In a first, gas and other fuels are top US export

[FreakinDJ]

In a first, gas and other fuels are top US export
By CHRIS KAHN

NEW YORK - For the first time, the top export of the United States, the world's biggest gas guzzler, is - wait for it - fuel.

Measured in dollars, the nation is on pace this year to ship more gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel than any other single export, according to U.S. Census data going back to 1990. It will also be the first year in more than 60 that America has been a net exporter of these fuels.

Just how big of a shift is this? A decade ago, fuel wasn't even among the top 25 exports. And for the last five years, America's top export was aircraft.

The trend is significant because for decades the U.S. has relied on huge imports of fuel from Europe in order to meet demand. It only reinforced the image of America as an energy hog. And up until a few years ago, whenever gasoline prices climbed, there were complaints in Congress that U.S. refiners were not growing quickly enough to satisfy domestic demand; that controversy would appear to be over.

http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20111231/APA/1112310594

[dipsydoodle]

1. Posted in LBN late November.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x5075134

[FreakinDJ]

2. They finally admitted it was the No.1 export in dollars

[dipsydoodle]

3. In which case

Rec'd.

[freshwest]

32. Spoilsport!

[wordpix]

4. oooh, but we must be energy independent and keep deepwater drilling & fracking

whoops, we need to destroy our land and waters to have fuel for other nations.

[BootinUp]

9. disgusting, isn't it.

[Yo_Mama]

23. We import a good chunk of our petroleum supply

Cutting that level of imports is crucial to attain fiscal stability:


You can run fiscal deficits with a trade surplus, but when you import more goods than you export AND you run a large fiscal deficit, you are running into trouble over time:

[FreakinDJ]

29. I work in Oil Refining - I'm glad you read our reports however wrong the interpetation

USA has become a NET Exporter - see post #22

[sulphurdunn]

5. No irony here.

Just imagine how fuel exports will grow after the Keystone XL pipeline is built and ANWAR is tapped by corporations that will pay relatively low if any taxes on profits that are subsidized and costs that are externalized by public money and how wonderful that will be for the economy by driving domestic fuel costs up and by creating millions and millions of new jobs in China and India. Isn't the magic of the free market wonderful?

[FreakinDJ]

6. Keystone Pipeline is destine for Port Arthur Texas (Tax Free Zone)

which means import / export taxes will not be paid

All the Pollution but None of the Tax Revenues

[wordpix]

13. "All the Pollution but None of the Tax Revenues" I did not know that

Typical BS ---really getting sick of this shit

[SammyWinstonJack]

7. Yeah.

[hunter]

8. U.S. refineries can take a tanker full of crappy low quality oil and turn it into excellent fuel.

Maybe we should export those jobs and technologies to China?

That would certainly cut down on pollution here in the U.S.A..

This is one of those "be careful what you wish for" problems.

[Historic NY]

10. And were paying for it a the pump .......

the supply has outpaced demand if they are able to export the excess.

[alphafemale]

11. Simple answer. It's not that exports of such have increased.

It's that the exports of everything else are so much decreased.

[FreakinDJ]

12. Actually that would not be entirely accurate

The refineries and shipping companies have quitely been converting over for the last 4-5 years. They offload crude and backhaul fuel is the business model now.

Additionally the USA is now a "Net Exporter" as we export MORE refined products then we import crude oil - that also has changed as the US Economy slowed

[Yo_Mama]

22. The US is most definitely not a net exporter

Every week I read the petroleum inventory reports
http://ir.eia.gov/wpsr/overview.pdf

Our cumulative daily average for products supplied is 19,018. Our cumulative daily average for imports (crude and finished) is 8,784. Both of those numbers are for thousands of barrels per day.

By any standard I understand, the US imported 46% of our petroleum products consumed this year. Over the last four week period we imported 43.7% of our total products supplied.

We are shifting the imbalance in a positive direction:

[FreakinDJ]

28. USA is a Net Exporter according to these reports

I don't read reports - I WORK in Oil Refining


Fuel exports up, and so is the cost at the pump

DAVID R. BAKER, SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

Faced with sluggish sales at home, American refineries are shipping their gasoline, diesel and other petroleum products abroad in record amounts, turning the country into a net exporter of fuel.

And that’s one of the reasons why gasoline now costs more than ever for this time of year.

The United States, long the world’s most voracious consumer of fuel, still imports almost half of its crude oil, the raw material for gasoline and diesel. But starting in 2008, the country began exporting more refined petroleum products than it imported. And the gap keeps growing.

In the first nine months of this year, the United States exported 655 million barrels of finished petroleum products, including 121 million barrels of gasoline, while importing 264 million barrels of finished petroleum products, including 32 million barrels of gasoline, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2011/12/02/fuel-exports-up-and-so-is-the-cost-at-the-pump/

[Yo_Mama]

41. Oh - you meant refined products

Yeah. We are.

I don't see it as a bad thing.

