Better Fill up today

[frawin]

We don't export any gasoline that I know of. We import  alot of gasoline. We are basically importing almost 70% of our crude oil needs.
As far as drilling what they have by all of the oil and gas industry, they  are doing that. Every Rig available is drilling aroud the clock, but the type of wells we are drilling will not even keep up with the decline of the existing production. The OCS, ANWR and Federal Lands that contain large volumes/reserves of oil shale possibilities are off limits.

[frawin]

What we are facing in energy shortages should not be a political issue, we need to concentrate and spend more money and research on other sources of energy. I have said this before and it is worth repeating, we have approximately 4.7% of the world population and we consume almost 25% of the world daily oil production. Worse, a large portion of the oil we need and consume comes from countries that are our enemy, countries that seek to destroy America. Time is running out and the longer we do nothing the worse it will be.
Frank

[sixdogsmom]

Reuters
ANALYSIS-US oil firms seek drilling access, but exports soar
07.03.08, 2:40 PM ET


United States - By Tom Doggett
WASHINGTON3 (Reuters) - While the U.S. oil industry want access to more federal lands to help reduce reliance on foreign suppliers, American-based companies are shipping record amounts of gasoline and diesel fuel to other countries.

A record 1.6 million barrels a day in U.S. refined petroleum products were exported during the first four months of this year, up 33 percent from 1.2 million barrels a day over the same period in 2007. Shipments this February topped 1.8 million barrels a day for the first time during any month, according to final numbers from the Energy Department.

The surge in exports appears to contradict the pleas from the U.S. oil industry and the Bush administration for Congress to open more offshore waters and Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.

"We can help alleviate shortages by drilling for oil and gas in our own country," President Bush told reporters this week. "We have got the opportunity to find more crude oil here at home."

"As a nation, we can have more control over our energy destiny by supplying more of the oil and natural gas we'll be consuming from resources here at home," Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum (otcbb: AMPE.OB - news - people ) Institute, said in a letter last week to U.S. lawmakers.

But environmentalists and other opponents to expanding drilling areas could seize on the record exports to argue Congress should not open more acres if U.S. refineries are churning crude oil into petroleum products that are sent out of the American market.

"It doesn't look good to say: 'We need more oil.' But then export the refined products that you're getting. It doesn't seem to be consistent," said Jim Presswood, energy lobbyist for the Natural Resources Defense Council.

But many energy experts say oil and petroleum products are traded globally, and it may make economic sense to export gasoline refined along the U.S. Gulf Coast to Latin America and import European-refined gasoline to U.S. East Coast markets.

"The fact is that the (United States) participates in global markets for both crude and refined products, and there are any number of variables that impact supply and prices in those markets," said Bill Holbrook, spokesman for the National Petrochemicals and Refiners Association.

The 1.6 million barrels a day in record petroleum exports represented 9 percent of total U.S. refining capacity of 17.6 million barrels a day.

However, with refiners operating at 85 percent of capacity during the January-April period, the shipments represented a much a larger share of total U.S. oil products produced.

The exports were also equal to half the 3.2 million barrels of gasoline, diesel fuel and other petroleum products the United States imported each day over the 4-month period.

The biggest share of U.S. oil products exported went to Mexico, Canada, Chile, Singapore and Brazil.

U.S. consumers are paying record prices for gasoline and diesel fuel, which the Bush administration blames in part on tight supplies.

While the administration argues that more supplies would help to bring down prices, U.S exports of diesel fuel in April averaged 387,000 barrels per day, up almost seven-fold from 59,000 barrels a day in the same month a year earlier.

U.S. gasoline shipments in April averaged 202,000 barrels a day, the most for the month since 1945, when America was sending fuel overseas to ease supply shortages in other countries during World War II. Gasoline exports in April 2007 were almost half at 116,000 barrels per day.

Residual fuel exports in April were 377,000 barrels per day, the fourth highest level for any month, and up 10 percent from 344,000 barrels per day a year earlier.

