The Benefits of U.S. Crude Exports Explained

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas) -- In a paper published in late March, Dr. Kenneth Medlock III of Rice University's James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy highlights many of the benefits that lifting the existing ban on crude oil exports would have for the U.S.

Medlock believes that a lack of trading opportunities, coupled with lowered incentives to build transmission infrastructure, is causing North American crude to trade at much lower values than it is worth when compared with other globally traded oils.

Medlock says that the average American should not be overly concerned about a rise in domestic crude prices or shipping U.S. crude oil abroad, demonstrating that exports of U.S. crude could, in fact, help lower gasoline prices and increase U.S. "energy security."