[tclambert]

33. We import crude oil. The exports the article talks about are refined fuels.

Gasoline, diesel, jet fuel. The full article does say we are nowhere near energy independence. We import the crude oil we refine into the exportable products.

[bhikkhu]

38. apples and oranges - refined product versus crude oil

But its actually good both ways - as far as crude oil we're importing less than 50% for the first time in decades, and as far as refined product we are a net exporter for the first time in decades (depending on the particular type of product.

And even better, overall use is down.

[Yo_Mama]

42. Yes, we are steadily cutting petroleum use.n/t

[alfredo]

14. K&r

[sandyd921]

16. Not exactly anything to boast about here

for the USA! USA! crowd:

We're using less gas because of (a) our crappy economy and (b) more fuel-efficient cars and mandated use of ethanol and so sending more of what's refined here abroad instead.

Also, the hugely inflated cost of the oil that is refined and the price per barrel of gasoline dwarfs our rapidly dwindling output of manufactured goods (they didn't say this in the article but I'd say it's part of the equation). Oh, and the article also said that we're sending a lot of this gas to economies in Latin America that are actually expanding. Bueno!

[ixion]

17. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you one of the reasons fuel costs so much these days.

Hurray for Big Oil!

[alfredo]

18. That makes one wonder why keystone.

[KeepItReal]

21. No need to wonder....get tar sands oil to Gulf Coast refineries

....to ship overseas

They have the nerve to run commercial talking about "energy security" when it's really about securing profits for big oil.

[alfredo]

34. It's letter writing time.

[Blacksheep214]

19. Drill Baby Drill?

Can anyone explain how this brain dead slogan actually resonated with people?

Oh yeah! Most Americans are now uneducated, violent ultra-nationalists without a lick of common sense!

Gee, did I say that out loud?

[The Wizard]

20. Did anyone forget war? (NT)

[Blacksheep214]

24. Tinnitus

Guaranteeing you never forget!

Every second of every day it never stops ringing!

Veterans will NEVER forget! We can't!

[alfredo]

35. Bilateral Tinnitus, the gift that keeps on giving.

USASA 65 to 69

[Scairp]

45. Sucks doesn't it n/t

[alfredo]

46. Yeah, it sucks, but it got me that "service connected" line on my VA card and a few dollars.

[tabasco]

36. I'm going to volunteer with VA for any experimental treatments. n/t

[Blacksheep214]

39. Good luck! nm

[The Wizard]

43. Getting hearing aids this week

Tired of asking people to repeat themselves. Artillery ears.

[Blacksheep214]

44. My insurance only covers cheaper ones.

The audiologist turned me on to 2 BTE models, digital and best yet, demos. I got both for my insurance cover.

Ask! Always ask!

Unfortunately while I hear better, the ringing is always there.

[alfredo]

47. Have you gone to the VA for that? My ears are fried from my years as Morse Intercept.

I am getting compensated for that.

[The Wizard]

49. The VA is giving me hearing aids. (NT)

[alfredo]

50. Great!

[Spider Jerusalem]

25. America still relies on imports.

What's being exported is refined product processed in US refineries after having been imported for that purpose. The reason that fuel is now the top export is because the US has refinery capacity that Mexico and Canada and so on don't have. NOT because the US is no longer reliant on imported oil.

[bhikkhu]

37. Less than 50% of our oil use is now imported

...which I think is a more important milestone than refined product exports, but its all good from an economic standpoint, I think.

[jwirr]

26. Just started rereading The Unsettling of America Culture & Agriculture by Wendell Berry and this

post is so in that book. The book need to be read by anyone who has not read it and I would hope that Occupy activists would take the time. It is a older look at the 1%/99% issue.

[alfredo]

48. Ed McClanahan is another good Kentucky writer. Image below

Here he is doing a reading for Occupy Lexington, Ky



http://www.david-loftus.com/Features/kesey.html

[greiner3]

27. As was the hype of the Alaskan Pipeline;

That all that fuel would help the US's dependence on oil, all this rush to get the natural gas out of the ground will only benefit;

Wait for it,








Wait for it,








The large oil companies. That gas will be shipped where it will bring in the most profits; probably China, Japan or Europe. They pay a LOT more for this stuff than we do.

Follow the money.

BTW, nearly all the oil that was/is being taken out of the ground in Alaska is sold to Japan under agreements made, secretly, by Exxon and BP; go figure. It was secret because if word got out that this oil would not go to ease the fuel crunch then happening here, then the good, but in the end losing, fight environmentalists put up probably would have succeeded.

[freshwest]

31. Yeah, we knew that. They are internationalists when it come to money. That national thing, well,

That's just for the yokels back down of the farm. USA! USA!

Drill baby, drill! Eliminate the EPA or you won't have a job!

I wonder what the next lying meme will be.

[freshwest]

30. If it keeps our mitts out of other countries, fine. Fracking for it, NO.

[DirkGently]

40. Yet gas prices remain high. Because oil is an international commodity. Drill, baby ...