Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Exporting OIL

I have heard in recent days that American OIL companies export a large amount of our oil. I researched this a bit and found out that the oil companies have set record highs in exporting this year. An article I read tells they were exporting about 1.4 million barrels a month in 2007. In 2008 they are exporting %10 of our daily use which is about 1.8 million barrels a day.

Every person in this country needs to contact their CONGRESSMAN/WOMAN and protest this outrageous exploitation of the AMERICAN people. They are selling oil to get more profit from saying that they have to buy so much from other countries because they can only produce so much. The amount they are exporting is far greater than the amount they say can be available in ten years if they are allowed to drill offshore and in ANWR. Reports have been that they would only be able to increase production by about 200,000 barrels a day. I say they should have to stop exporting so we don't have to import as much. That right there would have a greater impact on what we pay per gallon of fuel than allowing more drilling.

1 comment:

Jim-the Classical Liberal (Views from the Right) said...

Hey Craig!!!

Do a little research, will you? please???

According to the Energy Information Administration

In 2007, 27 thousand barrels per day of crude oil were exported (out of nearly 5.1 million barrels per day of domestic production). This makes up 0.53% of domestic production.

In 2006 0.49%
2005 0.62%
2004 0.50%

So far in 2008 (January - July, latest info available) we are averaging 0.4%

96.4 percent of the crude exports in the last four years (and 100% since 2006) go to...are you ready?

Canada! Why Canada? Well, let's say you pull oil out of the ground in a state that borders our friends in Canada and the nearest domestic refinery is four times as far as a nearby refinery in Canada...it makes sense to send it to Canada to be refined, doesn't it?
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Now, perhaps you were talking about petroleum products (such as gasoline, diesel, etc.)...

In 2007, our refineries produced 18.0 million barrels per day of refined products (we used nearly 20.7 million bpd).
We exported over 1.2 million barrels per day or 6.9% of our total refinery production.

2006 6.4%
2005 5.7%
2004 5.1%
2003 5.1%

Why do we export? Several reasons...
1) certain products are overproduced in the US (distillate fuel oil, petroleum coke, residual fuel oil). We cannot just make gasoline, other products are made in the process.
2)NAFTA...most of our product exports are to Mexico (19.9% in 2007) and Canada (11.5% in 2007)...Again, logistics make this inevitable...Why would Tijuana get its fuel from a refinery on the Mexican Gulf Coast when there are California refineries better suited to supply them?
3)Other trading partners...
18.1% in 2007 to Central American and Carribean countries
12.3% in 2007 to South American countries
19.4% in 2007 to Europe (including the Netherlands--our third largest export market at 5.8%)
5.1% to Singapore in 2007 (our fourth largest export market)
and 3.8% to Japan in 2007 (our fifth largest)

We have about 25% of the world's refining capacity, so it makes sense for us to export some of our refined product.

So far in 2008, we have averaged 9.2 percent. Seeing as domestic demand has fallen dramatically, it makes sense that our exports would rise...doesn't it?
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In 2007, of the 1.25 million barrels per day total petroleum product exports, we exported the following:

366,000 bpd of petroleum coke (29.4% of total)
330,000 bpd of residual fuel oil (26.5% of total)
268,000 bpd of distillate fuel oil (heating oil and diesel) (21.5% of total)--2/3 of this was diesel which does not meet our new EPA standards for sulfur content for trucks
and 127,000 bpd of gasoline (10.2% of total).

Where did it go?

In 2007, of the 1.25 million barrels per day total petroleum product exports, we exported the following:

279,000 bpd to Mexico (22.4% of total)
162,000 bpd to Canada (13.0% of total)
81,000 bpd to The Netherlands (6.5% of total)
71,000 bpd to Singapore (5.7% of total)
54,000 bpd to Japan (4.3% of total)
53,000 bpd to Chile (4.3% of total)
51,000 bpd to Panama (4.1% of total)
48,000 bpd to Spain (3.8% of total)
46,000 bpd to Brazil (3.7% of total)
34,000 bpd to Italy (2.7% of total)
33,000 bpd to The Bahamas (2.6% of total)
and 30,000 bpd to Jamaica (2.4% of total).

All other recipients recieved less than 30,000 bpd.