U.S. Condensate Oil Export Requests Put on Hold for Now.

[elleng]

Source: nyt/reuters

The U.S. Commerce Department has put on hold at least two companies' requests for permission to sell lightly processed crude abroad, effectively stalling an industry push to export an expanding glut of oil amid the U.S. shale revolution, sources said.

The companies seeking clarification on exporting ultra-light oil, known as condensate, have been told that their requests are being "held without action," a person familiar with the matter said last week, describing an indefinite pause in the review process that allows officials to seek additional information on a decision.

This may also give the agency more time to put together some form of comprehensive public guidance about what kind of oil can or cannot be exported, answering industry's growing cry for clarity. It is unclear when such a document may be finalised, but several sources said they think it could occur within weeks.

Seven other sources said they were also aware or had been told of an apparent pause in processing so-called "commodity classification" or CCAT requests, which are done on a case-by case basis and normally take about two weeks for the Commerce Department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) to handle.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2014/07/28/business/28reuters-usa-crude-exports.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=WireFeed&module=pocket-region&region=pocket-region&WT.nav=pocket-region

[JoeyT]

1. If there's a glut of oil, why are prices not dropping?

Oh right, because they were lying when they said it would bring gas prices down.