Oil Companies Trying To Use Trade Treaty To Bypass Congress And Raise Prices

[unhappycamper]

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/dave-johnson/58684/oil-companies-trying-to-use-trade-treaty-to-bypass-congress-and-raise-prices

Oil Companies Trying To Use Trade Treaty To Bypass Congress And Raise Prices
Big Oil | Trade
by Dave Johnson | October 1, 2014 - 9:26am

You may have heard that there is an oil and gas “boom” happening in the US. You might not know that there is a ban on exporting our own oil. This ban is good for the country but bad for oil companies. And the oil industry is attempting an end run around Congress to do something about it.

There is an ongoing “boom” in oil and natural gas production. Production of natural gas is way up. Imports are down about half since 2007. Texas oil production alone has more than doubled since 2011. This increase in domestic oil production has various consequences. We use much of our rail capacity transporting oil to refineries. The increase in natural gas production is pushing coal use down, and lowering carbon emissions as we fight for a transition away from using fossil fuel at all.

Even with all this production, world oil prices are holding as the world economy recovers. The world market is keeping demand high enough, especially with China’s growth and increasing its demand. Even so, oil and gas producers are terrified that our increased production could be part of a cycle that could lead to a collapse in prices. They also understand that prices in the US are lower than they would be if we could get that increased production out of the country.

To accomplish this, the oil and gas companies have pushed the Keystone Pipeline, which would move Canadian tar sands oil to US ports so it can be sold to China instead of in American markets. (The US ban on exports doesn’t apply to Canadian oil.)