oils were exported: according to EIA about 1.5 BILLION BBLS after the “ban” was passed is 40 years ago.
moosedog86 on Tue, 5th Jan 2016 8:58 pm
Rockman
I’m a refugee from The Oil Drum. A friend clued me in just prior to BP Well fiasco.
Your analysis/explanation of the cause, 3 or 4 days after the incident was almost word for word like the official report a year later.
As an engineer, I was most impressed with your real world expertise. I have been lurking on this site, on and off, to se your opinions when “stuff” hits the fan.
I finally registeed so I could express my appreciation for your rational and informative comments.
I’m retired and, now and then drive from upstate NY to visit old friends in CO and UT. It would be great to stop for a few hours and buy you anadult beverage of your choice.
I hope your knees are OK. Is OldFarmerMac still around. He was my 2nd favorite Oil Drum commenter.
Have a great new year and keep the knowledge flowing!
GregT on Tue, 5th Jan 2016 10:55 pm
Rockman,
Shhhh.
Now that the export ban has been lifted, it would be a very good time to invest in oil.
gwb on Wed, 6th Jan 2016 10:05 am
Rockman – what is EFS?
rockman on Wed, 6th Jan 2016 2:04 pm
Moose – You’ll have to try to catch me next time you’re cruising thru Houston.
gwb – EFS is shorthand for the light oil produced from the Eagle Ford Shale in S Texas. Long ago the reversed a couple of oil pipelines to they could transport it to Corpus Christi. Almost all the EFS production shipped from CC has gone to eastern Canadian refineries. They need our light oil to blend with their heavy oil imports…just like Gulf Coast refineries need it.
rockman on Thu, 7th Jan 2016 11:41 am
It’s bad enough when some dumb ass Yankee writes this bullsh*t but this comes from a newspaper in San Antonio, Texas in the heart of the Eagle Ford play. Right; the first oil exported from Corpus Christi. It’s of little wonder the American public doesn’t understand sh*t about the energy situation since they get most of their “information” from the MSM.
FYI during 2015: $1.94 BILLION in oil was exported from the port of CC. This was an increase from $1.44 BILLION during 2014. Most was exported to Canada which is the leading destination by value of exports from CC. Additionally about $950 MILLION other petroleum products were exported. BTW The US, according to the EIA, Has been exporting oil various EU countries (including Italy) off and on for many years so even the “first oil exports to Europe” is an easily proven lie.
“A foreign tanker carrying an historic shipment of Eagle Ford crude oil from the Port of Corpus Christi appears to be headed to the Italian coast. Less than two weeks after the federal government lifted the ban on exporting crude oil, ConocoPhillips landed a contract with Switzerland-based trading company Vitol. In quick turnaround, ConocoPhillips used pipelines to send light sweet crude oil from its leases in the Eagle Ford Shale just southeast of San Antonio to a terminal owned by San Antonio-based NuStar Energy LP (NYSE: NS) in the Port of Corpus Christi.
It is an historic voyage for the Theo T, which is carrying the first U.S. crude oil export shipment in more than 40 years. The federal government banned crude oil exports during the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s, but the shale revolution has resulted in record domestic production. ConocoPhillips and NuStar beat other competitors along the Texas Gulf Coast to become the first to export crude oil from the United States after the ban was lifted. Enterprise Products Partners LP (NYSE: EPD) also landed a deal with Vitol and plans to load a shipment of domestic light crude oil at its terminal in the Houston Ship Channel during the first week of January.”
JuanP on Fri, 8th Jan 2016 7:40 am
USA’s oil exports unlikely to change global markets, https://www.rt.com/business/328188-us-oil-export-market/