Lawmaker wants list of companies exporting US oil (Wyden-Dem)

[RamboLiberal]

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?id=2005040512350002903521&dt=20050405123500&w=RTR&coview=

With gasoline and crude oil prices at record highs, a U.S. lawmaker wants the Commerce Department to release the names of American companies that are shipping U.S. petroleum products to other countries.

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon -- often a critic of big oil firms -- says information on the 268 million barrels of U.S. petroleum products exported in 2004 is needed as Congress considers a broad energy bill.

He sent a letter on Monday to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez asking for the list of oil companies after the department's Census Bureau, which tracks petroleum exports, refused to provide the data.

"Information about the export of gasoline, diesel and aviation fuels as well as other petroleum products out of the U.S. is directly relevant to the coming Congressional debate on how to address our nation's dependence on imports of oil and other petroleum products," Wyden said in his letter.

[natrat]

1. good lucky budy !

[stevedeshazer]

2. Perfect issue for Wyden

He's well-versed in this area.

He was re-elected by a wide margin last year.

He has no fear of the oil lobby, because there is no oil in his state.

Public opinion of the current oil government is bound to go down in direct proportion to fuel prices, which are set to explode and will prompt inflation, Bushco's worst nightmare.

Wyden can't lose on this issue.

Bring it on.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

4. That's why I voted for him! nt

[UpInArms]

3. Way to go, Wyden

kick 'em where it hurts :thumbsup:

[gratuitous]

5. It would also be instructive

To find out how much of that exported oil came out of the southern end of the Alaska Pipeline.

I'm so old, I remember when the pipeline was originally built, every oil company swore up and down that every drop coming out would be refined and sold in the good old U S and A, reducing our dependence on foreign oil.

Of course, then the Asian markets started paying top dollar for American crude, and the oil companies couldn't pass up that kind of money.

[stevedeshazer]

8. My uncle worked at Valdez

He said the same thing. It was in the '70s.

[eallen]

6. Insisting US oil stays in the US would raise US prices.

The market for oil is global. Oil is a fungible commodity, and it doesn't matter to the power plant that generates your electricity whether its fuel originated in wells in Mexico, in Russia, or south of Louisiana. The distribution is pretty efficient, and prices in geographically distant exchanges don't differ that much.

There are two reasons a net oil consumer like the US exports some of the oil it produces. (1) It's cheaper to do so. Because of pipelines, inventories, and tanker routes, it saves us money for Colorado sometimes to burn oil from Canada, while Japan sometimes burns some oil from Alaska. (2) Different grades are needed in different places. California refineries require sweet oils to produce the low sulfur fuel required by California's emissions requirements.

This is true of other nations also, including net oil exporters. Canada, which exports 2 million bbl/day, mostly to the US, also imports 1.1 million bbl/day. Norway, which is one of the world's largest oil exporters at 3.5 million bbl/day, imports 88,000 bbl/day. Obviously, there are some parts of Norway where it is cheaper to bring oil in from someplace other than their offshore wells, or that needs a different grade.

[warrens]

7. We probably already know most of the names

Enron, Halliburton, etc. etc.

He should just talk to some petroleum analysts; they know where the bodies are buried. Then slap a subpoena on them.

[Moderator]

9. kick to combine

[cthrumatrix]

10. Lawmaker wants list of companies exporting US oil

Lawmaker wants list of companies exporting US oil


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - With gasoline and crude oil prices at record highs, a U.S. lawmaker wants the Commerce Department to release the names of American companies that are shipping U.S. petroleum products to other countries.

Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon -- often a critic of big oil firms -- says information on the 268 million barrels of U.S. petroleum products exported in 2004 is needed as Congress considers a broad energy bill.

He sent a letter on Monday to Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez asking for the list of oil companies after the department's Census Bureau, which tracks petroleum exports, refused to provide the data.

"Information about the export of gasoline, diesel and aviation fuels as well as other petroleum products out of the U.S. is directly relevant to the coming Congressional debate on how to address our nation's dependence on imports of oil and other petroleum products," Wyden said in his letter.


The United States consumes about 20.8 million barrels of petroleum a day, with imports accounting for about 58 percent of supply. However, about 1 million barrels of U.S. oil petroleum products are exported daily.

snip

http://channels.netscape.com/ns/news/story.jsp?id=2005040512350002903521&dt=20050405123500&w=RTR&coview=

Of course they won't release the fact that the "Alaska Oil they cried for will be shipped to other countries as well "

We import 66% of our oil...do we want countries NOT to send oil to us? I'm not sure of this exercise.

[TreasonousBastard]

11. Idjits-- all...

of 'em.

The good Senator must know that we sell Alaskan oil to the Japanese simply because there is not enough West Coast refinery capacity to handle the output and it is difficult to move the crude to the Gulf refineries.

What the hell is his point anyway? Besides problems with refinery capacity around the world stretched to its limit, different refineries are set up for different grades of crude.

[NMDemDist2]

13. and IIRC Alaskan oil isn't the "light sweet crude" we get from the

Middle East.

It's got a high sulfur content that our refineries can't handle

[mbperrin]

15. Light sweet crude used to be called

West Texas Intermediate, our own domestic crude pumped in West Texas. Saudi oil is heavier than that, lighter than California tar or Alaskan tar...

[w4rma]

12. Go Sen. Wyden! The heck with Standard Oil. (nt)

[unhappycamper]

14. Any bets to see if Carlos does anything?

What are the odds that this gets reported by the CONs?