NOIA Praises Effort to Lift Crude Oil Export Ban
Today, Congress passed the Omnibus Appropriations bill, H.R. 2029, which includes a provision lifting the existing U.S. crude oil export ban. U.S. oil exports will strengthen America’s national and energy security and result in substantial benefits for consumers and job creation across the country, according to the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA). NOIA noted also that the bill did not include a key priority for the offshore…
NOIA Cheers Omnibus Language to Lift Crude Oil Export Ban
NOIA President Randall Luthi issued a statement cheering omnibus spending bill language that would lift the ban on U.S. crude oil exports.
US Shale Oil Producers Pummeled after OPEC Decision
Shares of U.S. shale oil producers tumbled on Friday after OPEC failed to agree on a unified output cap, effectively letting its 13 members pump at will in a step likely to further depress prices and advance the group's aim of squeezing out U.S. rivals. OPEC ministers ended their policy meeting in Vienna on a discordant note, unable to decide as a group how much it should pump in aggregate. As the meeting was underway it appeared that OPEC would raise its current 30 million barrels per day (bpd) cap on production…
Lifting of US Crude Oil Export Ban Possible within Year
The U.S. Congress could lift the 40-year old ban on domestic crude oil exports within a year as a drop in gasoline prices and the potential return of Iranian oil to global markets makes it an easier measure for politicians to support, Bank of America Merrill Lynch analysts said on Thursday. U.S. gasoline prices have dropped since last year along with global crude prices, thanks to strong crude output from the United States, Saudi Arabia and Iraq. On Thursday, the U.S.
Push to Axe US Crude Export Ban Strengthens in House
Lawmakers in the House of Representatives who are trying to end the decades-old ban on U.S. crude oil exports said on Thursday they were gaining support after a Democrat joined the Republican-led effort. Representative Henry Cuellar became the first Democrat to sign on to a bill launched in February by Representative Joe Barton, a Republican and fellow Texan. "If we are able to lift the crude oil ban this is going to open up new markets where Texas businesses can create more jobs at home…
US House to Hold Hearing on Oil Export Ban
A House of Representatives panel will hold a hearing on Dec. 11 to explore whether a decades-old law that prohibits the export of crude oil makes sense in an era of domestic energy abundance. The House subcommittee on energy and power, chaired by Representative Ed Whitfield, will hone in on the 1975 Energy Policy and Conservation Act, drafted in response to the 1973 oil crisis. The law prohibited the export of most crude oil, created the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and Corporate Average Fuel Economy rules for cars and trucks…
BHP to Test U.S. Oil Export Legal Limits
BHP Billiton Ltd is set to be the first company to export lightly processed ultra-light U.S. oil without explicit permission from the government, further testing the limits of an increasingly contentious ban on foreign sales. Eight months after two other U.S. energy firms said they had received the first formal authorization to sell domestic condensate abroad, BHP said it had determined that its oil would also meet the legal criteria for export since it was being minimally processed in distillation towers in South Texas.
Total CEO: EU Must Fight US Crude Export Law
First major public appearance of new Total head; he challenges European politicians to fight US ban. The new head of French energy major Total challenged Europe to fight Washington over the U.S. oil export ban, in his first public appearance since his predecessor Christophe de Margerie was killed in a Moscow plane crash last week. Patrick Pouyanne said on Thursday the export ban flouts free-trade agreements and puts European and Asian refiners at a disadvantage, making a bold appeal to European politicians.
Brent Oil Price is the Main Factor in US Gasoline Prices
U.S. gasoline prices are mostly determined by international oil prices, a report by the Energy Information Administration said on Thursday, a conclusion that downplays concerns by some lawmakers that lifting a 40-year-old crude oil export ban would raise domestic fuel bills. "Brent crude oil prices are more important than WTI crude oil prices as a determinant of U.S. gasoline prices," the EIA said in a long-awaited report. (Reporting by Timothy Gardner; Editing by James Dalgleish)
Ending US Oil Export Ban Would Not Raise Gasoline Prices - Study
Ending a 40-year old ban on U.S. crude oil exports would not raise domestic gasoline prices because it would put more petroleum onto global markets, where fuel prices are primarily set, a study by The Aspen Institute said on Tuesday. As the U.S. oil boom of the last six years builds an excess of light crude along the Gulf Coast refining hub, calls have risen for Congress and the Obama administration to relax the ban on shipments to global customers. The restriction was put in place in the 1970s following the Arab oil embargo.
