Just as a brief follow up, it seems to me one of the major factors in this is that U.S. refining capacity has increased so that there is less need to import refined petroleum products. I haven't researched this in any detail and I stand to be corrected on all my assertions, but it seems to me it's not as though there are any new sources of US domestic supply or significant increase in technological ability to extract previously hard to obtain oil, and likely only marginal reduction in demand. There may be some, but my thought is the hype on this is rather misleading. Again I don't have the figures, but my guess is that the vast majority of US crude imports likely still come from Canada, Mexico, and other western hemisphere nations, which the U.S. refining companies refine and re-sell as petroleum products, both for domestic use and to export abroad.
The link below shows some of the definitions used in the petroleum/fuels industry. From my skeptical standpoint, the hype could mislead the American public toward a false sense of security. I suppose if it stimulates the economy, then that's good, but if it gets people guzzling more gas, then it's really just a fool's game. http://www.eia.gov/dnav/pet/TblDefs/pet_move_imp_tbldef2.asp >From the link: "Petroleum products are obtained from the processing of crude >oil (including lease condensate), natural gas, and other hydrocarbon >compounds. Petroleum products include unfinished oils, liquefied petroleum >gases, pentanes plus, aviation gasoline, motor gasoline, naphtha-type jet >fuel, kerosene-type jet fuel, kerosene, distillate fuel oil, residual fuel >oil, petrochemical feedstocks, special naphthas, lubricants, waxes, petroleum >coke, asphalt, road oil, still gas, and miscellaneous products." ----- Original Message ----- From: Russ Abbott To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Cc: Hugh Trenchard Sent: Monday, February 27, 2012 7:47 PM Subject: Re: [FRIAM] A Good Question - Should the United States join OPEC? We exported more petroleum products, not more oil. We are still net oil importers. -- Russ Abbott _____________________________________________ Professor, Computer Science California State University, Los Angeles Google voice: 747-999-5105 Google+: https://plus.google.com/114865618166480775623/ vita: http://sites.google.com/site/russabbott/ _____________________________________________ On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 7:42 PM, Owen Densmore <o...@backspaces.net> wrote: From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/03/us-becomes-net-exporter-o_n_857085.html While some Americans cut back on driving as gas prices soar, the U.S. has become a net exporter of fuel for the first time in nearly 20 years. According to data from the Energy Department,starting last November -- with the exception of the month of January -- the U.S. began exporting more petroleum products than it imported. This is not the source I got the idea from, its been in the news quite a bit lately, this is just the first google hit I tried. The theory is that between the recession (thus less use of fuel, both supply side and demand), conservation/efficiency, and more recent hi-tech oil/gas exploitation (horizontal drilling), the US consumption has dropped and the production has increased, causing a net surplus. It certainly is surprising. -- Owen On Mon, Feb 27, 2012 at 6:54 PM, Hugh Trenchard <htrench...@shaw.ca> wrote: Where did you see that the US is now a net oil exporter? The attachments below are 2008 and 2009, but I suspect the picture hasn't changed much since then (US imports 75% of its oil for consumption). I believe I saw reference to "potential exporter" in the NY Times article. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2008/07/26/GR2008072601599.html http://www.flickr.com/photos/gdsdigital/4056035804/ ----- Original Message ----- From: Owen Densmore To: Complexity Coffee Group Sent: Monday, February 27, 2012 9:14 AM Subject: [FRIAM] A Good Question - Should the United States join OPEC? Now for something completely different: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/26/opinion/sunday/friedman-a-good-question.html Basically whether or not the US should join OPEC now that it is a net oil exporter. Insane as it sounds, there is some reason in the discussion. -- Owen ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
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