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There’s an update at the bottom of this post and that is why I am re-submitting this thread.
More Republican lies brought to the American people by the big oil companies. These House Republicans that are acting like spoiled children don’t have to worry about getting paid by the taxpayers for their temper tantrums and whining while the House is not in session. The big oil companies are picking up the tab.
On Friday and again on Monday, the House Republicans say that we need to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. Good idea, however, the oil companies are not at all concerned with selling more oil in the United States. This is the dirty little secret that isn’t being told to the American public.
(the original article has been removed. This is a copy of a “cached” file)
WASHINGTON3 (Reuters) – While the U.S. oil industry want access to more federal lands to help reduce reliance on foreign suppliers, American-based companies are shipping record amounts of gasoline and diesel fuel to other countries.
A record 1.6 million barrels a day in U.S. refined petroleum products were exported during the first four months of this year, up 33 percent from 1.2 million barrels a day over the same period in 2007. Shipments this February topped 1.8 million barrels a day for the first time during any month, according to final numbers from the Energy Department.
The surge in exports appears to contradict the pleas from the U.S. oil industry and the Bush administration for Congress to open more offshore waters and Alaska’s Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling.
“We can help alleviate shortages by drilling for oil and gas in our own country,” President Bush told reporters this week. “We have got the opportunity to find more crude oil here at home.”
“As a nation, we can have more control over our energy destiny by supplying more of the oil and natural gas we’ll be consuming from resources here at home,” Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum (otcbb: AMPE.OB – news – people ) Institute, said in a letter last week to U.S. lawmakers.
But environmentalists and other opponents to expanding drilling areas could seize on the record exports to argue Congress should not open more acres if U.S. refineries are churning crude oil into petroleum products that are sent out of the American market.
“It doesn’t look good to say: ‘We need more oil.’ But then export the refined products that you’re getting. It doesn’t seem to be consistent,” said Jim Presswood, energy lobbyist for the Natural Resources Defense Council.
But many energy experts say oil and petroleum products are traded globally, and it may make economic sense to export gasoline refined along the U.S. Gulf Coast to Latin America and import European-refined gasoline to U.S. East Coast markets.
“The fact is that the (United States) participates in global markets for both crude and refined products, and there are any number of variables that impact supply and prices in those markets,” said Bill Holbrook, spokesman for the National Petrochemicals and Refiners Association.
The 1.6 million barrels a day in record petroleum exports represented 9 percent of total U.S. refining capacity of 17.6 million barrels a day.
However, with refiners operating at 85 percent of capacity during the January-April period, the shipments represented a much a larger share of total U.S. oil products produced.
The exports were also equal to half the 3.2 million barrels of gasoline, diesel fuel and other petroleum products the United States imported each day over the 4-month period.
The biggest share of U.S. oil products exported went to Mexico, Canada, Chile, Singapore and Brazil.
U.S. consumers are paying record prices for gasoline and diesel fuel, which the Bush administration blames in part on tight supplies.
While the administration argues that more supplies would help to bring down prices, U.S exports of diesel fuel in April averaged 387,000 barrels per day, up almost seven-fold from 59,000 barrels a day in the same month a year earlier.
U.S. gasoline shipments in April averaged 202,000 barrels a day, the most for the month since 1945, when America was sending fuel overseas to ease supply shortages in other countries during World War II. Gasoline exports in April 2007 were almost half at 116,000 barrels per day.
Residual fuel exports in April were 377,000 barrels per day, the fourth highest level for any month, and up 10 percent from 344,000 barrels per day a year earlier.
The Republicans know all about this increase in US oil exports and so does the boy Bush who stated that our government should not get involved with the free market. My guess is that this means that as long as the friends of the boy Bush and his pal barnacle Cheney are making records profits, our government will have a hands off policy. The UK Guardian also has the story on US oil exports.
Time moves on and the election is drawing near and if the Democrats get control of the White House, there is a high probability that there won’t be more off shore drilling give aways to the oil companies.
So, as the Republicans continue “acting out”, oil prices continue to drop. I’ve seen gasoline selling for $3.65/gallon this weekend. That’s down $.40/gallon and there have not been any changes in drilling nor has there been a gasoline tax holiday. The price of oil is just another commodity speculation. If the Republicans really wanted to help the American people, then they would support the elimination of the “Enron loophole”. They don’t want to do that because they would lose campaign and lobby monies donated to them from the major oil companies.
The Republicans holding this phony Congressional session is just a charade. If they win, then the American people will lose and the oil companies will just get richer at our expense. Don’t be fooled.
UPDATE: Here’s a link with more information about drilling. The Republicans are NOT telling Americans the truth. We will not see any of this oil that would come from more drilling.
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