Did you know that the U.S. exports, yes, exports oil?

[pinkpops]

"We sold 9 percent of our total refining capacity (equal to half of the 3.2 million barrels we imported over a four-month period). The biggest share went to Mexico, Canada, Chile, Singapore and Brazil."

Nothing shocking in the LTTH. The notion that increased drilling closer to home will benefit Merikuns directly is hogwash. It will be sold to the highest bidder.

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20080911/LETTERS/809110340/

The letter also links to this Florida anti-drilling group:
http://www.dontrigflorida.org/

[billybob537]

1. Record amounts.

[elocs]

3. So there is no reason to believe that any oil from offshore drilling or ANWAR

would necessarily go to relieving the energy problems of this country. It could simply be sold to whoever pays the highest price for it. Such are the joys of capitalism.

[GliderGuider]

7. You can get the oil to stay at home if you nationalize your oil industry

That's what countries like Iran, Venezuela, Mexico etc. have done. The only way to decouple your oil from the global marketplace is by putting it under government control. Big Oil or Big Government -- which is the lesser of the two evils, and which is the greater? Is there a third way? I certainly don't know of one.

[elocs]

8. I wouldn't hold my breath on any of that happening here. n/t

[pinkpops]

11. You may be right. Advocates of drill here drill now seem to

think the industry is nationalized, because they assume oil drilled here will stay here.

[liberal N proud]

2. Yep

And that is the part the drill baby drill crowd doesn't want the 'mericun people to know.

[MichiganVote]

4. Recall the Croatia tanker stuck in the gulf during Ike? Oil to or from the US?

[SIMPLYB1980]

5. Yep. Publicans stare dumbfounded when you drop that truth nugget on them.

They don't get it.

[GliderGuider]

6. A few thoughts about this

Here's a link to the tally of American oil imports and exports.

That table shows that you import about 12.5 million barrels per day of crude oil and refined product, and you export about 1.5 million barrels per day. Thanks to the global marketplace, and because oil is fungible, the price you get for the oil you export is virtually identical to the price of the oil you have to import to replace it. If you are selling excess refined product, then the exporters make a bit of money doing it, since refined product is worth more than crude oil.

You produce about 7 million barrels of oil a day, only a third of your requirement. You import the remaining 12.5 to 13 million barrels per day. You then re-export some of that 20 million barrel per day total as refined product. It's exactly the same as buying steel from overseas and exporting manufactured goods.

The net effect is that the imports and exports essentially cancel each other out. The only reason you export petroleum products is because of logistics, transportation costs, refinery capacity relative to demand, etc. You could stop exporting oil entirely and it wouldn't make a whit of difference to the overall picture.

As attractive as this nugget is, it's just pyrite, I'm afraid.

[The Croquist]

10. Thanks for the information but one disagreement.

There would be a big difference if we suddenly stopped exporting refined oil to nations like Canada and Mexico. They send us allot more then we send them. If we refused to send them refined oil they might refuse to send us crude oil. Neither makes sense economically but in a pissing match common sense can be the first casualty.

Winging alert:

Maybe we export refined oil to Newfoundland or to the Yukon Territory of Canada. Maybe we export just south of the border into Northern Mexico. Again I don't know. I don't know why we export to Singapore but I suspect it's a specialty product that they can't get closer from home and cheaper elsewhere.

Done with winging:

Oil is not just one product but many products. Just because Canada and Mexico export one product to us doesn't mean that we shouldn't export another product to them. Do you really think that if they could get it cheaper elsewhere they wouldn't do it? Do you really think that if Exxon could make more money by selling it in the US they would choose to export it?

We don't import oil from Mexico, Canada and Venezuela because we like them. We import oil from them because it is cheaper then importing it from the Middle East, Africa and Asia.

[ladjf]

9. They sell to the highest bidder. That's part of the reason that the

demand to drill offshore is such a farce.

[Spritz57]

12. World Market

I'm sure you recall the Dems did agree to legislation to allow drilling in Anwar recently providing the oil would be for domestic use only and the Reps balked and refused to support the bill. All oil produced in the U.S. goes on the world market because as has been previously noted above, we do not have a nationalized industry. I wish more coverage was given to this point perhaps then the chants of "drill baby drill" made infamous by Mr. Steel at the RNC convention would be seen as simply marketing for big oil.

[patriotvoice]

13. Yes, lots of it. EOM