I keep hearing over and over that the US imports all of its gasoline and raw petroleum that it used, however when you look at the numbers its the greatest exporter of oil ever. Wouldn’t it make more sense for the US to just take some that they produce and keep it to sell to its own consumers.
In: Economics
It does use what it produces. It also exports what it produces. Whoever you heard that from either misunderstands the situation or is reliant on outdated information.
1. The US has always imported a lot of crude oil to refine and export. Historically US refineries have had a lot of excess capacity which positioned it well to import crude and export refined products. This is a value-add industry since the refined products are more valuable than the crude.
2. The US at one time consumed more crude oil than it produced. That has not been true over the last decade or two. The idea that the US consumes more oil than it produces is left over from the high oil prices and shortages due to the OPEC oil embargo in the 70’s when that was true. US policy has focused on “energy independence” ever since.
3. The US is huge. It doesn’t make sense to ship oil from Alaska to the east coast to refine. As a result, the US tends to export crude from Alaska to Asia and imports crude from South America/Canada to the East coast.
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