John Felmy, the chief economist at the American Petroleum Institute, said a portion of the oil products exported, especially diesel, was fuel that did not meet U.S. clean air requirements and therefore could not be sold in America. "You may have some that you're not able to use," he said.

Also, while U.S. gasoline demand is down due to high prices and a weak American economy, there is "strong economic growth outside the United States" where fuel is often subsidized and demand is high, said John Cook, director of EIA's Petroleum Division.

However, both the EIA and API admitted they did not know why daily U.S. gasoline exports to Canada skyrocketed to 41,000 barrels in January-April this year from 9,000 barrels in 2007.

The EIA said more U.S. diesel is going to Latin American to fuel power plants because of a shortage of natural gas in the region, and China has switched to diesel from coal to run some of its generating facilities in order to reduce smog ahead of the summer Olympics next month in Beijing. (Editing by Christian Wiessner)

Copyright 2008 Reuters, Click for Restriction

[frawin]

My guess is that we ARE NOT A NET EXPORTER of any usable products. This article mentions that we exported some small volume of product to Canada, Canada is our largest single supplier of petroluem, crude oil and products. During the 1973 embargo, we had the opportunity to reduce crude costs by shipping our Alaskan crude to Japan, and Japan would in turn ship Persian Gulf Crudes to the US, a trade that would have reduced the transportation for both countries, Jimmy Carter and company blocked it and said we will not ship US crude to Japan. There are lots of trades everyday in the oil and gas industry that make good sense. I repeat that I do not think the US is   a net exporter of any petroleum. How can anyone make an issue out of some export amounts when this country consumes far more oil per capita than any nation in the world, we import almost 70% of our crude oil and we are importing massive amounts of Natural Gas and that will grow more all the time. So many people are so full of poison from the liberal left they can't comprehend how big a mess we are in. If we don't quit all of the political bickering and get busy we face serious consequences. As massive as the dependency is on other nations, people sit around and try to make excuses over some little piddling amounts of claimed exports.

[sixdogsmom]

I wouldn't call 1.6 million barrels a day a little piddly amount of petroleum product. That is the average exported during the first four months of this year. This is with the refinerys working at 85% capacity.

[frawin]

Sept 08 crude is trading at $125.275 up $0.545, Sept 08 Natural Gas is trading at $9.240, up $0.045.

[Diane Amberg]

So why do we export any oil or gas? Trade agreements? Higher profits somehow? To whom does it go?

[frawin]

Sept-08 Crude is trading at $121.75, down, $2.98, Aug-08 Natural Gas is trading at $9.23, up $0.069, the back months are trading down 8-9 cents.

[frawin]

THE UNITED STATES IS NOT A NET EXPORTER OF CRUDE OIL OR PRODUCTS. We do some exchanges which reduce transportation considerably, in exchanges you take crude or products in one location and return an equal value in another location. As far as the Posts that our refinery utilization is 85%, that alone would dictate that we would refine for other countries and return products in exchange, in order to utilize our facilities and reducing refining costs in this country.. We are importing 70% of our oil needs we couldn't do that without doing trades all over the world, in trades you have to return something. The high 80s percent range is close to the maximum percentage of utilization that is possible anyway, refineries are very high maintanence and they have to be taken down for maintanence on regular schedules. There is never a time when all of the refineries are down all at once and never a time when they are all up running at once. This subject could go on and on as the Worldwide trading of crude oil is a massive project everyday for all of the countries and governments around the world.

[Diane Amberg]

Gotcha, thanks! I know a little about refineries, since we have the big Valero refinery at Delaware City 15 miles east of here. I did first responder classes there and got to know the guys pretty well. We used to have a lot of classes to get everybody through because groups of them were always doing P.M. on something and couldn't make it. That big place used to scare me to death. It is such an imposing looking place with all the cracking towers and such.