Pioneer Natural Resources to Double Condensate Exports
3rd U.S. condensate export cargo heading to Singapore; Pioneer expects exports to rise to 50,000 bpd next year. Eyes exports of bigger cargoes to reduce freight costs. Pioneer Natural Resources plans to double its U.S. exports of condensate, an ultra-light oil, to 50,000 barrels per day (bpd) next year, its chief executive said on Monday. The U.S. shale resources explorer, along with Enterprise Product Partners LP, received the green light from the U.S.
Buckeye Buys Trafigura's Texas Assets
Oil logistics specialist Buckeye Partners LP will pay $860 million for control of Trafigura's prized oil facilities in the Texas shale hub amid expectations Washington will relax its crude oil export ban. U.S. firm Buckeye will buy 80 percent of the global commodities trader's South Stream assets which include a deep-water tanker loading terminal in Corpus Christi, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage and a small refining unit known as a condensate splitter.
Shell CEO: US Should Export Oil, Embrace Global Markets
The head of energy company Royal Dutch Shell said on Tuesday that U.S. policymakers should lift the crude oil export ban because allowing the shipments would make global energy system more stable. "Policy makers here in the U.S. should embrace a truly liberalized diverse and global energy market," Shell CEO Ben van Beurden told a conference on energy at Columbia University. U.S. oil and natural gas exports "would reinforce the long term future of North American energy production," significantly improve the U.S.
US to Release Reports on Crude Oil Export Issues
The U.S. Energy Information Administration plans to release two reports in September examining some of the issues surrounding a potential end to the nation's decades-old ban on most crude oil exports, the EIA's chief said on Monday. Some lawmakers have pressed the EIA, the statistical arm of the Department of Energy, to provide analysis on the implications of relaxing or abolishing the ban, as debate over the future of the moratorium has intensified. The EIA's upcoming reports will focus on the impact to U.S.
US Should Lift Crude Oil Export Ban - Washington Post
The United States should lift its nearly four-decade ban on crude oil exports to help encourage domestic production, the Washington Post said in an editorial on Thursday. Booming shale oil production has led to an intense debate over the moratorium, which was imposed by Congress in 1975 in the wake of the Arab oil embargo. Allowing crude oil exports would help address a mismatch between rising light crude output from U.S. shale formations and Gulf Coast refineries better suited to handle heavy crude, the Post argued in an editorial.
US Tankers Built on Spec Face Choppy Waters
U.S. shipbuilders are making a $500 million bet on robust domestic demand for crude oil from newly-tapped shale fields by building new tankers without having lined up customers to lease them. Philly Tankers AS, majority-owned by Aker Philadelphia Shipyard is building four ships on spec, and Seabulk Tankers Inc, an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of SEACOR Holdings Inc, is building another two. The 330,000-barrel ships, which cost about $125 million each, conform to the 1920 Jones Act, which requires ships moving between U.S.
All Distilled Latin American Oil Workers Can Export
According to the U.S. government and industry sources said on Friday, not only this light condensate oil, all distilled Latin American oil workers are not restricted as long as 40 years to implement the export ban. U.S. Department of Commerce this week decided to allow two companies to export distilled Polish workers condensate. The source said that any Polish workers after crude distillation can be exported, making the export volume of U.S. refiners are likely to increase even more.
Continental Resources Applies To Swap U.S. Crude Oil Abroad
Continental Resources , the largest leaseholder in the booming North Dakota oil fields, recently applied for a U.S. license to swap crude oil abroad in an attempt to get around the country's 40-year ban on exports, a spokeswoman confirmed on Friday. "The pending license is to further demonstrate the need for a free market for crude, just like refined products already have," the spokeswoman said, without specifying when Continental made the application.
U.S. refiners oppose easing crude export limits
Four U.S. oil refiners, trying to counter growing calls to lift the nation's ban on most crude oil exports, have launched the first major lobbying effort to keep abundant U.S. oil supplies from being sold overseas. Rising U.S. shale oil production has opened the door to a possible revision of the decades-old policy restricting most exports of unrefined petroleum. Various groups and lawmakers favoring exports have been fast out of the gate, seizing on a comment by U.S.
